An employer is obliged by law to provide an employee with a statement of the main terms of their employment within eight weeks of commencement of employment. The Employment Tribunal can award up to four weeks gross pay to an employee if such particulars were not provided.

Often, the first port of call for an Employment Tribunal is the contract of employment. An Employment Tribunal will ask - did the employer have the right to take the action? The contract of employment will be extremely helpful in determining the answer.

Pitfalls

Without the contractual right an employer cannot

• make deductions from employees' wages, even for overtaken holidays.
• lawfully lay off staff or place them on short-time

Not only will properly prepared contracts of employment enable you to take actions that would not ordinarily be lawful, they confirm to employees the standards expected from them. 

We recognise one size does not fit all. We can visit your premises to observe and discuss how your business operates on a day to day basis. We can then prepare bespoke:

• contracts of employment
• service agreements
• policies and procedures   

If you already have contracts of employment and policies in place we can review them to ensure they are up to date with employment legislation and have the intended effect - for example, is the discretionary bonus policy really discretionary or does it convey a contractual right?