Offers of Employment -- should they be in writing?

[zebra]

HI -- DH has a verbal offer of a job. The new boss wants to email him the offer, DH is to print out, sign & send back. But shouldn't DH have a paper copy of the offer with a real signature on it, too? It's a very small company (DH will only be 4th employee), we don't want to annoy new boss with unnecessary paperwork, but it seems to me that no signed offer from the company doesn't protect DH very well... Can anyone advise?

Zebra,

yes yes yes, get a proper offer letter, with a contract of employment signed by the employer.

Even without this the letter constitutes a contract, but only entitles you to statutory rights about Holiday notice and sick pay.

As it is a small company be VERY VERY careful, as it is difficult to take small companies to court if there is a problem.

I would say yes he does need a proper contract to read before he signs it.

Saying that I used to work for a small company and we never used to send contract of employment out. Most of it was done verbally and on a trust basis, we only used to draw contracts up if it was requested! Most small companies are very trustworthy IME

Thanks gals! I know it wouldn't matter when you get a job in a local sandwich shop, but we are kind of relying on this job in our plans to relocate... I didn't think it was too much for the boss to sign something, if he was asking DH to sign something, too.

You're not THE C.Thatcher, are you?

lawyer here. if he emails the offer with a cover email saying here is the offer, sign and send back, that should be fine - perfectly acceptable evidence of a contract. If he wants the added comfort of a signature, but doesn't want to piss the co off, dh should send it back with a cover note saying "I'd be grateful if you could send me back a countersigned copy for my files" - perfectly professional and acceptable and no company should have a problem with that.

It was an engineering firm I used to work for!