The Contract of Employment: Nature and Formation

In this part it is proposed to discuss five aspects of the contract of employment and matters relating to it. The nature of the contract of employment will be considered first and the discussion will then go on to treat statutory intervention as a factor which regulates the underlying structure of the law of employment. In the second instance the characteristics of the contract of employment will be considered. There will then follow a brief excursus on how a contract of employment is formed. Here only offer, acceptance, consideration capacity, intention to enter into legal obligations and form will feature. Discussions on legality of object and restrictive covenants will be left until later. Following on from this third aspect, the fourth will consist of a detailed examination of the statutory written particulars of employment, i.e. (written statement); the discussion will then go on to examine in what circumstances complaints connected with the written statement may be made to an industrial tribunal. The reader will finally be invited to look at a sample written statement by way of practical exercise.