Employee Legal Advice

Parents don't have any legal right to paid time off if their child's school is closed, for instance, for an election. However, all parents have the right to various types of unpaid leave. And it may be that you could explore with the parent whether they ant to use unpaid leave in these circumstances.

If you've been presented with an employment contract and there are some terms you don't understand or don't agree with, it's important to speak to your employer about them before you start work. That's the best and easiest time to negotiate any terms before it begins. If you start working and you haven't signed your contract, there is a risk that you are deemed to have accepted those terms through your act of already taking the job and beginning. It's best to have the conversation as early as possible with your employer. Remember, if the jobs on offer to you on those terms, it's up for negotiation. So, don't be frightened to speak to the future or prospective employer about that and try to renegotiate on terms that you are happy with.

If you've got a contract of employment which has a non-compete clause which prevents you from working for a competitor within a certain radius, generally speaking, those types of clauses are perfectly legal and enforceable. It's very difficult, if not impossible, to try to renegotiate a contract after the event. The non-compete clause would have been agreed with your employer at the start, or whenever that clause was discussed and agreed, so you cannot change your mind on your own without the consent of the other party to that agreement. It is possible in certain, very limited, circumstances, to challenge the validity of a non-compete clause. However, that is very rare because the starting position is that, if you have agreed to a term, then it is binding. Generally speaking, I would say, respect and know whatever restrictive or non-compete clauses are in your contract and abide by them to avoid being in breach.