Understanding employment contracts: Key considerations for policy clauses (Part 2)

The employment contract is the cornerstone of the employer-employee relationship. A well-drafted employment contract will set out the terms and conditions of employment in a concise manner and include necessary and clearly defined protections for the employer.

However, the standard clauses within an employment contract are regularly scrutinised before courts and tribunals and a seemingly innocuous clause can have a serious adverse effect for the employer in a dispute.

In this series, we set out examples of issues that arise with standard clauses within employment contracts, provide guidance to employers on how to address these risks and suggest improvements to these clauses within the contract. The first instalment covered bonus clauses of an employment contract.