Legal Skills: Contract Law: Employment Contracts in Depth

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Course Overview

This 1-day course is intended to build on a general knowledge of contract law and reviews a range of practical scenarios that involve changing contracts or varying terms during employment as business needs change.

Audience

Personnel practitioners or line managers responsible for employment law issues within their organisation. Some previous knowledge/experience of employment contracts is assumed.Intermediate level course - some previous experience of the subject is assumed.

Skills Gained

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• appreciate the importance of building flexibility into policies and contractual documentation
• understand the need to make a strong business case for any change which affects employee contracts
• advise on the practical issues to be taken into account when drafting or amending contracts.

Outline

Understanding contracts

• where contractual terms come from
• non-contractual terms
• reasons for varying a contract
• the importance of drafting
• the need to build in flexibility
• the consequences of getting it wrong

How to vary a contract

• using the contract terms
• by agreement
• express or implied
• by unilateral (imposed) variation
• by dismissal and re-engagement
• consultation issues and practical considerations
• implications for redundancy/transfers
• remedies
• case law examples

Changes to working hours

• worklife balance
• the right to request flexible working
• working time, overtime and annualised hours
• mobility
• other employer-driven change

Practical issues understanding the business case

• justifying the business case: must do or would like to do?
• the potential for discrimination
• consultation issues individual and collective
• overcoming objections

Reorganisations and redundancies

• contractual implications

Transfers and mergers

• harmonising terms after a merger or sale
• TUPE or non-TUPE?
• consensual variation after TUPE transfer
• variation under the old contract
• dismissal and re-engagement
• outsourcing
• individual and collective consultation.

Legal Skills: Contract Law: Employment Contracts in Depth / LSLE