As employers, arts organisations must comply with employment legislation while actively managing work environments that support people to do their best work. Board directors also have a duty of care to all individuals engaged in a professional employment capacity within arts organisations – whether they are employees, volunteers, on contracts for services or freelancers. We have developed this employment documentation to help keep all the policies, statements and processes used by the theatre and wider performing arts community up to date. Regularly reviewing and updating your organisation’s employment documentation as well as adoption of the Safe to Create Code will help promote good employment practices and safe arts workplaces.
Legally, all employees must get a written statement of the terms of their employment regardless of their contract type. Many full-time and part-time arts organisation employees have open-ended contracts of employment that continue until the employer or employee ends it. Other employees have fixed-term or specified-purpose contracts which end on a specific date or when a particular role or task is completed. Theatre Forum’s sample Performer Contract is one example of a fixed-term employment contract.
Currently, employers must give a new employee the part of their written statement of terms of employment that sets out the main or core terms of their employment within the first five days of starting a job. This is often referred to as the ‘Statement of Main Terms’ and detailed in pages 2 and 3 of our sample Statement. Then within one month of starting the job, employers must give a new employee all the remaining terms of their employment set out in full in our sample Statement of Terms of Employment.
When there’s a change in terms or conditions of employment for existing employees, then the employee should get and sign an updated Statement of Terms of Employment too.
If employees are required to work outside Ireland for at least one month, they must be given a written statement of the terms and conditions of employment before leaving the country. This must include the country or countries in which they will work, the duration of the work, the currency in which they will be paid, and any other benefits for working abroad.