Every Employer is required to give each Employee a written statement of their terms and conditions of employment and this must be done no later than 2 months following the commencement of their employment. There are certain ingredients which must be included namely:
- Name of Employer and Employee
- The date when the employment commenced and the date upon which the Employee’s period of continuous employment commences.
- Details of the rate of remuneration or the method of calculating that remuneration. Details regarding the intervals at which the remuneration would be paid i.e. weekly / monthly.
- Details of the terms and conditions regarding hours of work, entitlement to holidays, incapacity due to sickness or injury, pensions, length of notice, job title and collective agreements.
- Details regarding relevant disciplinary and grievance procedures.
Consideration should always be given to the imposition of restrictive covenants and these should be incorporated into the main terms and conditions of employment at the outset. Restrictive covenants are express provisions within the contract seeking to restrain the Employee from soliciting clients or employees, or for working for competing businesses after the employment contract has been terminated for whatever reason.
Restrictive covenants should be carefully drafted with the benefit of legal advice in order to increase the likelihood of enforceability.
Directors are also classed as Employees and therefore Employers are obliged by law to provide directors with a statement of certain terms of employment. A director’s contract is often called a Service Agreement.