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“Education, too?”: tips for investigating sexual allegations in schools and higher education settings
Alfie Cranmer
In our previous blog in our Lifecycle of a tech startup series, KNow Wear Limited secured investment of £500,000. Having completed the raise, you, Sarah and Chris have decided that you need more help in developing and marketing the product. You are looking to create two new roles in the business - the first is a Software Developer to support Sarah’s work and the second is a Head of Marketing.
The first point of consideration for the Founders is what type of “employee” they would like to hire. The law recognises three types of employment status: employees, workers and consultants (ie. self-employed contractors). Employment status is important as it governs an individual’s rights in employment law and the extent of KNow Wear’s responsibilities to them. Employees may also be either permanent hires or subject to a fixed term contract, and may be full or part time.
The key features of each type of employment status are summarised below.
You decide that the positions the company is recruiting for will be permanent roles in the business. You want certainty that once you have made these hires, those individuals will be providing their service to the company, for set days and hours each week. You also want the hires to be fully integrated into the organisation. On this basis, you agree that the company will employ individuals in these roles (as opposed to recruiting workers or engaging consultants). You begin advertising for the two roles on a permanent, full time basis.
The recruitment process is well underway. Interviews have taken place and you have selected two individuals for the roles. Before making the hires, you must take the following actions:
Your lawyers advise you that there are a number of statutory requirements relating to what information must be set out in the employment contract. You then discuss with your lawyers what additional terms you would like to include, relevant to the business.
As a startup, it is of paramount importance that you protect your intellectual property and confidential information. Because of this, you include a tailored IP clause, stating that anything that is created by the individuals during the course of their employment is the property of the company.
You want to ensure that the employees do not come on board, make a note of all of your ideas and confidential information about the product, and then leave. Therefore, you include post-termination restrictive covenants in the contract which prevent the employees improperly using or retaining confidential information, as well as preventing them from working for a direct competitor for a reasonable time after their employment has ended. You receive specific legal advice to ensure that the restrictions are appropriately drafted to provide the company with maximum protection.
Having not hired individuals before, you also want to ensure that you have the flexibility to terminate the employees’ employment should relationships break down. Therefore, you decide that the employees will be subject to a 6 month probationary period, in which either party can terminate employment giving just one week’s notice.
You can undertake regular probation meetings with the new hires during this period to set goals and targets to drive success.
Once the terms are finalised, you send the contracts to the employees to ensure that these are signed and in place ahead of their start dates.
Having employed a Software Developer to help Sarah develop the product, the company will now consider applying for Research and Development (R&D) tax relief on their salary costs, including pension contributions and employer NICs. Look out for our next episode of the lifecycle of a startup series where we will discuss in more detail what an R&D tax relief is and the eligibility requirements.
Georgia Roberts is an Associate in the employment team who acts for both employers and employees. Georgia has versatile experience dealing with a wide range of employment law matters including dismissals, discrimination, equal pay, redundancies, restructuring, industrial relations, employee engagement, disciplinary and grievance processes and employment litigation.
We welcome views and opinions about the issues raised in this blog. Should you require specific advice in relation to personal circumstances, please use the form on the contact page.
Alfie Cranmer
Melinka Berridge
Sameena Munir
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