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Hiring someone, or letting someone go

Taking someone on, or ending the arrangement, and the paperwork each end needs.

See where this can lead

An employer usually arrives at one of two ends of the same relationship: the first person is about to start, or an arrangement is about to finish. The paperwork at each end is different, and so is what it can commit you to. Whether the person is an employee or a contractor decides much of what follows.

What this can involve

What it can involve

Does one of these sound like yours?

You don’t need to know the legal term for it. Start with what actually happened.

  1. Taking someone onWriting down the terms of the job before the first day, rather than after the first disagreement.
  2. Employee or contractorWhether someone works for you or alongside you. It is a question to be answered for the arrangement in front of you, not one with a single answer.
  3. Policies and handbooksWhat is expected of people at work, and what happens when it is not met.
  4. Protecting the businessWhat someone may share, and what they may do after they leave.
  5. Ending the arrangementPutting an ending in writing clearly, whether it is a dismissal, a warning or the close of a contract.
  6. When it becomes a disagreementA dismissal that is challenged, or a restriction someone will not accept.

None of these quite right? You don’t have to pick one.

More than one area

One situation, more than one area of law.

Hiring someone, or letting someone go rarely sits in a single category. These are the areas it most often reaches, and why. You don’t have to pick one — the matter decides, not you.

Each one is a real page you can read before deciding anything.

Most oftenEmployment & LabourThe employment relationship itself, at both ends.

And often also

Documents

You may also need a document.

Most hiring and ending paperwork already exists as ready-to-use documents. Where the arrangement is less ordinary, the same situation can be looked at as a matter instead.

Ready-to-Use Documents

Browse all employment documents

  • Employment & HR

    Employment agreements

    Set out pay, role and terms for an employee.

    View document

  • Service & Vendor

    Independent-contractor agreements

    Set the terms of work with an independent contractor.

    View document

  • Employment & HR

    Employee handbooks

    The policies and expectations for your staff, in one place.

    View document

  • Employment & HR

    Employee termination letters

    End someone's employment in writing.

    View document

Not sure where to start

Still not sure this is your situation?

Then don't pick one. Describe what's happening in your own words and we'll work out what it involves — and which areas of law it reaches.

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Other situations

Is one of these closer?

Questions

Questions people ask at this point.

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Tell us what’s happening. We’ll take it from there.

You don't need to know which area of law it is, or what the next step should be. Describe the situation and we'll work out what it involves.

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