A contract of employment is an agreement between an employee and employer according to which the employee is required to work for the employer, submitting to their management and orders, and the employer is require to pay to the employee a fee for it and ensure the working conditions agreed on in the agreement between the parties.

How does the contract of employment differ from other contracts of service?
The contract of employment differs from other contracts of service (e.g. authorisation agreement, contract for services) primarily due to the fact that the employer determines the time, location and manner of work.

How long can the probation period be?
The Employment Contracts Act stipulates that the probation period is 4 months. At the same time the employer and employee are allowed to agree on a shorter probation period, e.g. 2 months or 1 week. Furthermore, the parties may agree that no probation period is applied. Such agreement must be included in the contract of employment.

How accurately must the location of work be agreed on?
The Employment Contracts Act presumes that the location where the duties are performed is agreed on with the precision of a city or municipality. The employer and employee may indicate the location of work in the contract of employment in narrower or broader terms than a local municipality. The location of work may be a specific address (e.g. 17 Toom-Kooli St), a county (e.g. Harju County), several counties (e.g. Harju and Tartu County), Republic of Estonia, several countries (e.g. Estonia, Finland) or even a broader area (e.g. European Union).

The sample contract has been prepared to be used for simpler transactions that do not require a thorough analysis or taking into account the peculiarities of a transaction. If the planned transaction is more complicated, we recommend consulting a lawyer before the sample is used in order to achieve a solution that is best suited for you and takes into account the peculiarities of the transaction.