I Only Have A Small Business, Do I Need Contracts Of Employment For My Staff?

As soon as someone accepts a job offer from your business, regardless of business size, they enter into a contract with you as the employer. An employment contract does not have to be written down.

As soon as the person starts work you must then provide them with a ‘written statement of employment particulars’, which states the main conditions of employment including:

• the employer’s name
• the employee’s/worker’s name, job title and start date
• how much and how often they will get paid
• hours and days of work, how they may vary, and if there will be overtime
• holiday entitlement (and whether it includes public holidays)
• sick pay
• other paid leave
• place of work
• how long the job is expected to last/notice period
• if there is probation period and if so if there are conditions
• any benefits
• obligatory training and if it is paid for or not by the employer

Anyone who is legally classed as an employee or worker has the right to a written contract setting out the main terms of their employment, including zero-hours and casual workers.

Moreover, as an employer, you must provide a contract within two months of the start of a person’s employment. If you fail to do this, the employee can make a claim at an employment tribunal where they may be awarded compensation between 2 to 4 week’s pay.

Additional information that needs to be included:

• pensions and pension schemes
• collective agreements
• any non-compulsory training provided by the employer
• disciplinary and grievance procedures

If the employee has to ask for their employment contract, this is called, ‘asserting a statutory right’, which could give rise to another claim, especially if the employee suffers a detriment as a result of the request.

How do I get an employment contract?

There are free employment contracts available online. However these may not be appropriate for your industry or organisation, they may not reflect your businesses’ policies and culture, and ultimately are unlikely to include all the correct details for your particular organisation.

Ideally you will want to have employment contracts that are custom written for your business and the roles within it. By using a solicitor you can be sure that the contracts you receive will be legally compliant and will cover all the individual procedures relevant to your organisation.

How to change an employment contract

Sometimes you may wish to alter employment contracts to ensure they are up to date with new laws or regulations, to better reflect someone's job role, or to introduce new terms and conditions. In this case permission must be obtained from the employee.

If you are in need of employment contracts for new staff or would like to update current employment contracts then call us today on Bingley 01274 723858,  Ilkley 01943 601173 or Bradford 01274 735511.