Em­ploy­ment Con­tract in a Nut­shell

Your em­ploy­ment con­tract is where you’ll find all of the terms of your em­ploy­ment, from your con­trac­ted hours per week, to your rate of pay, to your role ex­pect­a­tions. Keep­ing a copy of your em­ploy­ment con­tract handy is useful for everything from dis­putes around your role to claim­ing annual leave you’re en­titled to.

In this art­icle, we’ll ex­plain what an em­ploy­ment con­tract is, what the key terms you can expect to find in it are, and what your rights are as an em­ployee in the UK - even if these aren’t ex­pli­citly set out in your em­ploy­ment con­tract.

What is an Em­ploy­ment Con­tract?

An em­ploy­ment con­tract is a formal agree­ment that out­lines the terms of em­ploy­ment between an em­ployee and em­ployer.

This is the most im­port­ant doc­u­ment an em­ployee can have as it clearly defines what the em­ployer ex­pects from the em­ployee and vice versa, as well as key terms of the em­ploy­ment re­la­tion­ship like con­trac­ted hours and rate of pay.

Set­ting out these terms and con­di­tions in a writ­ten doc­u­ment is the best way to pre­vent mis­un­der­stand­ings and provide legal pro­tec­tion for both parties, and there are plenty of UK em­ploy­ment con­tract tem­plates online that you can use as a starting point.

Em­ploy­ment Con­tract Tem­plate

Al­though every con­tract of em­ploy­ment is unique, there are a few key ele­ments that should be con­tained in every sample em­ploy­ment con­tract tem­plate:

• Job De­tails: Every job con­tract should spe­cify the job title and out­line the duties ex­pec­ted of the em­ployee to sup­port the fair as­sess­ment of their job per­form­ance.
• Com­pens­a­tion and Be­ne­fits: The con­tract should detail the salary, any po­ten­tial bo­nuses, and be­ne­fits such as health in­sur­ance, re­tire­ment plans, and other perks.
• Work­ing Hours and Con­di­tions: It should define the reg­u­lar work­ing hours, flex­ib­il­ity op­tions like remote work, and the work en­vir­on­ment. This sec­tion helps set bound­ar­ies and manage ex­pect­a­tions on both ends.
• Ter­min­a­tion Con­di­tions: It should clearly state the con­di­tions under which the em­ploy­ment can be ter­min­ated, such as the notice period re­quired from either side and the pro­ced­ures for hand­ling dis­cip­lin­ary or re­dund­ancy pro­ceed­ings.
• Con­fid­en­ti­al­ity: In­clud­ing a con­fid­en­ti­al­ity clause pro­tects sens­it­ive com­pany in­form­a­tion, en­sur­ing that em­ploy­ees un­der­stand their data pro­tec­tion ob­lig­a­tions.
• Non-com­pete Clauses: These clauses pre­vent em­ploy­ees from en­ter­ing into com­pet­i­tion with the em­ployer during or after their em­ploy­ment period, for ex­ample by ban­ning them from work­ing for a direct com­pet­itor. These clauses are most rel­ev­ant for highly skilled pro­fes­sion­als.
• Dis­pute Res­ol­u­tion: Out­line the agreed-upon meth­ods for resolv­ing dis­putes, in­clud­ing the em­ployee dis­cip­lin­ary and griev­ance pro­ced­ures.

💡 Did you know that you can sign em­ploy­ment con­tracts with using elec­tron­ic sig­na­ture?

Em­ployee Rights Under UK Em­ploy­ment Law

Al­though most em­ploy­ment con­tracts state many of the em­ployee’s rights under UK em­ploy­ment law, there are rights which exist for em­ploy­ees in the UK re­gardless of whet­h­er or not they are men­tioned in the con­tract. These in­clude for ex­ample safe work­ing en­vir­on­ment, pro­tec­tion against dis­crim­in­a­tion, en­ti­tle­ment to leave, pro­tec­tion from unfair dis­mis­sal.

Safe Work­ing En­vir­on­ment

Every em­ployee is en­titled to a safe and healthy work­ing en­vir­on­ment. Em­ploy­ers are re­quired to ensure that the work­place meets all safety stand­ards and is free from haz­ards that could cause harm.

Pro­tec­tion Against Dis­crim­in­a­tion

Em­ploy­ees are pro­tec­ted under the law from dis­crim­in­a­tion based on age, gender, race, re­li­gion, dis­ab­il­ity, and other pro­tec­ted char­ac­ter­ist­ics.

For ex­ample, if an em­ployee re­quires ad­just­ments due to a dis­ab­il­ity, like an er­go­nom­ic desk setup, or longer dead­lines to com­plete tasks, the em­ployer must provide reas­on­able ac­com­mod­a­tions to sup­port the em­ployee’s needs.

This en­sures that all em­ploy­ees in the UK have equal op­por­tun­it­ies in the work­place and are treated with fairness and re­spect.

En­ti­tle­ment to Leave

Em­ploy­ees have the right to vari­ous types of leave. This in­cludes annual leave, ma­ter­nity and pa­tern­ity leave, and sick leave. For ex­ample, while em­ploy­ers can re­quire ad­vance notice or re­strict leave during peak business peri­ods, they cannot un­reas­on­ably deny the use of en­titled annual leave.

These pro­vi­sions ensure that em­ploy­ees can take ne­ces­sary time off for health, family, and leis­ure without fear of losing their jobs.

Pro­tec­tion from Unfair Dis­mis­sal

Em­ploy­ees have the right to be pro­tec­ted from unfair dis­mis­sal after work­ing for an em­ployer for two years. This means that an em­ployer must have a valid reason for ter­min­at­ing an em­ploy­ment con­tract after this period and they must follow a fair pro­cess in order to ter­min­ate it.

Read more: Free Elec­tron­ic Sig­na­ture

Re­view­ing and Ne­go­ti­at­ing the Con­tract of Em­ploy­ment

The em­ploy­ment con­tract is almost always drafted by the em­ployer using an em­ploy­ment con­tract tem­plate, but that doesn’t mean that both the em­ployer and em­ployee shouldn’t review it thor­oughly before sign­ing it.

Un­der­stand­ing each clause fully en­sures that both parties are aware of their rights and ob­lig­a­tions. If there’s something you’re unsure about or don’t agree with, be sure to raise this with the other party and resolve the issue before sign­ing the con­tract.

Given the com­plex­ity of some con­trac­tu­al terms, es­pe­cially for high-value em­ploy­ment con­tracts, it may be a good idea to ask a so­li­citor to review the con­tract before you sign it. They can help cla­ri­fy any com­plex clauses, advise on legal im­plic­a­tions, and ensure that the con­tract com­plies with cur­rent em­ploy­ment laws and your ex­pect­a­tions of the role.

Un­der­stand­ing Em­ploy­ment Con­tracts in the UK

Get­ting to grips with your em­ploy­ment con­tract is key to starting your job on the right foot. These con­tracts spell out everything from your job duties to your rights at work, making sure both you and your em­ployer are on the same page.

Before you sign your em­ploy­ment con­tract, take a good look through the de­tails and don’t hes­it­ate to get legal advice if any­thing is un­clear.

Read more

• Be­com­ing self-em­ployed in the UK
• Flight Delay Com­pens­a­tion
• Ten­ancy Agree­ment
• Cease and Desist Letter
• Con­tract ter­min­a­tion