Nevertheless, an employer or worker is not without a remedy. In the absence of a written employment contract, the General Working Conditions Act (Law 75 of 1997) continues to apply and the employment relationship is governed by this framework. That is why knowledge of this and other labour laws is very important to our members. As an employer, you are legally required to sign a written contract to each worker within two months of starting their employment. Full-time and part-time workers are entitled to the same salary – for example, hourly wages. B, the right to bank leave, sick pay, leave pay, pensions and promotion opportunities. As soon as an employee says yes to the offer of a position, there is a contract, whether or not it is a written document. The written contract should contain very specific information to ensure that there is no misunderstanding between the employer and the worker. Even if you want to write your own contract, it would be advisable to let a lawyer review a contract before it is issued to an employee to ensure that all clauses are valid and legal, especially since the law changes so often. There are many sites that offer downloadable contract templates for a fee – if you decide to use them, you should still have them checked by a lawyer or advisor. Take the example above with some new facts. Before the employer orally offered the employee a five-year job, the worker was already working in a comfortable job. The employer then informs the worker that he will be employed for five years if he leaves his current job to work for the employer.

The worker gives up his job on that promise, but when he shows up to work for the employer, the employer says he no longer needs the employee. While such an oral agreement would generally be unenforceable, there is a concrete promise here, adequate trust from the employee who may have harmed him, and injustice can only be avoided by the fulfilling of the promise. In this case, the verbal agreement is applied. Confusions may arise, as these mandatory references are sometimes considered equivalent to an employment contract. Although it may be an employment contract, it should be remembered that Section 29 of the Act is only an obligation for the employer and is not the result of a voluntary reciprocal agreement between two parties.