Employment Contracts

Employment Contracts

Employment Contracts – A written employment contract is a legally binding document agreed upon by both the employee and employer that states the agreed terms. The contract can set out the hours of work, salary or hourly rate, as well as other more complex details that govern the employment relationship.

Employment Contracts – Contractual disagreements

Employment Contracts – If an employee believes the employer is breaching the contract and wants to resolve this, they should try to settle the matter internally. If this doesn’t work, they can contact the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Services (ACAS) for advice and assistance. They could also seek help from a representative trade union official.

Disagreements or problems with contracts could eventually warrant a claim to the County Court or, where the employment relationship has ended, an employment tribunal.

Contract for services

Employment Contracts – Where a worker toils under a ‘contract for services they are more likely to be classified in law as being self-employed and delivering a service, rather than an employee, regardless of how the two parties refer to their working relationship.

Agency workers are often provided to businesses under a ‘contract for services and may not themselves be employees of that business. However, in some circumstances, the agency workers may be employees of the agency. In such a situation the employment agency is legally obligated to provide workers with a written statement of the terms of their employment.

Contract of employment (“Contract of service”)

An individual may be legally considered an “employee” where they have an obligation to personally perform work for their employer, have a mutuality of obligation between themselves and their employer and the employer has a sufficient element of control over their work.

In any new employment, a contract exists between the employer and the employee. The contract of employment does not have to be written, but the employee is entitled to a written statement of employment particulars within two months of starting work.

Continuous employment

Employees are required to work for specified time periods in order to gain certain statutory rights.

Employment Contracts – Part-time permanent employees, regardless of contractual hours, accrue their period of continuous employment in the same way as full-time staff.

It is possible for a series of fixed-term contracts to count as a single length of continuous employment, with a timescale measured between the start of the first and the end of the last period.

Employment Contracts – This instance can be dependent on the length of gaps between contracts, making each case variable and ultimately the decision of an employment tribunal. However, within the gaps between the fixed-term contracts, the employee and employer hold no ‘mutuality of obligation’.

Fixed-term contracts

A fixed-term contract is a contract that will expire either upon a fixed date, or upon the completion of a particular task. or upon the occurrence (or non-occurrence) of a specific event. An employer can opt for a fixed-term employee rather than a permanent employee for many reasons, including:

• a position of uncertain length, often due to funding uncertainty (contracts ordinarily in this instance are yearly rolling)
• maternity or long-term sickness cover
• secondment cover

Employment Contracts – If upon expiry, an employer does not renew an employee’s fixed-term contract, this will amount to a dismissal. Therefore, the employee, if they have the required length of service, could bring an unfair dismissal claim and it would be for the employer to demonstrate the dismissal was for one of the potentially fair reasons set out in section 98 of the Employment Right Act 1996. Any such unfair dismissal claim would be assessed in the same manner as an unfair dismissal claim brought by a permanent employee.

Flexible working

Employment Contracts – Flexi-time or flexible working is when workers are able to set their own working times, usually within a core hours policy – for example ‘clocking in’ between 8 am and 10 am and ‘clocking out’ between 4:30 pm and 6:30 pm. Some employers even run on a ‘total flexible working’ pattern without adhering to a core hours system.

Job sharing

Employment Contracts – A job share arrangement allows employees with external responsibilities – i.e. dependants or additional part-time roles – to find a flexible alternative to a standard part-time position. Usually made up of two part-time employees sharing one full-time role, a jobshare arrangement gives both the jobshare employees and the employer the advantage of constant cover.

The arrangement can work in a number of ways. For example, it could be either a morning and afternoon split or a three-day week with a one-day handover.

Part-time employment contracts

Employment Contracts – A part-time employee works less than the employer’s full-time hours, which is usually around 35 hours a week. Often, part-time workers will have dependents or other responsibilities outside of work that restrain their amount of available work time, though there are many reasons for working part-time.

Employment rights

The same employment rights apply to part-time workers as those that apply to full-time workers, regardless of the hours worked. This includes the right to:

• be paid equally to comparable full-time employees
• not be excluded from meetings or training days by virtue of their part-time status
• claim holiday entitlement pro-rata to the same effect as any full-time workers
• be entitled to the same opportunities as any full-time employee regarding a career break, contractual and or family/dependent leave
• not be considered expendable simply by virtue of their part-time status if cutbacks and redundancy measures are introduced

Employment Contracts – Regardless of contractual hours, full-time or part-time, an employer should consult staff before changing any hourly agreement that is in place. If an employer tries to force an employee to amend their hours to full-time to meet demand, they could be in breach of indirect sex discrimination or another facet of employment law.