The Employment Rights Act requires employers to provide most employees, within two calendar months of starting work, with a written statement of the main terms of their contract. Many small to medium businesses are failing to comply with even this most basic of employment law requirements and in the process they run the risk of a Tribunal award of 2-4 weeks pay for each and every employee they have.

Those small to medium businesses that have not implemented sensible employment procedures are also not protected against the risk of claims from their employees.

As an employer you will want to do whatever is necessary to avoid any claims against you for unfair dismissal.

It is therefore vital that you fulfil your obligations and ensure that you have all the correct procedures in place.

Properly drafted statements of employment terms set out the employment relationship and also give employers a much greater chance of successfully defending themselves if a case is brought against them in the Employment Tribunal.

Act now! Let Halborg & Co. provide you with their employment expertise by purchasing a fixed price package for employees' terms and conditions.

Fixed price package for preparing statements of terms and conditions for your employees

For £350 plus VAT we will draft statements of employment terms for up to four of your employees. These will:

• protect you against claims that you do not have written employment contracts in place (and so avoid the 2-4 weeks pay awards which might otherwise be made against you for each employee)

• allow you to say for certain what arrangements you have with your employees - otherwise all too often it comes down to your word against theirs

• allow you to write clauses drafted in your favour and so save money in the long run - such as giving the minimum notice pay you can if you need to let any employees go, setting the proper holiday entitlement and sickness pay for your business, opting out of the 48 hour week, and introducing restrictive covenants in case employees leave and try to compete with you or lure away your customers or staff.

For an extra £150 plus VAT we will also produce disciplinary, dismissal and grievance procedures for you.

The main features of the procedures are:

• They provide a three step process which must be followed in most cases

• If an unfair dismissal claim is made and it reaches the Employment Tribunal stage, an employer could pay a potential increase in compensation of between 10-50% if the statutory procedures have not been followed

• They ensure that an employee also has a responsibility to follow the laid down procedures. In some cases an employee may not be able to bring a claim if they have not followed the required procedures
  

The statutory procedures amount to minimum standards that must be followed by all employers and employees. If the statutory procedures are not followed by the employer prior to dismissal then the dismissal is likely to be automatically unfair.

For an extra £350 plus VAT we will also produce an equal opportunities policy for you covering matters such as the employer's policy on prohibiting illegal discrimination in the workplace.

Restrictive covenants: Where the exit of particular employees from the business could result in their competing with the businesses, or seeking to solicit other employees away from the business, as a separate service to the fixed price service, we will be pleased to draft restrictive covenants for you that are as binding and comprehensive as legally possible.