What does an employment contract need to include?

Question

Accepted Answer

An individual employment agreement must be in writing and contain:
• names of you and your employer
• description of your work
• where your work will be
• arrangements of the times you’ll work, including set hours if you’ve agreed on them
• your pay and how you’ll be paid i.e. fortnightly into your bank account
• explanation of services for resolving employment relationship problems
• a clause requiring you to be paid at least time and a half on public holidays
• how you’ll be protected if the business is restructured, except if you’re in an industry like cleaning and catering that are vulnerable to restructuring
• if it’s a fixed-term job, why it’s fixed-term and how long it’s for
• anything else, like trial periods, notice period for resignation or termination, availability provisions, working on public holidays, or annual closedown.
It can’t include anything that goes against the law including the Employment Relations Act. Even if it does, these clauses aren’t valid. It doesn’t need to have the same terms and conditions as someone else, even if they’re doing the same job in the same workplace. But if you’re doing the same job with similar experience as a workmate and have less favourable terms and conditions, then you may have a discrimination claim.  
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