Negotiating A Contract

canteven

Ok, this might seem a bit 'poor me' but stick with me.

I've been offered a job where the employer wants me to sign a six year contract. It's not fixed term as in that's the length of the work available, it's a permanent role where I'm being asked to agree to stay with them for a min of six years.

I know a lot of people would be delighted with that kind of security but I feel like I'd be signing my life away. No option to go on to anything bigger and better if offered, or even no chance to just jack it all in and go travelling or decide I want to have kids and stay home for a while.

Three questions.

Can this be legally required or can I request the contract without this clause?

If I don't want to agree to this, how do I present it to the employer and let them understand that I am viewing this as a permanent job where I'll be for a while, but I don't want to be locked in?

If I do agree to this, what kind of things would my contract need to say? I'm worried about things like the company folding five minutes after I've had to turn down a great job elsewhere, or what would happen if I went on maternity, if my partner lost their job and we wanted to emigrate? All kinds of things.

Any help or perspectives appreciated!

InReality

Have a look at citizens advice. I don't see how they can keep you in a job if you want to leave.

Whats your notice period ? Thats really all a company can ask for.
Even then you could just leave , apart from a bad reference , they are unlikely to do anything else.

seamus

A company cannot legally prevent you from changing employment through contractual restrictions. Even exceptionally long notice periods can be deemed invalid if they functionally prevent you from being able to change job - e.g. a 6 month notice period on an entry-level job.

Chances are this is just a boilerplate contract they've reused from a parent company based in a different jurisdiction.

What are the exit clauses? Is there any financial consequence for you or the company if either of you wish to end the agreement?

Typically these things are more carrot than stick - bonuses and shares which are distributed over the first X years of the contract to get you to stay. I've never seen a contract state an employee must stay with a company for a minimum period, probably because it's not enforceable.

The first thing I would do is query it. Rather than asking straight out for it to be removed, just say that you've never seen anything like it before, and you're not sure why it's there. If they insist that it's standard policy then ask for compensation - guaranteed bonuses to be paid out yearly for the six years. If they won't budge at all, then ask them to remove it.

If you're wondering why I recommend asking for fixed bonuses before asking for it to be removed - it's legally unenforceable anyway. Leave it in the contract, get bonuses from the company and when you want to leave, just leave. There's nothing they can do about it anyway.

You can also ring NERA for advice without mentioning the company.

blindsider

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/starting_work_and_changing_job/changing_job/giving_notice.html

Statutory minimum notice
If you do not have a provision in your contract of employment dealing with notice, the statutory minimum notice of one week will apply and this is the notice that you should give your employer of your intention to leave. The statutory minimum notice of one week, is set down in Section 6 of the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act 1973.
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A 6 yr fixed term contract is a little unusual, but not completely unheard of. I presume your employer has a contract with a client for 6 yrs to provide services etc

In such a case, an employer would not want to recruit staff on a permanent basis, as they are confident that the contract will expire. This is reasonable.

However, during the course of your employment, you still have almost all the same rights as a 'permanent' employee. This includes a statutory minimum notice period. You can, for any or no reason, give your employer notice of your intention to leave. As you appear to have a written contract, I would have presumed (perhaps wrongly) that this minimum notice period would be specified. If your employer fails to include this, the the Law provides a minimum, as per the above.

An employer can ask for a longer notice period, but it must be reasonable - e.g. 3 months, or, in unusual cases 6 months. I would expect that an employer would need to be able to justify >3months.

**It would be wise to ask your employer re notice period - the minimum notice period is there to protect both parties.** You can reasonably say that you have no intention of leaving the job, but that you cannot predict what will happen in 4 yrs time. You may want/need to emigrate/become a full-time carer/win the lottery/write a best-selling book etc and you cannot reasonably be expected to predict the future.

There are some exceptions to the above, e.g. employment contracts in the Defence Forces, but I don't think that applies to your situation.

Mrs OBumble

If the contract is going to have that kind of clause, then IMHO it also needs to spell out what penalties apply if either party breaks the contract.

One way to present your concerns to the employer is say that you want to know what liabilities you might have in the event that you became sick (or died) and thus unable to work.

If, for instance, you are liable for the costs of recruiting your replacement (suitable candidates not to be unreasonably rejected by the employer) that might be ok. But if you are liable for some very large penalty imposed by the client, that could be a whole different ballgame. (My guess is that it is something like the latter, and the employer won't want to reveal the commercial details to you - this may make them willing to leave the clause out).



If you're even vaguely willing to consider the contract with the clause in it, then there are also some questions to be asked:

If it's a permanent job, does that mean it's a rolling six years? Or is it a count-down from the day you start? In which case what happens after six years - do you get a new contract for another six years, redundancy, or what?

Is there a periodic salary review clause?

What happens if they terminate the contract due to unsatisfactory performance?


Personally I'd want a mighty nice salary to compensate me for a six-year notice period. And I'd be taking legal advice too, about what other implications it might have.