Section/Definition/Clause  

Note

You are 

Please insert the full name and address of the employee.

Privacy Notice

The references within this agreement to ‘Privacy Notice’ refer to the general privacy notice that the company issues. There is an option here for including a link to that Privacy Notice but stating the same within this definition.

Statutory Pay

This definition lists the statutory payments applicable to employees. Note that Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay is applicable from 6^th April 2020. 

Clause 3(f) – Period

Probationary

Please refer to the Probationary Period in the Schedule Part 1 and  choose the period which is appropriate to your business or the employees role. Although we have specified that the Probationary Period is deemed to continue until the employee is notified otherwise, it is best practice to address whether an employee has completed his or her Probationary Period by way of review prior to its stated end date. Contact Lawspeed on 01273 236 236 for further advice.

Clause 3(p) authority 

– limits on

This clause may need to be amended or deleted depending upon the role of the employee and whether it is intended that they have any such authority. If granting such authority please specify whether it is a general authority or limited to any specific projects, clients or business areas. For more advice call Lawspeed on 01273 236 236.

Clause 3(q) & 3(s) –  disclosure, information, discoveries and intellectual property

This provision has been included to place an obligation on the employee to inform you if they, or any other employee, have been approached by a head hunter or other recruiter to seek to find them employment elsewhere. This may not be enforceable in practice however including it in the contract may act as a deterrent. It is advisable where possible that reports relating to other employees as referred to in clause 3(s) be kept anonymous in order to protect the individual informing you of these actions.

Clause 4(a)

This clause is confirmation from the employee that he or she has not been convicted of a relevant criminal offence, other than where this has already been disclosed. Please note that this should only include spent convictions where an offence is considered exempt under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. 

Clause 5(c) to (f) – sick pay, absence and statutory

entitlements

This section provides for statutory payments only in respect of periods of absence for sickness or other forms of statutory leave (excluding holidays). Any additional payments will be on a case by case basis and discretionary. If occupational sick pay is to be offered as a contractual guaranteed payment, there is wording in  Schedule Part 1 which can be applied.

Clause 5(g) – reporting and medical requirements

This clause allows for medical reports to be obtained, assessing the consequences of a failure to do so. Health information is sensitive personal data under the GDPR and therefore a specific lawful basis will be required for processing of that data. For advice on GDPR, obtaining medical reports or should an employee refuse to cooperate please contact Lawspeed for advice. 

Clause 5(j) holidays

This clause allows you to select the intervals at which you calculate Holiday Entitlement paid in lieu of termination of employment. Select only one option that is in accordance with your policy and delete the others that do not apply. Ensure all brackets are removed prior to issue. 

Clause7(a)-(e) – termination

These clauses allow for termination with immediate effect in the event of gross misconduct or for termination with notice. The normal agreed notice period is set out in the Schedule Part 1. This clause also sets out restrictions as applicable during any period of garden leave. In the event that, on the termination of their employment, an employee is prevented from working during their notice period, we have provided for commission payments to be suspended. If commission is not suspended and you prevent the employee from working during their notice period, the employee may argue that you are in breach of contract by failing to provide them with work unless your obligation to provide work is excluded. Clause 5(b) of the contract therefore expressly states that you are not under any obligation to provide work.

Clause 8 – particulars of employment 

This clause is included in order to meet some of the requirements in the Employment Rights Act 1996, specifically that an employee is made aware of the relevant disciplinary and grievance steps, to address any terms relating to pensions and whether there are any collective agreements applicable to the employment. Please insert details about where your disciplinary and grievance procedures can be located (clause 8(a)). Lawspeed can assist should you require such documentation. For advice and details call 01273 236 236.

Please select the appropriate option in respect of pensions, noting that most employees have to be auto enrolled into a pension scheme, and details of either any applicable collective agreements or that none are applicable to the employment – please select the appropriate option at clauses 8(b) and (c) and remove the option that is not used along with the brackets and the word “or”.

Schedule – Part 1

This section is for the inclusion of terms specific to a particular employee, please complete all sections, specifically 

•       Commencement Date – this date should reflect the actual date that employment began. This may be different to the commencement date of the contract, where this contract is being issued to existing employees to update or vary their terms of employment. Select the appropriate wording and remove unused wording and all square brackets. 

Place of work – this assumes that the employee will not be required to work outside the UK for periods of more than 1 month. If the employee is required to work abroad for extended periods there are additional terms that are required to be included in the terms. If you have employees that are required to work abroad additional advice should be sought in relation to any terms to be included. Select the appropriate wording and remove unused wording and all square brackets.

