Contract of employment- Employee

Get it written down

As a new employee you are entitled to a written statement of your terms and conditions of employment within two months of commencing employment.

UPDATE:  CHANGE TO LEGISLATION COMING ON 1st MARCH 2019 See here for more

What are the legal requirements in a contract of employment in Ireland?

Irish employment law states that the following must be contained in the contract of employment:

• full names of the employer and the employee;

• full address of the employer;

• place of work, or where there is no fixed place, a statement that the employee is required to work at various locations;

• nature of work;

• commencement date of the employment;

• duration of the contract, either fixed, more or permanent
  

• rate or method of calculation of remuneration, more ;and pay reference period;

• where an employee is in receipt of less than 150% of the national minimum wage, that the employee may, under the National Minimum Wage Act 2000, request a written statement of the employee's average hourly rate of pay for any pay reference period in the last 12 months;

• payment intervals, e.g. weekly, monthly, etc;

• annual leave, more and other paid leave entitlements;

• hours of work, more  (including overtime);

• details of rest periods and breaks;

• sick leave, more and pension arrangements, where applicable;

• notice requirements; more

• reference to any collective agreements.

This written statement should be signed and dated by both parties. The employer is also obliged to keep a copy of this for at least one year after the employee leaves the organisation.

This represents the bare minimum.

Can other documents become part of the contract of employment?

Yes. Many employers have fallen foul of carelessly worded letters, offering employment to new prospective employees. References made in these letters,to conditions of employment have been held by the courts to have formed part of the terms of employment of the employee.

What are implied terms?

In every contract of employment in Ireland there are implied terms.

These can be divided into the following four categories:

1. Terms implied by custom or practice

2. Terms implied by law eg. Employer's duty of care, employee's duty of trust

3. Terms implied by statute ( Unfair dismissals, more , Redundancy, more , payment of wages, more , etc)

4. Collective agreements

What can I do if I don't receive written terms of employment within the time allowed?

If you believe that your rights are being infringed you can contact us using the orange Yes! Tell Me More button below and we will call you at a time that suits.

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