Legal Aspect Of Drafting Employment Contracts And HR Policies And ...

In Singapore, given the changing employment landscapes, employers are now engaging a different type of employees to suit their operational needs and requirements. As such, on the same basis, the employer cannot adopt one form of the employment contract to fit the different categories of employees. This is not withstanding with the amendment of the Employment Act that came into effect 1 April 2019; the managerial and executive category of employees who are earning a basic salary above $4,500 will also be covered under the Employment Act. As such, various types of employment contracts are now required, and it includes:

1. Regular or Open Ended Employment Contract;
2. Fixed Term Employment Contract;
3. Part-time Employment Contract;
4. Temporary Employment Contract;
5. Casual Labour (Ad-hoc) Employment Contract;
6. Dual or Triple Employment Contracts; and
7. Re-employment Contract
8. Independent Contractor (Free-Lancer) Agreement*

Are HR practitioners taught how to draft the various employment contracts as stated above? If the answer is no and if there are employment contract templates provided, would it assist HR practitioners in drafting out the various types of employment contracts? The answer is almost certainly yes. On the other hand, HR practitioners would still need to know the basic principles in contract law so that they could modify or make minor amendments to the employment contract templates. On top of understanding basic contract law, HR practitioners need to know the various employment legislation such as Employment Act, Employment (Part-Time Employees) Regulations, Retirement and Re-employment Act, Central Provident Fund Act, etc, before they could actually draft out the employment contract as surely the terms in the employment contract cannot supersede the legislation.

On the same basis, due to the amendments to the Employment Act that took effect 1 April 2019, there would be a need to revise the HR policies and procedures manual. As such, it would be good that there are templates so that it would be much easier for HR practitioners to draft out the HR policies and procedures manual. HR policies may differ greatly in that for some policies; it is governed by legislation, whereas, other policies are meant to fulfil the operational needs and requirements of the organisation. Whichever the case may be, there is a process or art in drafting HR policies and procedures and HR practitioners need to equip themselves with the knowledge and skills so as to draft the various policies such as the various types of leaves policies such as annual leave, childcare leave, compassionate leave, examination leave, prolonged illness leave, medical leave, marriage leave, medical leave, no pay leave, paternity leave, reservist leave, shared parental leave, etc. Also, it may be necessary to draft out the code of conduct policy, retirement and re-employment policy, personal data protection policy and the various employee insurance policies, compensation program, etc.

Given the above, this 2-day workshop provides the participant with the practical guide on drafting the various types of employment contracts. HR practitioners will go through each type of employment contract, and you will be taught on how employment legislation is being applied in drafting the employment contract for the different categories of employees.

Other than learning how to draft out employment contracts, HR practitioners will be taught the skills and understanding to develop and implement HR policies and procedures. Again, to draft out the entire HR policies and procedures would be extremely tough as an HR practitioner would need to be familiar with all the employment legislation. For example, if there is a need

to draft out the re-employment policy, surely the HR practitioner would need to be extremely familiar with the Retirement and Re-employment Act.

For this workshop, it is believed that after attending the 2-day workshop and with all the templates provided for both employment contracts; and HR policies and procedures, HR practitioners would be able to come with their own templates for both employment contracts and HR policies and procedures manual accordingly and we strongly believe that this will alleviate not only the productivity of the HR department but also avoid being entangled with unnecessary legal disputes in relation to the employment contract; and HR policies and procedures.