What contract to use when taking on staff

Keep it Legal: Employment categories.

Are you considering taking on staff – including doctors – but remain unsure about the basis on which to engage them? Should you opt for a freelancer or offer an employment contract? Julia Gray addresses the most common questions independent practitioners ask about employment status.

Employment

Engaging staff as employees gives your practice the most control over how they operate. 

It also affords staff the most rights; for example, rights relating to unfair dismissal and statutory redundancy. An employer is obliged to provide work and an employee is obliged to accept it.

Employers are sometimes seduced by the idea of using fixed-term employment contracts as a mechanism for reducing employment risks. 

However, these should be used with caution, because a fixed term does not necessarily mean the employee can easily be dismissed at the end of it. They still have all the usual employment rights, including in relation to redundancy payments.