Employment Contract or Workplace Policy?
One of the more subtle under-explored questions in employment law is the proper difference between what employers can put into "policies" versus what kinds of changes need to be reflected in "contracts". The central practical difference between those two things is that a "policy" is typically unilaterally drafted and implemented by the employer (so the employer can demand that the employee read, acknowledge, and abide by a policy), whereas a "contract" requires agreement by the employee (at least in theory - setting aside certain issues in constructive dismissal law). The law is pretty clear on a couple things that can't be imposed by unilateral 'policy': The big one is 'limitations on termination entitlements'. In some cases, you can set out a contractual limit on what an employee gets upon dismissal, but trying to do that simply by way of a policy is not generally going to be effective. (Can you integrate a policy into a ...