The Employment Contract Checklist

1. 01Name the employing entity by its exact registered name — staff hired by 'the group' or a brand have no clear employer when a dispute starts.
2. 02State the job title, reporting line, and a short duties summary, with the right to assign duties reasonably consistent with the role.
3. 03Say whether the contract is permanent or fixed-term, and if fixed-term, why — repeated back-to-back fixed terms for permanent work invite reclassification.
4. 04Set the place of work and a mobility clause if you may move people between cities — Karachi and Lahore offices sit under different provincial labour laws.
5. 05Write the probation period expressly, with what confirmation depends on and what notice applies during it [STATUTORY LIMITS FOR WORKMEN TO BE VERIFIED].
6. 06Split remuneration into basic salary and allowances deliberately — end-of-service and overtime calculations key off the components, and an undifferentiated 'gross' figure surrenders that control.
7. 07Confirm the package clears the applicable provincial minimum wage notification before signing, not at the first inspection.
8. 08Authorize deductions in writing — income tax withholding, the employee's EOBI and social security shares, recovery of advances — so no payslip line is later contested.
9. 09Label bonuses and increments as discretionary if they are — a pattern of payments described loosely can harden into an entitlement.
10. 10Set out annual, casual, and sick leave at no less than the statutory floors in the applicable provincial law [ENTITLEMENTS VARY BY PROVINCE — TO BE VERIFIED].
11. 11State maternity leave consistent with the applicable maternity benefits legislation — the statute prevails over any shorter contractual period [FEDERAL AND PROVINCIAL REGIMES TO BE VERIFIED].
12. 12Record working hours, rest days, and the overtime basis for staff within the working-time statutes — contractual silence does not switch the statutes off.
13. 13Define confidential information concretely — customer lists, pricing, source code — and state that the obligation survives termination.
14. 14Include a present-tense assignment of everything created in the course of employment ('hereby assigns'), rather than relying on the default ownership rule alone.
15. 15Add a further-assurances clause obliging the employee to sign patent, trademark, or copyright paperwork after leaving — chasing signatures from former staff is the usual failure point.
16. 16State the notice period for both sides and reserve the right to pay in lieu — then check it against the statutory notice owed to workmen [PERIOD TO BE VERIFIED].
17. 17Distinguish dismissal for misconduct from simple termination — for workmen, misconduct dismissal needs a charge sheet and a domestic inquiry under the Industrial and Commercial Employment (Standing Orders) Ordinance, 1968, and no clause waives that.
18. 18State the end-of-service benefit — gratuity or a provident fund — because where the law applies one of them is owed, and the contract should say which [APPLICABILITY THRESHOLDS TO BE VERIFIED].
19. 19Be honest about non-competes: section 27 of the Contract Act, 1872 voids agreements in restraint of trade, so a post-employment non-compete in Pakistan is presumptively unenforceable — do not build your protection on it.
20. 20Use narrow non-solicitation covenants instead — named customers and current staff, for a defined period — which stand a better chance than a non-compete but are still tested against section 27.
21. 21Require return of company property, devices, and data on exit, and tie the final settlement to a signed clearance.
22. 22Incorporate the staff handbook and policies by reference, with the company's right to amend them, so a policy update never needs a contract amendment.
23. 23Choose governing law and forum knowing their limits: workmen can reach the labour courts whatever the contract says, so pick Pakistani law and a sensible civil forum for management staff rather than an arbitration clause that fits nobody.

This checklist is general information, not legal advice on your facts. Each item is covered in depth in The HR Legal Hub.