Employment Contracts
RAn employment contract is an agreement between an employee and an employer that stipulates the employee's work contribution for the benefit of the employer in return for a specific fee in the form of wages and other benefits from the employer.
A written employment contract must be concluded between the employee and the director/employer at the start of employment. There are deviations from that if the employee is only hired for one month or less or for no more than eight hours per week.
By stating clearly in the employment contract which rules shall apply to the employment relationship, both regarding the job and the conditions that come with it, you can prevent disputes later.
An employment contract includes the following points:
- Identity of parties, names and social security numbers of employer and employee
- Place of work and address of the employer (place of work)
- Job title
- A plan for working hours and employment ratio
- The starting time of the employment and the duration of the employment, if it is temporary, together with the notice period
- Employment conditions, e.g. with reference to wage rates and other payments
- Right to vacation
- Right to wages during illness
- Pension fund to be paid into
- Reference to the applicable collective agreement and the union concerned
All employment contracts must state which collective agreement applies to the job. The points that are not stated in the employment contract are stated in the central collective agreement.
Employees are always authorised to disclose their wages if they choose to do so.
This authority has been included in the law on equal status and equal rights for women and men since 2008.
This means that an employer cannot require its employees to agree to a wage secrecy clause. Such contractual clauses are not permitted and are therefore not valid.
Employment contracts are standard for public entities.
Rules no. 351/1996 on the form of employment contracts with the state and the obligation to inform state employees about terms of employment.
Fræðagarður Assistance
If you still have questions that have not been answered above, we encourage you to contact the office of Fræðagarður.
You can submit a query, for example regarding general questions about labour law and wage issues.
You can also create a formal service request that is automatically entered into our case file system, for example for complex or sensitive cases.
Finally, you can book a call with a specialist, if you think it is more appropriate.
The Fræðagarður service office is located at Borgartún 6 (same building as BHM). It is open every weekday from 09-12 and 13-16. The phone number is 595 5165.