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Category S – Category S applies where an employee has a senior managerial position within the organisation and/or is a director. The individual must have some autonomy and responsibility with regard to staff and/or clients. If so, the individual can potentially have additional fiduciary duties towards the company and the duties as detailed at clause 4 of the Special Terms of Part 3 of Schedule 1 will apply.  Please select yes or no depending upon the status of the employee and the nature of the role.

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Duties – details can be stated here or there can be reference to a job description “as provided from time to time”.

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Holiday entitlement – Please note that the holiday entitlement under this contract refers to the statutory entitlement under the Working Time Regulations. This is currently 5.6 weeks, which is 28 days for a full time employee.  It is important to note that public and bank holidays have been deliberately omitted because there is no statutory entitlement to these holidays and you need to decide if you want to permit the employees to take the holiday as unpaid holiday in addition to the 28 days or you may decide to ask them to take the holiday as part of their 28 working days entitlement. Another alternative, which you are not bound to offer by law, is to pay your employees for these holidays in addition to the 28 working days entitlement. Should you decide to do this, then the clause has to be amended to read “you are entitled in addition to normal public holidays to take your Holiday Entitlement at times………”.  If you are uncertain as to an employee’s entitlement, please call Lawspeed on 01273 236 236 for advice. Note that pay for any period taken as holiday must be at the employees normal rate of pay, this will sometimes be more than the basic rate of pay and will include things like commission, bonuses and overtime where that overtime is guaranteed or provided on a regular basis. Where an employee’s hours of work or pay varies then the holiday pay should be calculated with reference to the average pay received in the 12 weeks actually worked in the period immediately prior to the holiday period (reference period). From April 2020 this reference period is being extended to 52 weeks, for employees within their first year of employment the reference period should be calculated as the average of all payments received during their employment.

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Sick pay – Please note that the default under this contract is that statutory sick pay is paid for any period of absence. If you wanted to include occupational sick pay, details can be included here, for advice on completing this section, please contact Lawspeed. 

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Notice – There are minimum statutory notice periods which must be applied to employees. These are 1 weeks’ notice if the employee has between 4 weeks’ and 2 years’ service, thereafter, it is one weeks’ notice for each complete year of employment up to a maximum of 12 weeks. Whatever notice period is agreed in the contract it must always be at least the statutory minimum.

•       Additional benefits & special terms – if these are not applicable use N/A. However, in relation to special terms you should always select ‘See Part 3’ in relation to employees you wish to restrict including ‘Category S’ employees.

•       Training – the first option applies where there are specific training requirements and allows for details to be specified, including details of who will be responsible for paying for the training but also allowing for reference to a specific training manual or other document.  The second option is more generic and applies where training may be offered generally to employees but is not mandatory.

Part 2 – Additional Benefits 

This section can address any additional benefits, however the terms as drafted are to address commission generally, providing that the actual details of commission, for example how it is calculated, targets and relevant % be included within a separate commission plan. Having the detail in a separate document allows for ease of amendment, albeit that this cannot be addressed retrospectively. The provisions at 7 to 11 are specific to recruitment, so can be removed in the event that this agreement is used with a member of staff who is not in recruitment.

Part 3 – Special Terms

This section addresses restriction on the employees’ activity with regard to the solicitation of staff, clients and activities in competition with the company. Generally, restriction provisions are void and therefore not enforceable unless they are both necessary to protect your business interests and reasonable, these are normally necessary in the recruitment sector. The general rule is the more senior the employee the greater the protection you require to protect your business and here we have included some restrictions typically applicable in recruitment.

•       1(a) – we have suggested 6 months as being a period which a court is likely to find reasonable.  A period in excess of 6 months should only be used for very senior employees and even then 12 months is likely to be the maximum period that is enforceable.

•       1(b) – Periods of six to twelve months have been accepted by the courts; the closer the period is to a six month limitation, the better the chances that the court will find the term reasonable.

•       2 – A restriction of 6 months is likely to be considered reasonable by the courts. Periods in excess of 6 months should only be used for very senior employees and 12 months should be the absolute maximum. Select the appropriate restriction for your business. Each case will turn on its own facts, but a restriction that encompasses too wide an area (for example, the whole of London) is unlikely to be enforceable, as it may not be regarded as more that is strictly necessary to protect your business interests.  It is likely that a UK wide restriction will only be enforceable in very limited circumstances, for example, where you work in a particularly niche sector. Please call Lawspeed on 01273 236 236 for more information.

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4 – This section will apply where the employee is Category S. For Category S to apply the employee must be in a senior managerial position or a director and have autonomy and responsibility. This section will only apply where the ‘yes’ option is selected at clause 4 of Part 1 to the Schedule.