#9717 - Contracts Of Employment Consolidation - Employment Law

Job title

The Employer shall employ the Employee in the capacity of (job title). [In addition to the duties which this job normally entails, the Employee may from time to time be required to undertake additional or other duties as necessary to meet the needs of the Employer's business.] The Employee's employment will commence on (specify) [no employment with a previous employer counts as part of a period of continuous employment or forms part of a continuous period of employment which began on (date) with (name of previous employer)].

• Sensible to include provisions dealing with expenses, especially if the employee has to work in a different office. These may include:

  • The employee must get permission from the employer in order to incur an expense of over 50

  • The employee must provide all receipts of any expenses incurred

• Weekly working time – In a 17-week period (which may be extended), no worker is permitted to work more than an average of 48 hours (including overtime) a week

  • The reference period of 17 weeks means that, so long as the employee has not worked more than the average in the 17 weeks preceding and including today, then the rules are not breached. In view of this, employers are well advised to put in place early warning systems to check whether an employee is nearing the limit on each rolling period

  • The worker can opt out of this (see pages 50-52)

• Adult workers are also entitled to:

  • Eleven consecutive hours’ rest in every 24-hour period

  • An uninterrupted rest period of not less than 24 hours in each seven-day period (in addition to the daily rest period)

  • Twenty minutes’ rest break, provided that the working day is longer than six hours

  • An entitlement to 5.6 weeks’ (i.e. 28 days for a 5-day per week employee) paid annual leave

Hours of employment

1. The Employee's normal hours of employment shall be from (time) to (time) on (specify days) [during which one hour may be taken for lunch at (time) or between (time) and (time).]

2. The Employee may be required to work such hours outside normal hours of employment as the Employer considers necessary to meet the needs of the business and the Employee shall [not] be paid for such further hours [at the rate of (................................ pounds) per hour].]

or

[There are no normal working hours for this employment and the Employee is required to work at such times and for such periods as are necessary for the efficient discharge of his duties.]

• With effect from 6 April 2013, the rate of statutory sick pay is 86.70, which is payable for a maximum period of 28 weeks in any three years

Sickness

1. In the event of absence on account of sickness or injury the Employee (or someone on his behalf) must inform the Employer of the reason for the Employee's absence as soon as possible and must do so no later than [the end of the working day] on which absence first occurs.

2. In respect of absence lasting [7 or fewer] calendar days the Employee is not required to produce a medical certificate unless specifically so requested by the Employer but must complete the Employer's self-certification form on return to work from such absence.

3. In respect of absence lasting more than [7] calendar days the Employee must on the [eighth] calendar day of absence provide the Employer with a medical certificate stating the reason for absence and thereafter provide a like certificate [each week] to cover any subsequent period of absence. [The Employer reserves the right to ask the Employee at any stage of absence to produce a medical certificate and/or to undergo a medical examination].

4. The Employee will be paid his normal basic remuneration (less the amount of any statutory sick pay or social security sickness benefit to which he may be entitled) for (state number) working days in total in any one sick pay year which runs from (date) to (date). Entitlement to payment is subject to notification of absence and production of medical certificates in accordance with clauses 7.1 to 7.3.

5. The Employer operates the Statutory Sick Pay scheme and the Employee is required to co-operate in the maintenance of necessary records. For the purposes of calculating the Employee's entitlement to Statutory Sick Pay ‘qualifying days’ are [those days on which the Employee is normally required to work]. Payments made to the Employee by the Employer under sick pay provisions in satisfaction of any other contractual entitlement will go towards discharging the Employer's liability to make payment to the Employee under the Statutory Sick Pay scheme.