Each industry, each business and each role within a business is different. The employment contract needs to be drafted to match the nature and intricacies of the role.
An employment contact will go much further than merely being remuneration and annual leave. You will generally want to deal with things such as confidential information, restraint of trade, hours of work and probation in detail.
Getting the terms of the employment contract right gives clarity for both the employee and the employer. In this way, there is less likely to be confusion later on or, should the employee’s employment need to be terminated for any reason then the process is clearly set out.
We spend the time to tailor your employment agreements to suit your business ensuring that your business is adequately protected.
It is a very serious matter when an employee breaches a restraint of trade (also known as a noncompete) clause. it is important it is drafted to consider what is reasonable in the circumstances.
A restraint of trade clause can form part of an employee’s employment contract. This type of clause sets limitations on an employee, for a period of time, to prevent the employee from engaging in activities such as start their own business in opposition to their employer, poach staff from that employer, deal with clients of the business for personal gain or, in some circumstances, even work for a competitor.
A well drafted restraint of trade clause in an employment contract will have a good chance of being enforceable. There is a very large body of case law where the courts have considered the enforceability of a restraint of trade clause. Every case is different.
We can assist you with providing advice about drafting restraint of trade clauses or represent you in circumstances where the employee has sought to take your client database or poach your employees or otherwise start a business when they had promised not to do so.
We are experienced in bringing injunction applications against rogue employees to stop the offending behaviour by restraining them from working for competing employer or operating their own business, for example with a previous employer’s database (being confidential information). Employers can be successful in these types of claims even in the absence of an employment agreement so if you are in circumstances where you don’t even have an employment agreement in place, it is still worth seeking our advice. There may be other common law options open to you to pursue in order to stop such behaviour.
You may consider the employee needs to be given a warning or even dismissed. Common situations include workplace bullying, inappropriate conduct, underperformance or lack of punctuality. Sometimes these actions may be grounds of summary (immediate) dismissal. Other times, for procedural fairness, a process needs to be followed to manage the employee.
It is best to seek advice about how to deal with an employee before you go down the track of these disciplinary measures. If they are not handled appropriately, then you may have to answer to an unfair dismissal claim or similar type of claim.
Seek legal advice immediately. Strict time frames must be complied with. As an employer, to not be represented at Fair Work exposes you unnecessarily, let alone the time and bother that it can cause. We work with our employer clients to pursue their rights and obtain the best result possible. Having competent legal representation will ensure that you don’t overpay to resolve a dispute.
We can provide fast advice and capable representation in dealing with claims in relation to:
If you have been served with documents, you need to act quickly. We can sort and assimilate substantial factual material quickly that results in competent responses to allegations from employee allegations.
We work to resolve workplace disputes quickly and can provide you with advice quickly if you need to consider terminating an employee or are restructuring.
Usually, the earlier you act the better. This situation may involve a breach of the non-compete clause (including perhaps the theft of clients or setting up a competing business) or even defamatory remarks in the marketplace, which can be very damaging to existing commercial relationships.
We thus strongly recommend that you seek legal advice immediately.
Please feel free to contact our employment lawyers to discuss your situation by calling us on 08 6181 0600 or by completing the enquiry form on this page.
Summary Dismissal is immediate termination of employment without notice or warning, for a serious breach of the employment agreement (whether there is a written contract or not). This type of termination is for rare and more extreme cases of serious and wilful misconduct. If you wish to terminate an employee due to a serious misconduct then it is important to understand what type of behaviours constitute it. Examples might include theft, intoxication, violence and serious breaches of work, health and safety procedures. Urgent legal advice should always be obtained before you terminate an employee for serious misconduct.
One of the primary benefits of hiring Appius Lawyers is that you’ll receive personalised service.
Appius Lawyers is much smaller than the mega-firm, but we offer clients expertise and creative solutions at a cost that many larger firms simply can’t match.
One of the top benefits of working with Appius Lawyers is having more flexibility when it comes to billing structure.
The great thing about working with Appius Lawyers is that we focus and take the time to learn your industry, to understand your business and what we can do to help it move forward.
We’re here to help.
I will be back soon
Call Us
Messenger
