Even though my employees are family members, should I issue them with a contract of employment?

Anyone who works for an employer for a regular wage or salary is automatically entitled to receive a statement of main terms of employment. Although employment law can sometimes apply differently to family members (see below), there is no exception to the requirement to provide a statement of main terms based on being a family member. Issue the Contract within First Two Months The Terms of Employment (Information) Acts 1994–2012 provide that an employer is obliged to provide an employee with a written statement of terms of employment within the first two months of the commencement of employment. However, this requirement does not apply to an employee who has been employed for less than a month. The law prescribes what pieces of information need to be in the statement, including details on start date; pay; hours of work; entitlement to annual leave; place of work; pension etc. Importantly, the statement of terms must indicate the reference period being used by the employer for the purposes of the calculation of the employee's entitlements under the National Minimum Wage Act 2000. (Under that Act the employer may calculate the employee's minimum wage entitlement over a reference period that is no less than one week and no greater than one month). Other details can be provided in a separate document, for example, a pension scheme or disciplinary procedures. Many employers use an employee handbook, to accompany the statement of main terms, for this purpose. Without this document, there may be a lack of certainty as to what the terms of employment actually are. Express and Implied Terms It is not only the statement of main terms that governs the employment relationship, because the notion of a contract of employment is much wider than that alone. Terms can be express i.e. specifically written or spoken, or implied i.e. present through established custom and practice. A contract can therefore exist in the absence of a written agreement but for clarity, and in order to comply with the law, a written statement must be provided. If the statement is not provided within the timescales set out above, the employee will be entitled to make a claim to tribunal, and the tribunal can make a declaration to confirm the particulars of the statement. Does employment law apply if I am employed by a family member? If you employ a close family relative, their rights under employment legislation will differ from the norm in a variety of areas. For example, the national minimum wage legislation may not apply. In addition if you employ a close relative, and their place of work is a private house or farm and both you and the employee reside there, then their employment is not necessarily subject to the same rest periods, weekly working hours, night work and zero-hours working under the Organisation Restrictions on the employment of children and young people do not apply where the employment is by a close relative in a private house or on a farm, where both the employer and the employee live and involves work in a family business other than industrial work. If you have any questions in respect of employing family members then please contact the Peninsula 24 Hour Advice Service for further clarification on 01 855 50 50.