Employment Agreements Recent Changes

SIGNED EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENTS A MUST FROM 1 JULY 2011

As of 1 July 2011 all employers are required to have a signed copy of each Employee’s
Individual Employment Agreement or, where an employee has yet to sign, a copy of the
intended Employment Agreement, held on file.  The Employment Agreements must be
available to the employee at the employee’s request.

There will now be stricter penalties for non-compliance by employers.  However, in the
event that an employee reports an employer to the Department of Labour, the
Department of Labour must give the employer 7 working days to rectify the matter and
provide an Employment Agreement before it can take any further action.

This new requirement, which also applies to all existing Employment Agreements, will
make it much harder for an employer or an employee  to argue that an unsigned
Employment Agreement is of binding effect.  For these reasons it is now more
important than ever for employers to ensure firstly that all current employees have a
signed Employment Agreement, and secondly that any  new employee signs an
Employment Agreement prior to commencing work.