Contract of Employment - Question.
 

I have been working for the same family run business for nearly 20 years now.

I still don’t have a contract of employment. I know there are pro’s and con’s to having one or not, but I now want one and will probably ask for it this week.

I just wondered if they have a set amount of time to provide it after I have asked?

And the last cheeky question is would anybody here have a read over it before I sign please?

I don’t mind buying you a beer for your trouble, cheers.

Re: Contract of Employment - Question.
 

Not really my area of expertise but as far as I know, them offering to pay you a wage in return for you doing jobs means that there is technically an agreement in place. The contract comes in handy with things like holiday/sick days/sick pay/disciplinary etc. Sure quedos (abi) is in HR and knows all about this sort of stuff? I might be getting her confused with someone?

Re: Contract of Employment - Question.
 

Lily is in HR

Re: Contract of Employment - Question.
 

How teh feck could I forget lily?! :( sowry :(

Re: Contract of Employment - Question.
 

The company I work for is becoming strange, the MD claims that he is unable to stop people from using mobile phones or making private calls from our office phones. He tells me the law does not let him take any action. He also claims that for persistent lateness and sickness it is not possible to give verbal or written warnings. Apparently…. I cant see this as being true. Surely if you are supposed to be working you should not be calling your Mrs on the office phone and checking Ebay and Facebook on the internet and also texting mates consistently. That’s just wrong.

I even write on here in my break time, maybe I should start doing this all day if I am not going to get bollocked for it eh.:confused:

Re: Contract of Employment - Question.
 

Well there's probably no actual legistlation about personal calls & facefook, but company policy can be written out and clearly state things like "If an employee is found to be on social networking sites during their allocated working time, they will face disciplinary procedures - for full details of our disciplinary procedures, refer to your contract or request a copy from HR"

or words along those lines - nothing illegal about it as long as people have been warned about the consequences of doing something. Failing that he could get some IT guys to block facebook & the like?

Re: Contract of Employment - Question.
 

Not in HR but union rep but thank you!!- Here's what I can find on it for you

Contract of Employments do not have to be written down although this makes its easier to despute things. However since you been working 20 years custom and practice will apply

You are entitled to a witten statement within two months of starting the job and you will probably encounter this
Implied contract terms

Implied terms aren't written down anywhere, but are understood to exist. If there's nothing clearly agreed between you and your employer about a particular matter, then it may be covered by an implied term. Terms are implied into a contract for a number of reasons.

Terms that are necessary to make the contract work

Terms can also be implied because they are necessary to make the contract work. The most important of these is the 'duty of mutual trust and confidence'. This means that you and your employer rely on each other to be honest and respectful. For example, your employer trusts you not to destroy company property, and you trust your employer not to bully you.

Terms that are obvious or assumed

Some terms are included either because they are so obvious that it is not felt necessary to write them down, or because it will be assumed that such a term exists.
An example of this might be where a contract provides for sick pay without saying how long it will be paid. It will be assumed that it is not intended to be paid forever.

Terms implied by custom and practice

These are specific to an employer or kind of work. They are arrangements that have never been clearly agreed but over time have become part of the contract.
For example, you might get a Christmas bonus every year, or the business might close early on particular days.


If a company practice has become a part of your contract then your employer must stick to it, and cannot normally change it without your agreement.

• Changes to employment contracts

Whether a particular practice has become a part of the contract can be very difficult to decide. There is no fixed time limit after which something is definitely part of the contract.


Among other things, it depends on:

• how seriously it has been treated (has the employer acted like they have a choice?)
• how clear it is (has the employer treated the matter differently each time?)
• how long it has been in place

Just make sure that in the written terms you get what you've been getting for the past years.
Principal statement



Your employer must provide you with some of your employment details in one single document. This is known as the 'principal statement' and must include:

• your name and your employer’s name
  
• your job title or a brief job description
  
• the date when your employment began
  
• your pay rate and when you will be paid
  
• your hours of work
  
• your holiday entitlement
  
• where you will be working (if you are based in more than one place it should say this along with your employer’s address)
• sick pay arrangements
  
• notice periods
  
• information about disciplinary and grievance procedures
  
• any collective agreements that affect your employment terms or conditions
  
• pensions and pension schemes
  
• if you are not a permanent employee how long your employment is expected to continue, or if you are a fixed term worker the date your employment will end

The letter offering you the job, or your employment contract, could be your principal statement or full written statement. There is no need for your employer to give you a separate written statement if everything is covered in either of these two documents.
Your employer can give you photocopies from your staff handbook or other documents that contain the details of your employment. If they do this you should still receive a written statement telling you what detail the photocopies contain.
If your employer does not offer one of the terms that must be set out in the written statement (such as a pension scheme), they must say that it is not offered in your written statement. Your employer cannot just leave it out.
The written statement must be clear and correct. You cannot be dismissed for asking for a written statement.

Re: Contract of Employment - Question.
 

Can't better what Abi has posted.

But on the issue of misuse of Company phones etc, your MD needs to issue a Company handbook. This will cover all the do's and don't's that would take up xxx pages in a contract.

Thereafter just one line in the contract of employment refering to the Company handbook, or alternatively just a memo to all refering to the new procedures in the Co handbook. Simples.

Re: Contract of Employment - Question.
 

As for mobile etc - its need to written into policy and everyone given a new copy of the poilcy highlighting the changes and the consequences.
we have an IT policy that states whats acceptable useage and conequences of failing to adhere. covers balckberries and workstations.
Mobile phone policy states that all personal calls are paid for by employees and bills are checked every month. Personal calls are disuaded during operational time but realise that they may be necessary and should be kept to a minimum Employees given an option to hand back mobiles if they do not agree with policy.

Need to do it quick before they become part of implied terms as above. as long as they are treating everyone the same at the mo

Re: Contract of Employment - Question.
 

Hmmm, thanks. the main reason for the OP was because all staff are not being treated the same. Some are not allowed to have their mobiles and some use them ALL the time. i dont but am really annoyed. Thanks and I appreciate your response here, need to go think about all this. Cheers