Employment Contracts and Rights
An employment contract doesn’t necessarily have to be a written document in order to exist. As soon as somebody accepts a job offer and starts working for an employer, they become an employee with an employment contract and employment rights. The employee is, however, entitled to a written contract within two months of starting work, even if they are not going to be employed for that long. The contract, whether it is written down or not, constitutes an agreement between the employer and employee, in which there is a mutual understanding of one-another’s rights and responsibilities.
By starting a job for an employer, an employee accepts the terms of the employment contract, even if they don’t know what these terms are! They are then bound to the contract until it ends or is changed via an agreement between employer and employee. For this reason it is absolutely essential that all potential employees ensure they totally understand the employment contract they are entering before they start work.
An employment contract is not the same as a contract to provide services, which is normally a contract between a self-employed person and a client. In these contracts, the self-employed person agrees to provide or undertake some work or services or somebody else, but does not then become an employee of that person. To this extent, a contract to provide services does not come with the same rights as a contract of employment.
