Employment contracts

[paul22881]

hi have been given a written employment contract after being employed for just over twelve months. Employment start date is back dated on it to when I started ie April 2014. I had no real verbal contract previously and just wondered whether it could be back dated to start of employment or only effective from date of signature. Thanks

[sean5302]

Re: Employment contracts

Hi Paul.
I'm not sure that I understand your question.
As soon as someone accepts a job offer they have a contract with their employer. An employment contract doesn’t have to be written down.
https://www.gov.uk/employment-contra...tions/overview
You now have your written contract, correctly showing that you started in April 2014.
It will just be a written statement of the terms and conditions applicable to your contract which commenced in April 2014, unless something has now changed.
You should have been given this contract within, from memory, the first 13 weeks of employment.
Why is it an issue?

[paul22881]

Re: Employment contracts

Thanks for replying Sean the issue I have is there were no terms / conditions ever properly set out. So unsure whether by signing now to them I may be opening myself up to disciplinary action that I was unaware of. Thanks

[sean5302]

Re: Employment contracts

You're welcome.
For the first 2 years you have very limited employee rights. You'd be unable to take a case to an employment tribunal, other than in very limited circumstances.
If you had done anything wrong, why would they now be offering you a written contract?
They seem to be a bit lax, having taken so long to document the terms and conditions. Isn't there an employee handbook, or suchlike?
In any event, the contract you now have, in the absence of anything else, denotes your terms and conditions of employment.
Most people would just sign it (or leave).