Part-Time Employee Contract
My question involves employment and labor law for the state of: NC
We have just hired a part-time office manager. My question is, is it common to write up a contract for a part-time position, and what types of things should be included? We are not offering benefits (other than discounts on our products). I haven't been able to find a sample contract for a p/t non-salaried position. Just wondering what I should think about in making up our own to make sure we cover our bases. Here is what I was thinking about making clear:
-Wages (obviously)
-Reviews (90 days and then yearly)
-Vacation (we don't offer paid vacation leave, but should we put in writing that it is fine for our employee to take 2 weeks without pay for vacation/personal time?)
-Benefits (should I specify in writing that we aren't offering health ins or other benefits, but do offer specific discount on our items)
-Do I need to specify if the position is exempt from overtime? The standard hours are 25 per week but during our busy season this can go over 40. We don't pay overtime for this though. Do you need to specify exempt/non-exempt in a part-time contract?
Anything else that I might be overlooking? We are a small business and are fairly new to having an employee. I just want to make sure that we are doing the right thing.
TIA.
Re: Part-Time Employee Contract
No, quite frankly, it is quite uncommon for a part time employee to have a contract. In fact, with the exception of union workers or very high level management, it is not terribly common for full time employees to have contracts. Contracts are the exception, rather than the rule.
I think what you are thinking of as a contract is actually an offer letter, which only extremely rarely meets the legal definition of a contract.
Re: Part-Time Employee Contract
Thank you, that is very helpful. The reason I was thinking about it was that we ran into a few misunderstanding with our last employee. I thought that it would be a good idea to get things down on paper so we didn't run into that again. Our new employee started two weeks ago, so an offer letter seems a little late. Perhaps I should do it anyway. I just want to make sure everyone is on the same page.
Thanks again for your help!
Re: Part-Time Employee Contract
Make sure the letter includes language stating that this is not a contract and reserving your right to make changes as needed. (This can work to the employee's benefit too; if the offer letter is a considered a contract s/he would never be entitled to a raise, or would not be entitled to benefits if you sometime in future were in a position to offer them.) You should probably have it reviewed by your corporate counsel to make sure you do not inadvertantly create a contractual obligation.
Re: Part-Time Employee Contract
One other thing to be careful for is that under FLSA, you still have to pay her a minimum of $455 per week salary to be exempt, no matter how many hours she works. That amount is NOT prorated for parttime exempt employees.