UK Employment Law\ Employer \ Contracts of Employment
Employment contracts
An employment contract sets out your mutual obligations that both you and your employer must conform to. Without such a written agreement, you are legally accepting your employer’s terms by starting work. The deal does not have to be in writing unless it is for an apprenticeship. An employment contract’s terms can be in writing, spoken, or implied. There are some cases where an agreement is a mixture of all three.
An implied agreement is made up of terms that are obvious, such as: taking reasonable instructions from your boss. Employing you would become unworkable in many cases without the freedom for terms to be implied.
Legal precedent provides that there is an implied contractual term of trust and confidence. This means that each party to the contract must behave in a manner allowing the other to maintain trust and confidence in the other.
Employed or self-employed?
If the employer provides you with work, sets down the times for tasks to be performed, supplies your tools and equipment, and also deals with financial matters (such as tax and national insurance contributions) then you are being treated as an employee.
You are self-employed if you decide whether to accept work and how to perform it. You also make your own arrangements for holidays or sickness, pay your own tax and NI contributions. However, it is not always the case that someone described as a self-employed worker is actually self-employed. Do not take for granted either that carrying out tasks on the employer’s premises or at your own home has sway over the real legal status.
The deciding factor comes down to whether you are genuinely in business on your own account. A tribunal may need to determine this first, before moving on to whether there has been a breach of any employment contract.
Statement of particulars.
Anyone who is employed in excess of a month can be given a written contract listing the main particulars. It does not have to cover every facet of a full contract, but should provide important evidence regarding terms and conditions of employment. This has to be done within two months of the date employment starts.
Wages
The focus of most employment contracts is on how the employee is to be paid for the work they are employed to do. The terms of pay might not just involve wages, but also commission. This is often the way that many sales reps are paid. The contract can also specify fringe benefits, including:
- retirement plan;
- share scheme;
- holiday entitlement;
- private health insurance;
- bonuses.
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