EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS

Hiring employees and need help building employment contracts? Or do you just require some changes in your existing contracts to ensure the terms are fair for all parties? Employment contracts are a written agreement between an employer and employee; an integral document that dictates the terms and conditions of employment. It is vital for business owners to ensure contracts are clear and compliant, and work to the benefit of both parties.

How we can help

with employment contracts

NRA Legal can help you understand your legal obligations, as well as draft and negotiate the terms of your employment contracts. We can provide advice about protecting your business against breach of contract claims and act for you in any legal proceedings that may arise. Our work is tailored to your business’s budget, industry, and level of employee so you can ensure all terms are specific to you.

We can navigate simple and complex issues including:

Modern Award obligations.
Pay rates and wages.
Bonuses and commissions.
Offset clauses.
Confidential information.
Standards.
Special conditions of employment.
Restraints of trade.
Executive employment contracts.

The NRA Legal team can help you curate clear, compliant and professional employment contracts for all types of staff including full-time, part-time, casual and contract workers.

1800 572 679

Frequently

asked questions

Are written employment contracts necessary?

Written employment contracts help employers to navigate their relationship with employees. Employment contracts help to clarify the rights and obligations of both parties as well as achieving compliance with obligations that exist in some modern awards.

Do casual employees need to be given a contract?

The terms and conditions of casual employment should be reflected in an employment contract so there can be no ambiguity surrounding the nature of the employment relationship.

What should be included in an employment contract?

Importantly, a contract can’t remove the requirement of employers to pay employees’ minimum legal entitlements.

At a minimum, an employment contract should include the name and address of the employee, their job title and description, their status of employment (i.e full-time, part-time or casual), their rate of pay, applicable modern award and classification level (if any) and commencement date. Other key terms and conditions include terms dealing with leave and employee obligations around confidentiality and intellectual property. An employment contract should also set out each party’s rights and obligations around notice of termination.

Are their legal ramifications for not having employment contracts in place?

Sometimes, but not always. Certain modern awards require that an employee is advised of the modern award that applies to their employment and their classification level. Failing to do this may result in a technical contravention of the modern award, exposing the employer to penalty. Otherwise, employment terms may be orally agreed without legal ramification. However, if a dispute about the employment relationship arises, proving what terms and conditions were orally agreed between the parties may be challenging.