Contract of Employment

Anyone who works for an employer in Ireland for a regular wage or salary automatically has a contract of employment, regardless of whether it is written or not. The majority of employees work under open-ended contracts of employment. In other words, the contract continues until such time as the employer or employee ends it. Many other employees however, work under fixed-term or specified-purpose contracts which are contracts which end on a specified date or when a specific task is completed.

The contract of employment will include some or all of the following elements (regardless of whether the employer and employee have specified them or not):

-The terms that the courts say are in every contract of employment. Examples include the duty of every employer to provide a safe workplace and the duty of every employee to carry out the job to the best of his/her ability. This part of the contract is occasionally referred to as "common law".

-Terms that must be part of the contract as a result of laws passed by the Dail. Examples include the right to take maternity leave. Such terms are part of the contract even if the employer and employee do not specifically include them and replace any agreement between the employer and employee not to apply the particular law. So, the statutory right to take maternity leave overrides any agreement between the employer and employee that the employee will not take maternity leave.

-Terms that the Irish Constitution states must be in every contract, for example, the right of an employee to join a trade union.

-Collective agreements
-Joint Labour Committee Regulations
-EU laws

In addition, custom and practice in a particular workplace may form part of a contract. An example would be a particular level of overtime pay for employees.