Contract of employment definition

View the related checklists about Contract of employment

Determining applicable law and jurisdiction, and the territorial scope of statutory employment rights—checklist

Determining applicable law and jurisdiction, and the territorial scope of statutory employment rights—checklist This Checklist provides an overview of the questions to be asked when determining: • which system of law is applicable to a contract of employment or employment relationship (applicable law) • whose courts and/or tribunals should decide an employment case (jurisdiction), and • how the courts and employment tribunals decide what statutory rights, if any, an employee who works abroad and/or has a foreign employer (territorial application or scope of statutory employment rights) Brexit impact From exit day (31 January 2020) the UK ceased to be an EU Member State but, in accordance with the transitional arrangements provided in the Withdrawal Agreement, the UK was in an implementation period (IP) until 11pm on 31 December 2020, known as ‘IP completion day’. During this period, the UK continued to be treated by the EU as a Member State for many purposes. While it could not participate in the political institutions and governance structures of the EU, the UK...

Drafting checklist for claim or response—unfair dismissal: redundancy

Drafting checklist for claim or response—unfair dismissal: redundancy Both parties • Was the Claimant an employee? See Practice Notes: Entitlement to claim unfair dismissal—Eligibility and Employee status • Did the Claimant have requisite qualifying service, or does an exception apply? See Practice Note: Qualifying period for unfair dismissal • Has the Claimant complied with the requirement for early conciliation or does one of the exemptions apply? See Practice Note: The early conciliation requirement • Is the claim brought within the three-month time limit, or the period as extended if the requirement for early conciliation applies? See Practice Notes: Unfair dismissal time limit and The early conciliation requirement—Extension to time limits (the 'stop the clock' provisions) • Is the contract of employment arguably void for illegality? See Practice Note: Entitlement to claim unfair dismissal—Illegality • Does the Claimant fall within a category of employee excluded from unfair dismissal protection, eg police constables. See Practice Note: Entitlement to claim unfair dismissal—Particular types of employment • Was the Claimant’s work based in Great...

View the related flowcharts about Contract of employment

Determining jurisdiction in employment disputes (1 January 2021 onwards)—flowchart

Determining jurisdiction in employment disputes (1 January 2021 onwards)—flowchart This Flowchart provides an overview of the questions to be asked when determining international jurisdiction in employment cases, ie where proceedings can be brought, or which courts and/or tribunals should decide the case, where the proceedings were instituted from 1 January 2021 onwards. For further information on jurisdiction in employment cases from 1 January 2021 onwards, see Practice Note: International jurisdiction—the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 in employment cases. For a Flowchart: • for determining jurisdiction in employment disputes prior to 31 December 2020, see: Determining jurisdiction in employment disputes (to IP completion day)—flowchart [Archived] • for determining the applicable law, ie which system of law is applicable to a contract of employment or employment relationship, see: Determining applicable law in employment disputes—flowchart • for determining the territorial application or scope of statutory employment rights, see: Determining what UK statutory rights an employee has—flowchart For a Checklist that provides an overview of the questions to be asked when determining applicable...

Determining jurisdiction in employment disputes (to IP completion day)—flowchart [Archived]

Determining jurisdiction in employment disputes (to IP completion day)—flowchart [Archived] ARCHIVED: This archived Flowchart provides an overview of the questions to be asked when determining international jurisdiction in employment cases, ie where proceedings can be brought, or which courts and/or tribunals should decide the case, where the proceedings were instituted on or before IP completion day (11pm on 31 December 2020). For further guidance on the impact of IP completion day, see Practice Note: International jurisdiction—allocating employment cases between national courts and tribunals pre-1 January 2021 [Archived]—Brexit impact. For information on determining jurisdiction generally, see Practice Note: International jurisdiction—allocating employment cases between national courts and tribunals pre-1 January 2021 [Archived]. For a Flowchart: • for determining the applicable law, ie which system of law is applicable to a contract of employment or employment relationship, see: Determining applicable law in employment disputes—flowchart • for determining the territorial application or scope of statutory employment rights, see: Determining what UK statutory rights an employee has—flowchart For a Checklist that provides an overview of...

