Employment Contracts, Staff Handbooks and Policies

Documentation that holds up when it is read out in a tribunal.

A downloaded template is fine right up until the moment it matters. Then you discover the non-compete is unenforceable, the mobility clause does not cover the site you are closing, and the handbook describes a procedure your managers have never once followed.

Request a contract and handbook review →

Contracts and agreements

Written statements of employment particulars, issued on or before day one as the law requires. Director and senior executive service agreements. Fixed-term, part-time, casual, zero-hours and bank contracts. Consultancy agreements drafted with status risk in mind. Offer letters and probationary clauses that actually work. Bonus, commission and incentive terms. Hybrid and homeworking arrangements.

Business protection

Non-compete, non-solicitation, non-dealing and non-poaching covenants — drafted narrowly enough to be enforceable, because a broad covenant is worth nothing. Confidentiality and trade secret provisions. Intellectual property assignment. Garden leave.

Staff handbooks and policies

Disciplinary and grievance. Sickness absence and capability. Equal opportunities, dignity at work and anti-harassment. Whistleblowing. Family leave and flexible working. Holiday. Home and hybrid working. IT, email, social media and monitoring. Data protection and employee privacy. Expenses, conflicts of interest, drugs and alcohol.

We distinguish clearly between contractual and non-contractual provisions, and we draft to what your managers will realistically do. An elaborate procedure nobody follows creates more risk than a simple one applied consistently.

Northern Ireland documentation is not GB documentation

This is where most employers are quietly exposed. NI contracts and handbooks should reference the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 rather than the Employment Rights Act 1996; the LRA Code of Practice rather than the Acas Code; and the Industrial Tribunal rather than the Employment Tribunal.

NI has retained the statutory dismissal procedure Great Britain abolished, so the disciplinary policy itself must be structured differently.

NI equality policies should also address discrimination on grounds of religious belief and political opinion under the Fair Employment and Treatment (NI) Order 1998 — protections with no Great Britain equivalent, enforced through the Fair Employment Tribunal.

A GB handbook issued to Belfast staff is not merely imprecise. It is inaccurate, and it will be read out in evidence.