The Terms of Employment (Information) Acts 1994–2014 provide that an employer is obliged to provide an employee with a written statement of terms of employment within the first 2 months of the commencement of employment. However, this requirement does not apply to an employee who has been employed for less than a month.
The statement of terms must include the following information:
- The full name of employer and employee
- The address of the employer
- The place of work
- The title of job or nature of work
- The date the employment started
- If the contract is temporary, the expected duration of the contract
- If the contract of employment is for a fixed term, the details
- Details of rest periods and breaks as required by law
- *The rate of pay or method of calculation of pay
- The pay reference period for the purposes of the National Minimum Wage Act 2000
- *Pay intervals
- *Hours of work
- *That the employee has the right to ask the employer for a written statement of his/her average hourly rate of pay as provided for in the National Minimum Wage Act 2000
- *Details of paid leave
- *Sick pay and pension (if any)
- *Period of notice to be given by employer or employee
- *Details of any collective agreements that may affect the employee’s terms of employment
* In the case of these items instead of giving each employee the details in writing, the employer may refer an employee to other documents, for example, a pension scheme booklet or a collective agreement, provided that the employee has easy access to such documents.
The statement of terms must indicate the reference period being used by the employer for the purposes of the calculation of the employee’s entitlements under the National Minimum Wage Act 2000. (Under that Act the employer may calculate the employee’s minimum wage entitlement over a reference period that is no less than one week and no greater than one month).
While the statement of these terms must be signed and dated by the employer, there is no requirement for the employee to sign it. The employer must keep a copy during the period of the employee’s employment and for at least a year after it ceases.