Fixed-term employment agreement template

Fixed-Term Employment Agreement

Parties: Employer · Employee

1. Purpose

This agreement sets out the main terms on which the Employer employs the Employee for a fixed period. It is meant to be short and plain. The law of the country where the work is done also applies and may give the Employee more rights than are written here, including rights that protect employees on fixed-term contracts.

2. Position and duties

(1) The Employee is employed as [[Job title]] and reports to [[Manager or role]]. The main duties are: [[Main duties]]

(2) The Employer may change the duties within what suits the Employee’s skills and what the law allows.

3. Place of work

The Employee works at [[Place of work, e.g. the office address]]. Remote work, travel and any change of the place of work: [[none / the arrangement]]

4. Fixed term

(1) Employment starts on the effective date and ends on the end date, without any notice being needed, unless it ends earlier under the clause on early termination or is renewed under the clause on renewal.

(2) Reason for the fixed term, where the law requires one to be stated: [[Reason, e.g. cover for an absent colleague or a project with a set end, or none required]]

(3) Where the law restricts fixed-term employment, for example by allowing it only for certain reasons or for a limited total time, this agreement applies only as far as the law allows.

5. Early termination

Either party may end the employment before the end date only as the law of the country where the work is done allows, including its rules on notice periods, form, reasons and protection against dismissal. Whether the employment can be ended early by notice: [[yes, with the notice period below / only for the reasons the law allows]] Notice period: [[as required by law / the longer period agreed, where the law allows it]]

6. Renewal and expiry

(1) This agreement does not renew by itself. The parties may agree a renewal or a new term in writing before the end date.

(2) Where the law limits the number or the total length of successive fixed terms, or treats the employment as open-ended if the Employee keeps working after the end date, that law applies.

(3) When the term ends, the Employer pays what is due as the law requires, including any payment the law gives at the end of a fixed term, and gives the Employee a reference or certificate of employment where the law gives the Employee a right to one.

7. Probation

Probation period: [[none / the length of the probation period]]

A probation period applies only where the law allows it and never for longer than the law allows, and only within the fixed term. During it, the rules the law sets for probation apply.

8. Working hours

(1) The normal working hours are [[Hours per week]] per week, as follows: [[Working days and times]]

(2) Overtime, rest breaks, rest days and night or weekend work are as required by the law of the country where the work is done. Further terms: [[none / the arrangement agreed]]

9. Pay and expenses

(1) The Employer pays the Employee the pay shown in the price schedule of this contract or, if there is none, [[Pay amount, currency and period, e.g. per month before tax]], on the payment terms stated in this contract. Other pay, such as a bonus or commission: [[none / the arrangement]]

(2) The Employer deducts and pays the tax and social contributions that the law requires. Reasonable business expenses that the Employer approved in advance are reimbursed against receipts.

(3) The Employee is not paid less, or on worse terms, merely because the employment is for a fixed term, where the law protects this.

10. Leave and absence

(1) Annual leave, public holidays, sick leave, family leave and other leave are as required by law, and are worked out for the length of the term where the law provides for that. Additional leave: [[none / the additional leave]]

(2) If the Employee cannot work because of illness or another reason, they tell the Employer as soon as possible and give the evidence that the law or the Employer’s reasonable rules require.

11. Confidentiality

The Employee keeps the Employer’s confidential business information secret during and after the employment and uses it only for the Employer’s work. This does not apply to information that is public without the Employee’s breach, to the Employee’s own skills and general experience, or to what the law allows or requires the Employee to disclose, including reporting wrongdoing to an authority and speaking about their own pay and conditions where the law protects this.

12. Work product and company property

(1) Work the Employee creates in the course of the employment, such as documents, designs, software and inventions, belongs to the Employer as the law provides. Where the law does not give the Employer these rights automatically, the Employee grants the Employer the exclusive right to use the work for its business, to the extent the law allows. Materials the Employee created before the employment stay the Employee’s: [[none / list of materials]]

(2) The Employee looks after the equipment, accounts and materials the Employer provides, follows its reasonable security and data protection rules and returns them when the employment ends. The Employer processes the Employee’s personal data to manage the employment and as the law requires, and tells the Employee how it does so.

13. Mandatory law and written terms

The law of the country where the work is done gives the Employee rights that this agreement cannot reduce. If anything in this agreement gives the Employee less than that law requires, that law applies instead. Where that law requires a written contract or written information on the main terms, such as hours, pay and leave, this agreement and the document attached here supply it: [[Attachment, or none]] The parties add whatever is still missing. Where that law requires a particular form for the contract or the written terms, the parties also meet that form.

14. Changes and notices

This contract, including its price schedule, is the entire agreement on the employment, apart from the rights the law gives. Changes are valid only if both parties agree to them in writing or in electronic form, where the law allows that form. Notices are given to the addresses stated for the parties, or to another address a party has notified.

15. Governing law and disputes

This agreement is governed by the law stated under Governing law. The parties will first try to settle any dispute in good faith. Otherwise the courts stated under Jurisdiction decide, unless mandatory law provides otherwise.

Payment terms

The pay is paid [[monthly in arrears, on the last working day of the month]] into the bank account the Employee names, after the deductions the law requires.

Governing law

[[Country or state whose law applies]]

Jurisdiction

[[Courts that decide disputes, e.g. the courts of your city]]