Updated employment contracts templates are now available in the e-shop of the Chamber
On August 1, 2022, changes to the Employment Contracts Act entered into force, as a result of which contracts concluded from that date must contain additional explanations. Changing the employment contracts of current employees is not necessarily mandatory, but if the employee requests it, the employer is obliged to provide the relevant explanations. Due to the changes that entered into force on August 1, all our employment contract templates in Estonian, Russian and English are also updated.
The first amendment is about providing explanations to whom it is necessary to pay taxes and what is the purpose of paying these taxes. We have explained in the templates of the contract that the employer forwards the taxes to the Tax and Customs Board and, for example, income tax is used to finance the governance activities of the state and local government units.
The second amendment concerns the agreement on overtime work. Amendments to the Employment Contracts Act establish that employment contracts concluded from August 1 must contain a reference to the procedure for overtime work and compensation. Such reference is also present in all our employment contract templates.
The third amendment concerns the notification of the cancellation of the employment contract. We have added a point at the end of the employment contract, where we explain that if the employment contract is cancelled by the employer, the employer must justify the cancellation of the contract. The employee must justify in case they decide to cancel the employment contract extraordinarily.
There are more changes in the Employment Contracts Act, and the points that must be added to new employment contracts are for example the training and other benefits offered by the employer, if it has been agreed; the duration of the annual holiday and a reference to other holidays compensated by the employer and the duration of the probationary period, which due to the Employment Contracts Act cannot exceed 4 months or, in the case of a specified term employment contract, more than half of the term of the employment contract. These points are also included in our employment contract templates.
The employment contract templates are available in our e-shop for our members free of charge in Estonian, the price for non-members is 15 euros + VAT. Employment contracts in English and Russian cost 50 euros + VAT for chamber members and 100 euros + VAT for non-members.
If you would like the chamber's lawyers to adjust the template of the employment contract to suit the needs of your company, please let us know your wish by writing to juristid@koda.ee. We would like to remind you that all members of the Chamber of Commerce have a free 1-hour legal consultation every year. In many cases, we can solve minor problems within one hour. You can also contact us in case of other questions related to employment contracts.
Links to updated employment contracts:
Employment contract with cumulative working hours
Specified term employment contract
Unspecified term employment contract
Unspecified term employment contract in Russian
Employment contract with a customer services representative