Employment Agreements can be your biggest protection in business
The terms and conditions are vital in disputes. This is critical to protect your business from a senior member of staff taking your confidential information. It’s important to protect your business with the right restraint clauses. This is a critical area to consult a specialist about. An employment lawyer or HR Consultant can provide you with this support.
You can always get a free template from various places. But remember, you get what you pay for. And if you don’t have your terms and conditions reviewed by a specialist, your templates might not be worth the time you put into it. See Lawpath’s article about Non-Compete Clause.
Article on employment contracts. Fair Work Ombudsman provides information and tools on creating employment contracts, but you will need them reviewed by either an employment lawyer or HR Consultant to check they’re legal.
My suggestions of Items you need to consider including:
- Include pay and conditions
- Relevant award
- Minimum entitlements under the National Employment Standards
- Hours of work
- Location of work
- Probation period
- Termination
- Performance and Misconduct
- Confidentiality
- Intellectual property
- Specific items such as clauses like restraints and confidentiality. And so on, to protect you and your business interests. While also protecting your relationship with your employee.
Crucial points to consider
Another crucial point for those who want to protect themselves from risks of severe financial burden in contracts comes from a recent Federal court ruling. The details relate to whether the ATO can use a checklist to define whether a person is an employee or an independent contractor. If you’re like me, you would want to understand and know the details.
Here is the full case of Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union v Personnel Contracting Pty Ltd [2020] FCAFC 122 for you to refer to.
The devil is in the detail of the whole relationship not just on the contractual terms. The problem is with modern ways of working, people are unclear on what constitutes and employee/employer relationship and an independent contractor. This can only be decided based on the relationship in total.
It’s strongly advised to seek legal council from a reliable and well-educated source. This is no longer a simple case of drawing up a contract with the terms you would like to protect your business. Defend yourself and your business from any unpleasant experiences with the Law or Regulations. Seek wise council before allocating work to a third party. Also, make sure they’re sufficiently versed in legal jurisdiction of the state or territory in which your business and third-party work.
Get help
I have employment agreements available to buy. I can also customise them to the specific employee and your business. I have an inhouse employment lawyer. That can review the specific terms and conditions. You might need to protect both your business and your employee. Get your employment agreements specific to your business and employees.