Fixed Term Employment Contract with Restrictive Clauses

This Fixed Term Employment Agreement is designed for a wide range of roles where an employee is engaged for a defined or fixed term.

Use this agreement to confirm fixed-term terms from day one

Employers must provide workers and employees with a written statement of their main terms and conditions of employment and this is often known as a Standard Form Section One Statement.

This contract covers the requirements of a Standard Form Section One Statement and must be provided to the employee or worker by day one of employment.

Restrictive covenants and restrictions after termination

The Fixed Term Employment Agreement contains provisions dealing with restrictive covenants, including:

• a non-compete covenant (preventing employees or ex-employees from being involved in a competitor business)
• a non-solicitation covenant (preventing employees or ex-employees from soliciting business from clients/prospective clients or suppliers)
• a non-poaching covenant (preventing the employee from enticing away former colleagues)

Key legal points on fixed-term contracts

Fixed term employees have the same minimum rights as permanent workers and are protected by the Fixed-Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002. Any clause or agreement which purports to waive rights regarding unfair dismissal or redundancy is void.

This contract includes a clause which entitles the employer to end the fixed term contract early whilst avoiding a potential claim for damages equivalent to the pay and benefits the fixed term worker would have received up to the time the contract was due to terminate.

Fixed term contracts end automatically when they reach the agreed end date. However, if the contract isn’t renewed, this is considered as a dismissal and an employee with at least two years’ service will be able (potentially) to bring an unfair dismissal claim. For the dismissal to be fair, it will need to be for one of the potentially fair reasons:

• Capability
• Misconduct
• Redundancy
• Statutory bar
• Some Other Substantial Reason (SOSR)

If the contract is not renewed because the company needs fewer employees to do work of a particular kind or, say, the company is closing down, then redundancy is likely to apply. See the Redundancy suite of documents. If the employee is replacing an employee who is absent on, say, maternity or sick leave and the dismissal is in order to allow that person to return to work, SOSR is likely to apply. See the SOSR suite of documents.

What the agreement covers

This agreement includes provisions covering the practical and legal essentials for a fixed-term hire, including:

• duties and job title
• the fixed term and when it ends
• date of commencement and date of continuous employment
• hours and place of work, including work outside the UK
• remuneration and benefits, and collective agreements
• holidays, other paid leave, training and sickness absence
• maternity and paternity rights, pension and non-compulsory retirement
• mobility, grievance procedure and disciplinary procedure
• staff handbook and employment policies
• confidentiality, restrictions during employment and after termination of employment, and data protection
• changes to terms and conditions, severability, governing law and right to work in the UK

Fixed Term Employment Contract with Restrictive Clauses is part of Employment. Just £38.50 + VAT provides unlimited downloads from Employment for 1 year.