As a Jersey employer am I required to provide a contract of employment to employees?

Jersey law does not require that a business owner provide a written contract to employees (but see below).

Do I as an employee have to provide any form of written statement of employment to a new employee?

While a formal written contract nor an employment handbook is legally required, Jersey law does require that an employee be provided at the very least with a written statement (of the terms of their employment) not later than 4 weeks after employment begins. There may be benefits to producing a formal written contract – please see below for further information.

What is required to be in a written statement of terms of employment?

• the names of the employer and employee
• the date when the employment began
• the date on which the employee’s period of continuous employment began
• the scale or rate of remuneration or the method of calculating remuneration
• the day on which, and the intervals at which, remuneration is paid (that is, weekly, monthly or other specified intervals) and the method of payment
• any terms and conditions relating to hours of work (including any terms and conditions relating to normal working hours)
• any terms and conditions relating to:
  • entitlement to holidays, including public holidays, and holiday pay (the particulars given being sufficient to enable the employee’s entitlement, including any entitlement to accrued holiday pay on the termination of employment, to be precisely calculated)
  • incapacity for work due to sickness or injury, including any provision for sick pay
  • pensions and pension schemes
  • maternity leave
  • redundancy
  • disciplinary and grievance procedures
• the length of notice which the employee is obliged to give and entitled to receive to terminate his or her contract of employment
• where the employment is not intended to be permanent:
  • the period for which it is expected to continue
  • if it is for a fixed term, the date when it is to end
  • any event, the occurrence or non-occurrence of which will terminate it
  • any task or project, the completion of which will terminate it
• the title of the job which the employee is employed to do or a brief description of the work for which he or she is employed
• either the place of work or, where the employee is required or permitted to work at various places, an indication of that and of the address of the employer
• any collective agreements which directly affect the terms and conditions of the employment including, where the employer is not a party, the persons by whom they were made

Is there a time limit to providing a written statement of employment?

As an employer you are legally required to provide an employee with a written statement of the terms of their employment) not later than 4 weeks after employment begins. Even if the employment ends before 4 weeks is completed, an employee has the right to ask for a copy of the written terms that would have applied.

Are there any advantages to having a formal written contract of employment as opposed to just providing a written statement of the terms of their employment)?

While an employee has a right to a written statement of the terms of their employment a business may decide to provide a formal contract of employment. This formal contract of employment will deal with express and implied terms that may not necessarily feature in the written statement of terms. It may also be useful to provide a Jersey employment handbook

A good example of express terms within an employment contract would be clauses setting out such as restrictive covenant provisions, garden leave provisions and the like. Providing these types of contractual terms may be important for your business to protect your client base.

As many terms as possible should be clearly set out in writing and given to the new employee before or when they start the job. This will help to avoid uncertainty or a dispute between the employer and the employee about the terms.