I'm currently reviewing an employment agreement for a permanent part-time (3 days/week) role. The agreement includes the following (simplified) clause:
The employee agrees and acknowledges that [they] may be required to work additional hours ... Payment for any additional hours is included in the base salary.
This is pretty standard for a full-time salaried position, but I'm wondering what I need to consider for a part-time position. To me it seems like a vulnerability, in that I could (in theory) be paid for 3 days a week but required to work up to full time.
I have been working with the potential employer for a while. I'm confident that no-one is trying to take advantage of me, and I don't anticipate that the hypothetical example would actually happen, but to me contracts are not the place to take personal feelings into account. If the intention is "But we would never do that", then I think that should be specified in the document.
Should I do any of the following?
- Request some additional language limiting the amount of extra time or when it can be performed?
- Request the addition of some review period, such that the amount of extra time is checked every 6 months?
- Something else I haven't thought of?