| 释义 |
contract of employment
(contract of service) A contract by which a person agrees to undertake certain duties under the direction and control of his employer in return for an agreed wage or salary. The contract need not be in writing, but under the Employment Rights Act 1996 (as amended) the employee must be given a written statement of terms of employment no later than the commencement of employment (previously no later than two months after the beginning of employment). Implied in every contract of employment are a duty of mutual confidence and trust, the employer’s duty to protect the employee from danger and risks to his health, and the employee’s duty to do the work to the best of his ability. Employees who have been continuously employed in the same business for certain minimum periods (see continuous employment) have statutory rights, relating for example to unfair dismissal and redundancy, that do not apply to the self-employed. A self-employed person is one who is engaged under a contract for services and owes his employer or customer no other duty than to fulfil the specified work in accordance with the terms of the contract; as such, he is not otherwise under the direction or control of the employer as to how, when, or where he works. Termination of a contract of employment in breach of the terms of the contract is wrongful dismissal and may be remedied by way of a claim filed at the county court or the High Court or by an employment tribunal. In such an action the court is not concerned with “fairness” but purely with compensating for the breach of contractual terms (Horkulak v Cantor Fitzgerald International [2004] EWCA Civ 1287). Before lodging a claim for breach, and as an alternative to legal proceedings, employees are usually encouraged to enter into conciliation with their employer, where possible—a process usually overseen by the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS). |