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Tonight at my employment law class at Woodsworth College, University of Toronto, I'll be speaking on the topic of employment contracts.  I saw, thanks to John Phillips at The Employment Law Post a post at Execupundit called We Shook Hands on It and the following resonated with me as I was preparing this lecture:

"I can understand the necessity for written contracts and this is not a plea to return to the world of buggy whips. We've lost something, however, with the diminishment of the less formal. An implicit lack of trust often accompanies the necessity to get everything in writing."

I get this, and also miss the days of the "handshake" agreement where a person's word was their bond. 

Every employment relationship is contractual at its root and, not having a written contract expressly spelling out the terms that will govern the relationship, allows the court (usually when the relationship sours or things go sideways) to "fill the void" by implying terms that may or may not accord with what the parties really intended when they "shook" hands but which will, because they did not set their understanding to paper, will determine the (often costly) outcome. 

While I wax nostalgic at the good old days, we've also have seen the real pain (to employer and employee alike) when things sour and they are left to the determination of a third party about what they intended, had they turned their minds to it, at the time they entered the relationship.  In fairness, it's more art that science as the cases have noted on more than one occasion. 

Whether it's lack of trust or, at least in the employment area, a desire to displace implied terms and spell out in clear language what the intentions are, and what everyone can expect both during and at the end of the relationship I think written employment contracts (form doesn't necessarily matter here)are a very good thing.

Here's a link to a presentation I did a couple of years ago.

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