This is a common myth that parties can backdate a commercial or technological contract to ensure it covers events that occur before the date of signing. However, backdating a contract in this way can be a criminal offense and is often completely avoidable, as the same effect can be achieved through careful legal drafting. An employment contract generally consists of 2 types of contractual clauses: “explicit conditions” and “implicit clauses”. While it can sometimes be tempting, backdating a document is never the answer! You may think that your lawyer is only difficult if he advises you not to do so, but we promise you that it is for your own protection! The rights you have under your employment contract are in addition to the rights you have under the law – for example, the right to receive the national minimum wage and the right to paid leave. All employees, regardless of the number of hours they work each week, have the right to receive a written statement from their employer within 2 months of the start of work. The declaration must describe the main conditions of the employment contract. If the job offer was conditional – such as satisfactory references or passing a test – and you didn`t meet the conditions, there`s nothing you can do. This is because there is no employment contract – there is only a conditional offer. Continuous employment is the length of time an employee has worked for his or her employer without interruption. You can read more about continuous employment on GOV.UK. Every employment contract has “implicit” terms and conditions for employees and employers, including: You and your employer can agree on all the terms of the employment contract you want, but you cannot accept any contractual clause that makes you worse than you are by virtue of your legal rights. If your job offer was unconditional or if you met the conditions and accepted it but withdrew it, it is a breach of contract. Indeed, there is an employment contract once an unconditional job offer has been made and accepted.
You can apply for compensation for breach of contract before an employment court or district court. Some of your employee statutory rights only take effect when you have worked for an employer for a certain period of time. It must be a period of uninterrupted employment. It is generally believed that the backdating of an agreement is made with the intention of deception. However, backdated documents are feasible in certain cases where the parties entered into an agreement at some point but were unable to keep that agreement in writing on that date. To account for such cases, most jurisdictions allow contracts to have an effective date earlier than the date the documents were signed. This is commonly referred to as “anti-dating”. To minimize the risk of backdating, please contact Parker McCay`s Corporate Law Department to draft and review your company`s retroactive agreements. While the backating of a contract`s effective date may be appropriate in some situations, these issues need to be carefully considered before backdating contractual documents, among other things. For example, if a contract is signed in counterparties, the parties could potentially execute it on completely different dates. In this scenario, using an as-of formula may be appropriate. In addition, if the performance of the contract took place before the performance of the contract, there may be sufficient reason to backdate the date of entry into force of the contract.
The backrating of contract documents can be one of the most complex issues lawyers face. Although this problem only comes up from time to time, it is important to have a solid understanding of how to proceed. In terms of private contracts, anti-dating is generally not illegal. When questions of legality come into play, it is when the parties to a contract or their legal counsel use retroactive documents. You should consider regularly opposing the change (for example. B every month) and to bring an action before the Labour Court for an illegal wage deduction. B electronic. Any action should be taken very quickly after they have sought appropriate legal advice. Contracting parties should be careful when drafting, dating and signing their contracts, for example in: If a person has an agreement to work for someone (e.g. B cancel his house), it is not a contract of employment, but a “contract for the provision of services”. .