Employment contracts

If you need a specialist employment law support to draft employment contracts and policies, are an employee who needs a legal review of your employment contract, get in contact with us.

Our employment team helps put in place the contractual foundations you can rely upon.

Employment contracts

Employers would rather not spend time and money on employment contracts and policies. However, they are a necessity for running a stable workforce and avoiding claims. Off-the-shelf templates are attractive, although they often prove to be a false economy when you come to rely on them.

We cover employment obligations and protections at all stages from:

• Commencement of employment;
• Flexibility for effective management during employment;
• Restrictions designed to prevent anti-competitive behaviour;
• Special provisions needed for directors;
• Drafting and calculation of bonus payments; and
• Obligations upon termination of employment.

Key employment contract clauses

Some really important clauses employers need are not automatically implied into  contracts of employment.  If the employer is to have any protection, specific wording is needed. Core clauses where the employer will be at risk include :-

• Employee duty of confidentiality - special protection needs to be included in the employment documentation to protect trade secrets, know-how, customer and supplier details.
• IP and trade secrets - there is no automatic employer  protection for the intellectual property used in the business, such as databases, client information, products, designs and copyright, without specific contractual agreement.
• Restrictive covenants and anti competition provisions - clauses which are not proportionate, necessary and legally justifiable legally may be partly or wholly unenforceable.
• Monitoring of employees and working from home
• Garden leave - a garden leave clause means you can exclude the employee from the business without the risk of breaching the restrictive covenants.  Enforcement of restrictive covenants will be easier with garden leave clauses.
• Pay in lieu of notice - A PILON clause provides flexibility for employers.  Employers can use the PILON to keep the employee out of the market and stop them joining a competitor for the length of the non-compete.

Employment policies

We prepare employment policies appropriate for your business. These are usually contained in staff handbooks or other reasonably accessible documents. The reason employers often have lengthy policies rather than contracts, is that policies can generally be unilaterally changed by the employer whereas contracts cannot. We can advise which policies should form a binding contractual commitment that employers must stick to, and which policies are best left as non-contractual to build in flexibility for the employer.

Employment contract review for employees

The employment law team are also regularly instructed by employees offered employment who want to know if the contract is standard or contains unusual clauses.

Legal advice is particularly worthwhile for directors or senior executives offered employment. Areas to watch out for often include bonuses and share options.