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Issues to consider when advising an employee on an employment contract

This Practice Note explores the issues to consider when acting for an employee entering into a contract of employment and/or reviewing the draft employment contract.The contract will, almost invariably, have been prepared by the employer and so the drafting will be pro-employer. If the draft is based on the employer's 'standard' terms for employees at the same level, the employer is likely to be reluctant to make substantive changes, other than to reflect the particular package agreed with the employee.The ability of the employee to successfully negotiate changes to the employer's draft will, of course, depend on the relative strength of the employee's bargaining position, which will be dictated by matters such as the employee's seniority and the job market in the relevant sector.This Practice Note assumes that the employee is not a director, but is of a relatively senior level (as more junior employees will not have complicated provisions in their contracts and/or will not be able to negotiate changes). If the employee is also to be a director,...

Types of contractual term in employment

Although employers and employees have a number of rights given to them by statute, the basic relationship between them is still governed by the contents of the contract of employment. It is important to identify what the terms of that contract are.The law of contract is important to many areas of employment. It is used to decide the true contract between parties, which is often not as simple as it sounds. A contract can be made up of all or any of:•express terms•implied terms•imposed terms•incorporated termsThere is nothing to prevent the parties agreeing to exclude the incorporation of terms found outside the written contract of employment, if in all the circumstances the parties really intended the written contract to reflect their whole bargain (see: Entire contract clauses below).At times during the employment relationship, the employer may find it necessary to vary certain terms of employment (see: Variation of contract below. However, the legal and practical issues that arise in that context are examined in detail separately in Practice Note: Changing...

View the related precedents about Contract of employment

ET1 Claim—entitlement to paid holiday

ET1 Claim—entitlement to paid holiday [Insert in para 8.2 of claim form ET1:] 1 [The Claimant has been employed by the Respondent as a [insert job title] since [insert start date of employment]. OR The Claimant was employed by the Respondent as a [insert job title] from [insert start date of employment] until [his OR her OR their] employment was terminated on [insert effective date of termination].] 2 The Claimant [is OR was] [a worker OR an employee] and entitled to 5.6 weeks of statutory paid annual leave in accordance with the Working Time Regulations 1998.[ The Claimant was not an irregular hours or part-year worker.] 3 [The Claimant [works OR worked] [insert details of Claimant’s working pattern, eg ‘full-time, five days a week’]. The statutory entitlement to paid annual leave was therefore [insert equivalent representation of the holiday entitlement, eg ‘28 days’].] 4 [The Claimant’s contract of employment[, at [insert details, eg ‘clause 7.1’],] provides that the Claimant is entitled to [insert details, eg ‘35...

ET3 Response to claim for less less favourable treatment of part-time worker

ET3 Response to claim for less less favourable treatment of part-time worker [Insert in para 6.1 of response form ET3:] 1 [The Respondent denies that the Claimant was treated less favourably on grounds of part-time working as alleged or at all.] 2 It is [accepted OR not accepted OR denied OR that the Claimant has been employed by the Respondent as [insert job title, eg ‘an administrative assistant'] since [insert start date of employment]. 3 It is accepted OR not accepted OR denied] that the Claimant works part-time. [Insert any further details regarding the claimant’s hours and what full-time hours are at the respondent, as appropriate, eg if they are not quite as described in the ET1 claim form.]. 4 [Insert details of response to any contractual terms set out in the claim form, eg ‘The Respondent accepts that the Claimant’s contract of employment makes no provision at all for the payment of travel expenses.] 5 [Set out the details of the respondent’s position on whether the named...

View the related q&as about Contract of employment

In the context of understanding whether or not permission is needed to serve debt proceedings on a company based in Jersey where there is an express jurisdictional clause in the contract submitting to the English courts, could Regulation (EU) 1215/2012, Brussels I (recast) apply?

