A contract of employment is an agreement entered into by an employer and an employee under which they have certain mutual obligations.


Contracts of employment may be oral or written. They may be of indefinite duration, or for fixed terms. They may be for training, apprenticeship or other purposes. In law, employees have a contract of employment as soon as they start work even where the written statement of employment particulars required by the legislation has not been given to the employee. More.


If no contract of employment exists beforehand, one will come into existence as soon as an employee starts work and, by doing so, demonstrates that he or she accepts the job on the terms offered by the employer. The contract need not be in writing, unless it is a contract of apprenticeship (employers should note however that a contract of apprenticeship may be found by the courts to be implied even if it is not in writing). Its terms can be written, oral, implied or a mixture of all three.

Implied terms might include those that are too obvious to be expressly agreed - for example, a term that the employee must accept reasonable instructions from the employer - those that are necessary to make the contract workable and those that are established by custom and practice in the particular organisation or industry concerned.

All employees are entitled to receive a written statement, provided that their employment lasts for one month or more.

The written statement must cover:

the names of the employer and the employee;
the date when the employment (and the period of continuous employment) began;
remuneration and the intervals at which it is to be paid;
hours of work;
holiday entitlement;
entitlement to sick leave, including any entitlement to sick pay;
pensions and pension schemes;
the entitlement of employer and employee to notice of termination;
job title or a brief job description;
where it is not permanent, the period for which the employment is expected to continue or, if it is for a fixed term, the date when it is to end.
either the place of work or, if the employee is required or allowed to work in more than one location, an indication of this and of the employer's address; and
details of the existence of any relevant collective agreements which directly affect the terms and conditions of the employee's employment - including, where the employer is not a party, the persons by whom they were made.