Employment Contract

This document provides for a simple employment agreement between an employer and employee. This document should not be used where the agreement for work is on a zero hours basis (a zero hours contract must be created in a different format, through a casual worker agreement) or where the employee shall only be appointed on a limited, fixed term.This document can only be used by employers who operate in Great Britain.

The document will provide the employee with all the information they need to understand their entitlement to pay, holiday and benefits, and clearly details other key issues such as hours and place of work, to ensure that both employer and employee know their respective positions from the outset. The document also allows the employee to begin their employment with the employer on a probationary period. This probationary period last for up to the first 6 months' of their employment.

The document can also be used to create contract for an employee who will work remotely/from home. This could be in the case of a new employee who will work remotely. Alternatively, the document can be used to create a new contract of employment for an existing employee to permit them to change to remote working. For existing employees, a stand alone Remote Work Agreement can also be used. In the case of an employee who will work from home, an employer should consider creating a Working from Home Business Policy.

In accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation ("UK GDPR") employers must take steps to comply with data protection law when processing and/collecting information about employees. This document is designed to be used in conjunction with an employer's privacy statement (not included within this document) which should be issued to employees in accordance with UK GDPR.

How to Use this Document

The contract should be provided to the employee by the employer to be signed and returned. Both parties should sign two copies of the contract and return one copy to the opposite party.

When issuing a contract of employment, the employer should also provide the employee with all other relevant documents. This might include for example a disciplinary, grievance, health and safety, data protection and/or sickness policies, and any documents relating to other benefits such as insurance or pension documents.

An employer may also wish to impose non-compete provisions upon an employee (for example to prevent the employee from taking customers with them after they leave employment) through a separate non-compete agreement.

It should also be noted that, where an employee aged over 18 and employer reach an agreement that the employee shall work over 48 hours per week, this agreement should be documented separated to the employment contract, under a Working Time Regulations Agreement.

Relevant Law

Both parties should consider and be aware of issues including, but not limited to, holiday and notice entitlement, continuous periods of employment, the national minimum wage, the working time directive, Sunday working rules, statutory sick pay, automatic pensions enrolment, the requirement to provide written statement of particulars, dismissal and discrimination law, and maternity or paternity provisions, although not all of these issues are required to be addressed or considered within the employment contract.

Key legal provisions include:

• The Employment Rights Act 1996 (as amended);
• The Working Time Regulations 1998;
• The Pensions Act 2008, the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003;
• The Sunday Trading Act 1994;
• The National Minimum Wage Act 1998.
• The UK General Data Protection Regulation
• The Data Protection Act 2018

In addition employers should be aware of the ACAS guidelines and procedures.

You can choose to consult a lawyer if you need help.

The lawyer can answer your questions or help you through the process. You will be offered this option when you complete the document.

You fill out a form. The document is created before your eyes as you respond to the questions.

At the end, you receive it in Word and PDF formats. You can modify it and reuse it.