We believe the Contract of Employment to be one of the essential elements for an employer to get right if he is to have a successful business, both in terms of productivity and sound employer/employee relations. Superimposed upon the specific terms in the contract will be a large number of statutory rights and restrictions and perhaps, terms and conditions reached through collective agreements.

There are a variety of issues that clients often have concern over, these can include:

• Variation of existing contracts - Generally, no contracts can be varied without the consent of both parties. Would you like to have the opportunity to vary your contracts, under what circumstances can you vary the contract unilaterally without agreement?

• Employees in competition and confidentiality - To what extent can employers protect themselves from harmful competitive activities of existing staff and ex-employees? Can you protect yourself from the disclosure of trade secrets and confidential information? Are you using a geographical exclusion zone forbidding an ex-employee to operate in?

• Mobility Clause - To what extent can you ask an employee to work from another site, what if you have not included a mobility provision in the contract? Even if you have a mobility clause, could you be indirectly discriminating against an employee if you have asked them to relocate?

• Company Manual/Handbook - A breach of a provision in the manual, is it a breach of policy or contractual term? When is a policy so important that it is a term of the contract? How do the courts approach such matters?

‘even where the handbook as a whole has been incorporated, not all the provisions of a handbook will be incorporated into the contract, some provisions, read in their context may be declarations of an aspiration or policy falling short of a contractual undertaking. Conversely, a handbook presented as a collection of policies would not necessarily preclude them from having contractual effect.’

Court of Appeal
Keeley v Fosrock International Ltd

‘...where a document is expressly incorporated by general words, it is still necessary to consider...whether any particular part of that document is apt to be a term of the contract.’

Justice Hobhouse
Alexander and others v Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd

LPD can guide you on the most suitable contract of employment for your business, from a basic 5 page document to a 50 page comprehensive document.