Bulletproof Employment Contract?
When a new employee starts working for you, make sure their employment contract is legally compliant and clear.
What if the relationship turns sour at a later date and you don’t have the right contract in place?
Start 2017 by ensuring that your employment contracts are bulletproof so your business is protected.
To be legally compliant you must have:
Name & address of employee.
The employers registered office.
Start date and continuous service date. For a new employee this will be the same.
Hours of work. (Maximum of 48 hours unless employee has opted out of the Working Time Directive).
Work Days – e.g. Monday to Friday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday etc.
Job title and brief job description. Give a job description to the employee with the contract so they know exactly what they are being employed to do. Avoid disputes later.
Place of work. You should also add “or such other place or places of business as we may from time to time reasonably require”.
Salary and when it is paid – e.g. monthly, weekly, on the last working day of the month.
Sick leave and pay – there is no legal requirement to sick pay. If the employee meets the qualifying conditions you will have to pay statutory sick pay (SSP). An employee needs to be off work for 4 days before SSP kicks in.
Holiday entitlement –If your employee works five days a week they are entitled to 28 days holiday per year. The 28 day entitlement can include bank holidays.
Pension – All employers must auto-enrol their employees into a pension scheme by the date required by the
pensions regulator.
Disciplinary & Grievance – state it does not form part of their contract of employment. Inform the employee where they can find this policy. If it forms part of the contract you can’t change without employees’ agreement.
Notice periods- this is for employer and employee to agree. The minimum notice period the employer can give is 1 week for each year of service up to 12 years’ service. Notice periods can be different for employer and employee.
Collective agreements –are arrangements with unions. If union representation isn’t applicable, you should state that that no collective agreements apply.
If you would like advice on employment contracts or any other employment issues, contact Nichola Coulthard at Coulthard Human Resources. Nichola@coulthardhr.co.uk. www.coulthardhr.com or phone 07946 541606
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