Employment Contracts and What to Check

The basics to verify

Job title and duties, including any clause allowing them to be changed.

Pay, including how and when reviewed, and whether bonuses are discretionary or contractual.

Hours, including whether overtime is paid or expected unpaid.

Place of work, and any mobility clause requiring relocation.

Holiday entitlement, including whether public holidays are additional.

The clauses that matter later

Notice periods, which frequently differ between employer and employee. A long employee notice period restricts your ability to move.

Probation terms, including shorter notice during the period and whether it can be extended.

Restrictive covenants: non-compete, non-solicitation and non-dealing clauses. Enforceability varies and they can affect your next role in practice regardless.

Garden leave provisions.

Variation clauses allowing the employer to change terms, which are more limited in effect than they appear but create uncertainty.

Intellectual property clauses, particularly for anyone doing creative or technical work outside employment.

Pay and deductions

Any clause permitting deductions from pay — training cost recovery, overpayment recovery, equipment charges — should be identified before signing.

Training cost clawbacks are common and enforceable where reasonable, and can be substantial.

What sits outside the contract

Statutory rights exist regardless of what the contract says, and a term purporting to remove them is generally ineffective.

Staff handbooks may or may not be contractual, which affects whether their provisions bind either side.

Custom and practice can create implied terms over time.

Before signing

Ask for anything unclear to be explained in writing.

Negotiate before signing rather than after, when your position is strongest.

Keep a signed copy, along with any subsequent variations.

Where a restrictive covenant is broad or the role is senior, taking advice before signing is money well spent.

Working patterns and flexibility

Hybrid and remote arrangements are frequently described in policy rather than contract, which means they can usually be changed.

If a working pattern is essential to you, seek to have it recorded as a contractual term rather than a discretionary arrangement.

Statutory rights to request flexible working exist in many jurisdictions with defined procedures and timescales.

When terms are changed

Contractual terms generally cannot be changed unilaterally without agreement, consultation or an express variation clause.

Continuing to work under new terms without objection can be treated as acceptance, so object in writing promptly if you do not agree.

Take advice before signing a settlement agreement or a new contract presented alongside a proposed change.