Employers should always ensure they write up an employment contracts for any long term employees that work for them. An employment contract should aim to set out the basis of your relationship with your employee and their rights and responsibilities during their employment. A contract should be written up as soon as your new employee accepts your offer of employment. Doing this will offer protection to both you and your employee just incase something goes wrong.

Employment contracts do not need to be in writing to be valid, but it is advisable to do so as it will be easier to prove that an agreement has been made rather than relying on what was said. As an employer, you must provide your employees with a contract within two months of them starting work. A contract should include the main terms and conditions of their employment. You may want to consider giving new employees a rundown of the terms and conditions of their contract before they start work to ensure that they are fully aware of what they include.

Basic terms are included in all employment contracts whether expressed in writing or not. These will usually state that trust and confidence should be maintained through cooperation, that you will act in good faith towards each other and that care will be taken to ensure the health and safety in the workplace. Implied terms are able to become part of an employment contract as they are supported by the behaviour of those that work in the company and through the company rules, especially if an employee has been made aware of them at the start of their employment.

The written statement provided to all employees should cover basic things such as when the employment contract begins, it should also include a section about pay and working hours. You should try and go into as much detail as possible as this will help you to resolve problems easily when things go wrong, for example if an employee gets sick, you should have a sickness procedure in place regarding time off and pay.You will only need to provide employment contracts for people who are directly employed by you for example any outside contractors that you bring in to carry out certain tasks.

If a employee's employment contract is broken then they will have the right to take legal action against you. Standard procedure would be for them to come to you first to discuss any issues that they might have. Most disputes will be able to be resolved in this way. If this fails, the employee can take you to court to seek damages for any losses they received due to the breaking of their contract. If the employee's term of employment has ended they can take the case to an employment tribunal, if they are still employed by you, it will have to go through the courts. The same process will happen if one of your employees break their contract.