Employment contract

About this employee contract template

This employment contract template covers all the information an employer is legally required to provide in an employee’s contract. It has a carefully considered framework which covers all aspects of the employment relationship and provides a balance between the rights and responsibilities of the employer and employee.

The employer must give basic information to all employees within 5 days of starting a job. This is known as a “written statement of terms of employment”. This information includes names and addresses of employer and name of the employee, place of work, duration of the contract, the rate of pay, the working hours and week, job title, probationary period etc. Other than these core terms, the employer has a legal obligation to provide the employee with the remaining terms within one month of starting a job such as an employee’s remuneration, overtime pay, entitlement to annual leave and sick leave, pension and a reasonable notice period of termination. This employment contract includes all the necessary information to act as a written statement so you don’t need to provide this information separately in a letter or another document if you are using this agreement prior to commencement of job and the period required to provide these details.

Other employment policies and procedures not within the written statement of terms and conditions of employment (such as data protection) could be included in the employment contracts. However, especially when you have many employees, changing each employee’s contract of employment (and ensuring consistency between employees) every time a new law changes can be time consuming and difficult. It is usual, therefore, to place all procedures and policies common to all staff in an employee handbook and refer to the handbook in the employment contract. This is the approach Net Lawman recommends. The document provides an option for a probationary period. Under Irish employment law, having a probationary period does not change the rights of either the employee or the employer during or after that period - the benefits of inclusion are motivation during the first months and fostering of goodwill if the hiring doesn't work as expected.

Use of plain English makes editing easy and allows it to be understood by all parties.

The size or business of the employer is not important, nor is the position of the employee (this contract can be used for management too, but Net Lawman does provide employment contract documents written more precisely for senior staff.)

Specifics for different jobs, such as duties and training provisions, can be edited easily if required, either within the existing text, or by reference to a job description. In this "information age", all Net Lawman employee contracts are very strong on protection of the employer's secrets and confidential information.

This employment contract includes the following paragraphs:

• Start and continuity
• Probation period
• Job title and description
• Training
• Place of work
• Hours of work
• Salary
• Expenses
• Annual leave for holidays and other reasons
• Sick leave and sick pay
• Pension schemes
• Other business and employment
• Restrictive covenants
• Confidential information
• Intellectual property
• Collective agreements
• Staff handbook and company policies
• Disciplinary and grievance procedures
• Termination
• Procedure after termination
• Summary termination
• Reconstruction or amalgamation
• Data protection
• Severance and invalidity

When to use this employment contract

A contract, written or verbal is made as soon as the employee accepts a job offer. So as to minimise future misunderstandings, we recommend providing a written employment contract with the offer letter so that the employee can return an acceptance letter with a signed copy of the contract.

This document can be used:

• for any new employee;
• to replace existing contracts which may be out of date such as for employees being promoted and changing roles;
• for any level of employee, though most appropriate to junior and mid-level staff;
• the employee may be permanently employed (full or part-time) or temporary;
• for organisations of any type: companies, charities, trusts, partnerships, governmental organisations and others.

Compliance with Irish employment law

• The Terms of Employment (Information) Acts 1994 and 2001;
• Organisation of Working Time Act 1997
• Organisation of Working Time (Records)(Prescribed Form and Exemptions) Regulations 2001
• Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018
• Sick Leave Act 2022
• The European Union (Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions) Regulations 2022

Alternative employment agreements

We have various other Irish employment contracts in our library of templates.

If you are hiring an employee for a fixed term such as for a project or seasonal work, then you can use a comprehensive fixed term contract for these employees from  https://www.netlawman.ie/d/fixed-term-employment-contract.

To employ workers for any time of casual work, you can download https://www.netlawman.ie/d/casual-employment-contract. This complies with current Irish law regarding casual workers.

For a more senior or management-level employee, you can use this agreement. We also have a document specific to company directors.

In case your employee lives on the business premises, you can have look at our employment agreement with service occupancy provisions.

You can use the employee commission agreement as a supplementary contract of employment for any level of employee to also work on commission.