COVID 19: Addendum employment agreement
The primary employment conditions of an employee, such as working hours and salary, may in principle not be amended unilaterally by the employer. As such, the employee must agree to any change of his/her primary employment conditions, even if the amendment is temporary. In order to make changes to the primary employment conditions of an employee, jurisprudence dictates that all circumstances of the situation must be taken into account in order to evaluate whether the employer may make a reasonable proposal to the employee for such an amendment. It is very important to note that the proposal of the employer must be reasonable, and the employer must also be very transparent with its motives for the proposal. The employee must also be given time to consider the proposal and gather legal advice. It is advisable that the employee and the employer enter into an addendum to the employment agreement in order to properly record what parties have agreed to. Even though an addendum is a document similar to the employment agreement, certain legal aspects need to be taken into account when drafting an addendum.