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Download employment contract sample in .PFD format.
Do I Really Need a Temporary Employee Contract?
Is your company or organization planning to hire a temporary worker or workforce to help meet a seasonal or project-related demand? If so, you may want to use a temporary employee contract to ensure you are meeting the legal requirements for hiring this type of assistance. In this article we will discuss the temporary employee contract in more detail, showing you the specific language used and topics covered that will serve to protect the interests of both you and the one you wish to employ.
Why Do I Need a Temporary Employee Contract?
There are times when a business or organization will need to bolster their normal workforce to meet an unusually high demand for their products or services. In retail sales, for example, this is seen most often around the Christmas season, as stores scramble to find enough employees to handle the holiday rush. Other business sectors, such as manufacturing, for example, tend to hire temporary employees to meet a pressing deadline on a large or significant project. No business, in fact, is exempt from this type of demand, but whether you’re a retail store restaurant or an aerospace firm, if you’re going to hire a temporary worker you need to have them sign a temporary employee contract.
Temporary employee contracts serve as official notice that a given employee is indeed being hired only temporarily, and only until the demand for his/her services has passed. This protects you as an employer; because unlike regular employees who can only be terminated for cause, temps can be let go at your discretion when their services are no longer needed.
Officially recording the terms of employment is only one function of this type of contract. It can also serve as a way to prove that the new employee has become familiar with, and understands the practices and policies of your company, including the safety and emergency-related policies and procedures. Therefore, if the temporary employee should become injured at work—injured because he/she neglected to adhere to one of these policies—you cannot be held liable for failing to provide this information.
Items Typically Found in a Temporary Employee Contract
Of course not all temporary employee contracts are identical, as they will vary depending on the type of business and the scope of employment, but in general, most of these contracts will include at least the following:
- Company name and details
- Employee’s name, address, social security number and any other identifying information
- The term of employment, including a start date and (at least) a tentative end date
- Compensation details
- Duties
- Work schedule
- Dress code
- Company policies and procedure
- Signature of employee
At minimum, the above mentioned items should be addressed in every temporary employee contract, and while the employer can certainly exercise the option to promote an employee to permanent status at any time, once that process is complete, said employee would then enjoy all the rights and protections given to an employee of that status.