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Post dating an employment contract

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  • 19-06-2013 11:17am
    #1
    Kingdomkerry
    Registered Users Posts: 101 ✭✭


    My employer offered me an extention to my contract of 12 months. It is on much lower pay. My current contract does not expire for 5 months. I have been given the new contract but am in catch 22 as if I sign it now I will have my salary reduced immediately but if I dont I will be out of a job in 5 months.

    Is it possible to sign the contract now and post date it until the date my current contract ends?

    Can my employer resind the new contract if he does not like the fact it is post dated? If he has signed the contract and I sign the contract and post dated, is the contract legal once there are two signatures?


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    #2
    tatli_lokma
    Registered Users Posts: 3,332 ✭✭✭tatli_lokma


    It can't be an extension to a contract if it has different terms and conditions. So you are being offered a new contract, with different pay rates.

    How long have you worked there? If it is less than a year, even though you have 5 mths left on the current contract, they could let you go.

    You need to decide if 5mths on current salary is worth more to you in the long run than 12 mths at the lower salary.

    I don't think post dating the contract would work, I always thought the point of the date is to confirm WHEN you signed it, so postdating it is in effect not correct - but this is a legal area so you would be better to get advice on the legality of it elsewhere.

    More likely, if you want to 'post date' it your employer will refuse. Then your only option is to try and arrange it that the start date of the new contract follows on from your current one - i.e your new contract will start in November rather than June.


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    #3
    seamus
    Registered Users Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    The date that you sign the contract doesn't determine the date that the contract comes into force. The date the contract comes into force is usually specified within the terms of the contract itself, and only if that's not specified, then the contract comes into force on the date that you sign.

    That's an important distinction from the date you write on the contract. The date you write on the contract is not the date that you signed it. The purpose of that date is to avoid arguments over when you signed it. If you post date, then that's basically the same as not putting a date on it at all. What you're doing is throwing away your own legal protection because now you have no proof of when you signed it. The employer could turn around in two weeks' time, say that you signed the contract 3 months ago, retroactively dock your pay, and you have no way of proving that you didn't sign it 3 months ago, because the contract is post dated...

    The employer wouldn't do this obviously, I'm just illustrating that there's no validity or protection in the post-dating of your signature.

    First things first, speak to the employer and ask them to add a clause stating that the new contract only comes into effect at the end of your current one. If they refuse to do this, then as Little Ted says :
    You need to decide if 5mths on current salary is worth more to you in the long run than 12 mths at the lower salary.


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