4 Reasons To Have Your Employment Contract Reviewed By A Lawyer
As a business owner, you need to employ workers to handle the different company operations on a daily basis. This is where the employment process comes in. It refers to a process of finding, choosing, and hiring employees to work for your enterprise. It can include initial screening, interviewing, reference checking, and more importantly, the preparation of an employment contract.
Essentially, an employment contract is a binding agreement between the employer and an employee that defines each party’s rights and obligations. It’s an important part of the talent hunting process because it helps attract top prospects. If you can offer the best deal to your prospective workers through an employment agreement, you can have a good chance of recruiting the best minds for your organization.
However, like other complicated legal documents, you need the employment contract to be bound within the limits of the law. This means meeting specific conditions designed to protect you and your employees. But, in order to do this, you should get your employment contract checked by a legal professional.
Below are the four reasons why a lawyer should conduct an employment agreement review:
Table of Contents
1. To Ensure The Contract Meets The Minimum Employment Standards
An employment contract should set out the minimum employment standards Australian employers should provide for their employees. These can include wage and hour rules, benefits, overtime pay, holiday pay and leave entitlements, meal breaks and rest periods, and other conditions under particular labor and worker statutes.
As an employer, you need to ensure these employment standards are met in the employment contract. When you fail to include them in the agreement, you might be accused by your employees of violating their employee rights. When this happens, your company might be sued in a lawsuit.
To avoid this unfortunate situation, hiring a lawyer for an employment contract review is essential. Their knowledge and expertise in employment laws can help them determine whether your contract sets forth the minimum employment standards your personnel deserve.
2. To Check Whether The Provisions Of The Contract Are Legally Compliant
Employment laws vary from one state to another. There are terms that might no longer apply to your present employment setup, while others are already amendments. Due to these changes, it’s essential to get your contract reviewed by a dedicated employment lawyer Melbourne or wherever you may be located.
With a legal professional by your side, you can ensure that all provisions in the agreement cater to the specific legal needs of both parties involved. Your lawyer can scrutinize the contract and advise you on the terms that should and shouldn’t be included to ensure compliance. They can see to it that every provision in the agreement is legally compliant.
In some cases, they can also draft an employment contract that meets your business demands and the employees’ specific roles. Instead of using generic contract templates available online, you can seek the services of a lawyer to customize an employment agreement for your company. Doing so can give you peace of mind that your contract is legally valid and not violative of your employees’ rights.
3. To Ensure All Confidential Trade Clauses Are Properly Incorporated
Depending on your employees’ job duties and responsibilities, they might’ve inadvertently obtained knowledge of your company’s confidential processes, trade secrets, intellectual property rights, client information, and other related data. Hence, they’re responsible for keeping this information confidential during and after employment.
This is why restraint of trade, non-solicitation, and non-competition clauses should be incorporated in an employment contract. These clauses are designed to prevent employees from disclosing sensitive information, such as trade secrets, to unauthorized persons and competing with your business after employment.
That being said, you probably need to seek legal assistance from a lawyer to check whether all these trade-related clauses are properly integrated into the agreement. They can also give recommendations on what restrictions should be carried out and how the clauses should be interpreted by all parties involved to avoid possible employment disputes later on.
4. To Ensure Proper Termination Provisions Are Laid Down In The Contract
One of the common employment disputes that employers face against their employees is wrongful termination. It usually happens when the employer terminates an employee’s employment without justifiable grounds.
Due to this circumstance, you should have your employment contract reviewed by a lawyer to ensure all termination provisions are added to the agreement to protect your interests. They can advise you to include terms and conditions about providing resignation notice and the termination policies you want to apply, such as whether the employee can be terminated without cause or for a cause.
Since employment termination can be a complex subject matter in employment law, it’s crucial to seek assistance from a legal professional to ensure everything about your termination policy is covered. That way, you can minimize the risk of getting sued for unjust worker removal.
Bottom Line
Dealing with an employment contract can be confusing if you have no idea what to do in the first place. Since this agreement is legally binding between the parties involved, you should take it seriously to avoid legal trouble along the way.
To ensure that, you should have the contract checked by a lawyer in your area. To understand why to keep the pieces of information mentioned above in mind. Doing so can make you realize how a contract review by a lawyer is essential to ensure a solid employer-employee relationship among your workforce.
