Which document shall I use?
· Are you in a business where you can honestly describe yourself as a consultant? If not, choose “NZ-COM221: self employment agreement”
· Are you an employee?
· If you are a consultant, do you work directly or through a company? Choose accordingly.
· If you are in IT or Internet or other high tech business, choose “NZ-ECM181: IT consultant contract”. Otherwise choose the general one.
· Does your business come straight from the Internet? If yes, choose “NZ-ECM181: terms and conditions”
· There are many more terms and conditions documents here.
Who will use this document?
· any consultant or self employed person in any industry;
· a “client” requiring a contract to set out terms with a consultant or self employed person.
Key features:
· the consultant contracts 201, 202 and 203 are “over-arching” agreements designed for ongoing use to cover a series of assignments
· they may also be used for single assignment
· consultant to work from home or office
· very flexible to suit the requirements of either or both parties
· provides a complete framework
· protects both sides
· establishes as far as possible a self employed status and reduces the chances for employer obligations to arise.
Why use this document?
This document can be presented to your new clients as “my contract”. For any business using self employed people it provides the essential starting point for the relationship.
Important note: although the agreement sets up the relationship of self employment, simply using one of these contracts will not necessarily avoid the relationship of employer and employed. Both the Inland Revenue and any industrial tribunal are likely to look beyond the agreement at the real situation. Some of the questions they might ask are:
· does the contractor work for one person or does he have many clients?
· does the client control how the work is done?
· are the hours fixed by the client or can the contractor choose when he works?
· does the contractor work on the clients premises, using the client’s equipment?
· to what extent is the contractor at risk as a self employed person?
· is self employment normal for this kind of work?
NZ-COM201, 202 and 203 include the following provisions; NZ-COM221 and NZ-ECM181 are shorter:
· consultant’s obligations
· consultant’s status
· consultant’s fees and expenses
· duration and termination
· matters after termination
· consultant’s other work
· data protection
· insurance
· confidentiality
· intellectual property
· other legal provisions - warranties, exclusions, indemnities, etc.
