Employment contract

About this employment contract

This employment contract covers all legal requirements for information to be given to a management level or senior employee. It is a carefully considered framework for fair and full protection of the employer and compliance with organisational requirements. Use of plain English makes editing easy and allows it to be understood by all parties.

It can be used by any employer, regardless of the type of organisation, the business of the organisation or the duties of the employee.

The differences between this contract and the standard Net Lawman employment contract are relatively small. In this "information age", we feel that all employment contracts, regardless of the position of the employee, should be very strong on protection of the employer's confidential information and the prevention of the employee from starting a competing business.

Therefore this employment contract differs mainly in the following ways:

• Inclusion of paragraphs for benefits likely to be given at a senior level: including company car and health insurance;
• Removal of a paragraph relating to collective agreements: senior staff are unlikely to be members of labour unions;
• Removal of a trial period (sometimes called a probation period): in law, having a trial period does not change the rights of either the employee or the employer during or after the trial - the benefits of inclusion are motivation during the first months and fostering of goodwill if the employment doesn't work as expected.

If you require any of the above in your employment contract, please contact us and we would be happy to include them for you.

When to use this employment contract

• for any new senior employee
• to replace your existing contracts which may be out of date
• for senior staff, or staff likely to become senior or managers within a short time
• 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

Employment contract features and contents

• Employment contract complying with current law;
• All standard terms for a written statement as described by the The Terms of Employment (Information) Acts 1994 and 2001;
• Compliant with Organisation of Working Time Act 1997,  Organisation of Working Time (Records)(Prescribed Form and Exemptions) Regulations 2001, Sick Leave Act 2022 and the European Union (Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions) Regulations 2022; 
• Strong on protection of employer's confidential information;
• Specifics for different jobs, such as duties can be added easily - either within the text, or by reference to a job description;
• Structured so as to minimise the administrative burden of legal compliance.

The contract of employment includes the following paragraphs:

• Start and continuity;
• Job title and description;
• Place of work;
• Hours of work;
• Salary;
• Expenses;
• Leave for holidays and other reasons;
• Sickness and sick pay;
• Pension;
• Health insurance;
• Company car;
• Other business and employment;
• No competition;
• Confidentiality;
• Intellectual property;
• Staff handbook and company policies;
• Disciplinary and grievance procedures;
• Termination;
• Procedure after termination;
• Summary termination;
• Reconstruction or amalgamation;
• Data protection;
• Severance and invalidity.

Practicalities this employment contract covers

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.

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 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 the 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 that you don’t need to provide this information separately in a letter or another document.

Other employment policies and procedures not within the written statement (such as data protection) could be included in the employment contract. 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.