By law, you must give all new starters a .’ Since April 2020, this requirement applies to . This means there are various terms you must put in writing on or before the person’s first day. You can meet this requirement by issuing an offer letter or contract containing (as a minimum) the mandatory information. You must also inform individuals in writing of any changes to the particulars within . This requirement applies, for example, if you change the person’s hours, pay, or place of work, including if you approve a flexible working request.
In addition to the terms that you include in the contract, some terms will be ‘implied’ into it and will be binding even though they’re not written down. Employees have an implied duty to follow reasonable instructions. These are some other examples of implied terms:
- You have an implied duty to provide .
- Both you and the employee are subject to a duty of . If you act in a completely unreasonable way, you will breach this term and the employee can resign and claim constructive unfair dismissal.
- Various are incorporated into employment contracts by law. These include the right to the minimum wage and a minimum notice period and the right for a woman to receive equal pay to a man doing work of equal value.
- You may have reached a with a trade union and these changes will automatically be incorporated into employees’ contracts.
- A right may have become incorporated into the contract through For example, a zero-hours worker who regularly works fixed hours might claim they have become entitled to those hours regardless of what their contract says. Or if it has become customary to pay a Christmas bonus, or enhance redundancy claims, you may face claims if you withdraw this benefit without employees’ _agreement, even though it is not written into their contracts.
If you agree on a contract change verbally with an employee, an employment tribunal may also decide this is binding. For example, you agree to give an employee a pay rise, but they hand in their notice before you write a letter confirming this and do your next payroll. If you withdraw the pay rise, they could rightly claim that you are obliged to pay them a higher amount during their 3-month notice period. You made a verbal agreement to increase their pay and if you don’t honour it, this is a breach of contract and an unlawful deduction from wages.
If an employee fails to sign their original or amended contract, it’s likely they just forgot. Sometimes, though, they may later claim they objected to a term or a change, in which case it may not be enforceable.
So many of the issues that employers face, such as cases, dealing with or needing to of an employee's contract could easily have been avoided – if only a few simple clauses has been included in the contracts.
The HR Branch can help remove your worries about mistakes in employment contracts. We can ensure you are using the right clauses to protect your business in the future.
