Contracts of employment-Key points
A contract of employment is an agreement between an employer and employee and is the basis of the employment relationship.
Most employment contracts do not need to be in writing to be legally valid, but it is better if they are.
A contract 'starts' as soon as an offer of employment is accepted. Starting work proves that you accept the terms and conditions offered by the employer.
Most employees are legally entitled to a Written Statement of the main terms and conditions of employment within two calendar months of starting work. This should include details of, holidays and working hours plus start date of contract and end date of contract if any, location and pay rate, salary, wage if any.
An existing contract of employment can be varied only with the agreement of both parties.
Watch this video from ACAS about verbal employment contract
Some people might assume that a contract of employment consists of only those things that are set out in writing between an employer and an employee. It's true that many of the main issues, such as pay and holidays, are usually agreed in writing.
But contracts are also made up of terms that have not been spelt out. This is either because they are:
too obvious to mention: for example, you would not expect a contract to say that 'an employee will not steal from an employer'
necessary to make the contract work: for example, if you are employed as a driver it is assumed that you have a valid driving license
custom and practice: some terms of a contract can become established over time.
It is best to put a contract in writing - it saves a lot of potential misunderstanding further down the line. Acas argue that "In Acas' experience simple misunderstandings over what is or what is not in a contract are one of the main causes of employment tribunal claims".
The type of contract and status
As an employer, the tax and employment responsibilities you have for your staff will depend on the type of contract you give them and their employment status. Girlfridayz as written the type of contract an employer can decide to offer you.
Full-time or Part-time
Fixed Term
Agency Staff
Freelancer, consultant and contractors
Zero Hours contract
Employing Family, Young people and volunteer
These are the type of contracts legally available and they each varies slightly in term and conditions but must include the basic information stated above.
A lot of employers don't realise that they are following out-of-date practices. Or that they need to introduce new policies to comply with employment legislation. Further findings from the survey of employers show that 55% actively changed practices based on what they found when using the Acas Model Workplace tool.
Some employer still not paying there staff the minimum wages or enrolled them in the workplace place pension which both are mandatory and law. If you do not do it you could be fine by the government so it worth abiding by your responsibility. Some employer refuse to give a copy to their staff of sign employment contract however it is unlawful as the law state that an employer must issues a written statement of employment to it employee within two calendar months of it start date. Hence a copy of it is your legal right and entitlement.
Social protection in the EU: Give your feedback on the roadmap Today people in self-employment constitute 15% of the EU workforce. Those who are working part-time, on fix-term or zero-hour contracts or in other non-standard forms of employment make up an additional 20-25%. It is estimated that up to half of them are left without sufficient access to social protection benefits and services, making them less protected than people on standard contracts. Help us react by giving your feedback today: http://europa.eu/!jG99FU #EUHaveYourSay #SocialRights #BetterRegulation #social #europe #europeanunion #EU #workforce
Conclusion
Girlfridayz written this blog post today about employment contract has we have been recently contacted about the above and we have gladly provided support to sort out the issues so we thought at Girlfridayz we could write a post pertaining to employment contract to make you aware of your legal right.