In the context of understanding whether or not permission is needed to serve debt proceedings on a company based in Jersey where there is an express jurisdictional clause in the contract submitting to the English courts, could Regulation (EU) 1215/2012, Brussels I (recast) apply? This Q&A considers the relevance of Regulation (EU) 1215/2012, Brussels I (recast) when considering whether permission is required to serve out of the jurisdiction. What is the relevance of Regulation (EU) 1215/2012 (Brussels I (recast)) when considering whether permission is required to serve out of the jurisdiction? Permission is not required to serve a claim form out of the jurisdiction where the factors in CPR 6.32 or CPR 6.33 are satisfied (note that CPR 6.32 is not relevant in this instance as it only applies to Scotland and Northern Ireland). CPR 6.33 sets out various scenarios where the permission of the court is not required to serve out of the UK. These include (at CPR 6.33(2)) reference to various provisions of Regulation (EU) 1215/2012 (Brussels I...

On a relevant transfer under TUPE 2006, does the transferor’s liability for failing to prevent bribery, to the extent that it is not criminal liability, transfer to the transferee?

On a relevant transfer under TUPE 2006, does the transferor’s liability for failing to prevent bribery, to the extent that it is not criminal liability, transfer to the transferee? Bribery Act 2010 The Bribery Act 2010 sets out four offences: • bribing another person (also known as active bribery) • soliciting or accepting a bribe (also known as passive bribery) • bribing a foreign public official, and • failure of a commercial organisation to prevent bribery by an 'associated person' for its benefit For further information, see Practice Note: Bribery Act 2010: essentials for employment lawyers. The first three offences above apply to individuals and companies. The offence of failure to prevent bribery applies only to relevant commercial organisations. For information on the offence of failing to prevent bribery, see Practice Note: Bribery Act 2010: essentials for employment lawyers—Failure of commercial organisations to prevent bribery. See the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) Guidance on adequate procedures facilitation payments and business expenditure and the following documents (referred to in...

View the related News about Contract of employment

Employment weekly highlights—8 May 2025

This edition of Employment weekly highlights includes: (1) an EAT decision under the pre-IP completion day Brussels Regulation on the employment tribunal’s jurisdiction to hear claims brought by a British citizen employed by a company domiciled in Georgia, USA under an employment contract governed by the law of that State, (2) the launch by the Low Pay Commission (LPC) of a consultation on 2026 national minimum wage (NMW) and national living wage (NLW) rates, (3) an update to the HMRC Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool, (4) a Court of Appeal decision to strike out whistleblowing detriment claims against external HR consultants, (5) confirmation from the Court of Appeal that, in the context of an indirect age discrimination claim relating to changes made by a parent company to the rules of a long term incentive plan (LTIP), the parent company was not the agent of the subsidiary employer, (6) a High Court decision that the alleged vicarious liability of a transferor employer does not transfer under TUPE, (7) the...

Employment weekly highlights—1 May 2025

This edition of Employment weekly highlights includes: (1) a new Employment Rights Bill factsheet on changes to the statutory sick pay structure, (2) the EHRC interim update on the practical implications of For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers Supreme Court decision, and confirmation that an updated EHRC Code of Practice is expected in summer, (3) analysis by Annie Davis of Old Square Chambers of Court of Appeal guidance on Article 14 ECHR challenges to employment legislation, (4) examination by the EAT of the benchmark for costs orders in discrimination claims, (5) an EAT judgment addressing the question of relevance when determining applications for information and disclosure of documents, (6) an EAT decision that acquiescence over businesses getting struck-off can be unreasonable conduct for the purposes of a costs order, (7) our new Practice Note on employers’ obligations to manage workplace temperature, (8) dates for your diary, and (9) other news items of interest to employment practitioners.

View the latest UK Parliament Acts documents on Contract of employment

230 Employees, workers etc

(1)     In this Act “employee” means an individual who has entered into or works under (or, where the employment has ceased, worked under) a contract of employment.(2)     In this Act “contract of employment” means a contract of service or apprenticeship, whether express or implied, and (if it is express) whether oral or in writing.(3)     In this Act “worker” (except in the phrases “shop worker” and “betting worker”) means an individual who has entered into or works under (or, where the employment has ceased, worked under)—(a)     a contract of employment, or(b)     any