What are the essential elements of an employment contract?

  • Employment Contract
employment contract
Gemma O'Connor

Gemma O'Connor , Head Of Service

(Last updated )

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In an ideal world, employers should review their contracts of employment on a yearly basis. However, the day-to-day running of your business can leave little time for anything else, making this feel like an impossible task.

Still, it’s crucial for your employment contracts to be up to date. Employers should set time aside to ensure their documentation reflects the way their business works, and how their staff are expected to behave. Employment law is always evolving, and out-of-date documentation could expose your business to unnecessary legal risk.

Below, we look at the essential elements of an employment contract and what employers should know when updating their documentation.

What is a contract of employment?

First, let’s start with the basics. A contract of employment is an agreement between an employer and employee that stipulates the terms and conditions of the employment.

You can think of it as a set of promises that establish the legal basis of the employment relationship.

As it’s a legal agreement, there’s a clear intention that, should one party fail to keep to any of their promises, the other party may take enforcement action for breach of contract.

When must employees receive their contract of employment?

Under employment legislation, certain information must be provided to employees in writing. Under the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, you must provide staff with the key terms of employment in writing within five days of their start date.

This was further amended with the European Union (Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions) Regulations 2022 (the 2022 Regulations), which expanded the key terms to provide within the first five days.
Employers are required to provide their employees with a five-day statement that includes the following core terms of employment:

The next deadline falls one month after an employment relationship begins (extended from the original two months). Under the Terms of Employment (Information) Act, you must provide the completed written Statement of Main Terms of Employment within one months of employment commencing.

A Statement of Main Terms must include the following additional terms:

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What is the difference between express, implied and statutory terms?

Typically, an employment contract contains three different types of contractual terms. These are statutory, express, and implied terms.

Express terms

Express terms are specifically drawn to the attention of the employee. An express term can be included in an employment contract in writing or orally i.e., it doesn’t have to be written down to be an express term.

Implied terms

Implied terms are not written into the contract of employment or communicated to the employee. However, they may be implied into the employment relationship in a number of ways:

Statutory terms

Some terms are inserted into a contract because the law prevents anything to the contrary. This means that if a term in the contract does not comply with a statutory minimum requirement, the statutory minimum will override the contract and render the contractual term void. Common examples include minimum notice periods and the national minimum wage.

Can employers update employment contracts unilaterally?

Updating an employment contract should be a two-sided exercise. It’s important to notify an employee of any change to their contract unless that change arises from a legislative update, administrative provisions, or collective agreements referred to in the contract.

To legitimately add, remove, or make any changes to the terms of an employee’s contract, it’s best to first receive agreement from the employee in writing.

If you want to change either an express term or an implied term, without employee consent, the question then becomes one of reasonableness. For instance, was it reasonable for you to request the change and was it reasonable for the employee to refuse the change?

So, even in situations where an employee hasn’t agreed to a change to their employment contract, it may be possible for you to implement a change where the employee’s refusal was unreasonable.

Need expert guidance before reviewing your employment contracts?

If you need help reviewing your contracts of employment in Ireland, one of our HR advisors will be happy to provide you with immediate and 24/7 HR support. Call now on . 

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