Employment Contract Review in Singapore

Have the contract read before you sign it. The clauses that matter are the ones that only operate when the relationship ends, which is precisely when nobody is willing to renegotiate them.

Have your contract reviewed

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We review employment contracts for individuals about to sign one, and for employers issuing them.

The reason to do it before signing is simple. Almost every clause that will ever matter to you, notice, bonus, restrictive covenants, what counts as cause for dismissal, operates only when the relationship is ending. At that point nobody has any interest in agreeing to change it.

For individuals

Before you sign. This is the moment you have leverage, and it is generally the only one. An employer that wants you has reason to be reasonable about a clause; an employer that has already got you does not.

We go through the terms that decide what the job is actually worth and what leaving it will cost you:

Notice, both ways, and whether salary in lieu is at the employer’s option or yours
Salary, bonus and commission, and in particular whether a bonus is discretionary, whether it is forfeited if you resign before payment, and what “good leaver” wording actually means
Restrictive covenants, meaning non-compete, non-solicitation of clients and non-poaching of colleagues. These are frequently drafted far wider than a court would enforce, and an unenforceable clause is still a clause an employer can threaten you with
Confidentiality and intellectual property, including what happens to work you created
Termination, including what the employer says amounts to cause, and whether there is a probation regime with shorter notice
Working hours, leave and benefits, and whether the entitlements match what you were told at interview

Where something needs changing, we can help you put it, and there is usually a way to raise it that does not sour the start of the relationship.

For employers

A contract that is unenforceable protects nobody, and a contract that has not been updated in years usually contains at least one of those.

We draft and review contracts, handbooks and template suites, with attention to the provisions that get tested: the restrictive covenants, which have to be reasonable in scope, duration and geography to be worth anything; the notice and termination machinery; the bonus terms, which are the source of a surprising number of claims; and the IP and confidentiality provisions, which are what protect the business when someone leaves for a competitor.

What we will tell you

Whether the terms are within the normal range, which of them are unusual, which are unenforceable, and which will hurt.

We will also tell you when a contract is unremarkable and needs no negotiation. That is a legitimate outcome of a review and it happens often.

The employment relationship after it starts, including dismissal, salary claims and disputes, is on our employment page. Our note on whether to have a lawyer review your employment contract covers when it is worth it, and our guide to employment contracts sets out the standard terms.

Employment contract review: frequently asked questions

I have been given a deadline to sign. Is there time for a review?

Usually, yes. A review of a standard contract is not a long piece of work, and asking for a short extension to take advice is a normal request that reflects badly on nobody. An employer that refuses any time at all has told you something useful about how it operates.

Will negotiating make me look difficult?

Handled well, no. Employers expect senior candidates to read what they are signing, and a specific, reasoned request about one or two clauses lands very differently from a marked-up document returned in full. How it is raised matters as much as what is raised.

Is my non-compete enforceable?

It depends on what it protects and how far it reaches. A clause has to protect a legitimate interest, such as confidential information or customer connections, and be reasonable in what it stops, for how long, and over what area. Many are drafted much more widely than that. Send us the clause and you will usually have an answer quickly.

My bonus is described as discretionary. Does that mean I will not get it?

Not necessarily, but it does mean the wording is doing a lot of work. What matters is how the discretion is expressed, whether payment depends on still being employed on a particular date, and what has actually been paid in practice. This is one of the most common gaps between what someone was told and what the contract says.

I have already signed. Is it too late?

It is later, not too late. Knowing what you have agreed to is worth something in itself, particularly if you are considering leaving, and terms can sometimes be varied by agreement. If you are being asked to sign a new contract or a variation, that is a fresh opportunity to get it right.

Can you review a contract for a role outside Singapore?

We can review it and tell you how it reads, but where another country’s law governs the contract, the enforceability of key clauses is a question for lawyers there. We will say so rather than give you comfort we cannot stand behind.

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