Editing Employment contract (section)

==Terminology==
{{labour|sp=uk}}
A contract of [[employment]] is usually defined to mean the same as a "contract of service".<ref>For example in the UK, s.230 [[Employment Rights Act 1996]]</ref> A [[contract]] of service has historically been distinguished from a '''contract for services''' (contract for the supply of services). The differing terminology implies a dividing line between a person who is "employed" and someone who is "self-employed". The purpose of the dividing line is to attribute rights to some kinds of people who work for others. This could be the right to a minimum wage, holiday pay, sick leave, fair dismissal,<ref>[http://www.clearskybusiness.co.uk/employment-contract-faqs/ Employment Contract FAQs]</ref> a written statement of the contract, the right to organise in a [[trade union|union]], and so on. The assumption is that genuinely self-employed people should be able to look after their own affairs, and therefore work they do for others should not carry with it an obligation to look after these rights.

Following the unification of the [[List of cities of the ancient Near East|city-state]]s in [[Assyria]] and [[Sumer]] by [[Sargon of Akkad]] into a [[Akkadian Empire|single empire]] ruled from his [[Akkad (city)|home city]] circa 2334 BC, [[Ancient Mesopotamian units of measurement|common Mesopotamian standards]] for [[length]], [[area]], [[volume]], [[weight]], and [[time]] used by [[artisan]] [[guild]]s in each city was promulgated by [[Naram-Sin of Akkad]] (c. 2254–2218 BC), Sargon's grandson, including those of [[shekel]]s.<ref name="Powell 1995, p.1955">{{Cite book|last=Powell|first=Marvin A.|contribution=Metrology and Mathematics in Ancient Mesopotamia|year=1995|title=Civilizations of the Ancient Near East|editor-last=Sasson|editor-first=Jack M.|volume=III|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780684192796/page/1955 1955]|place=New York, NY|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|isbn=0-684-19279-9|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780684192796/page/1955}}</ref> [[Code of Hammurabi#Laws|''Codex Hammurabi'' Law 234]] (c. 1755–1750 BC) stipulated a 2-[[shekel]] [[prevailing wage]] for each 60-[[Ancient Mesopotamian units of measurement#Capacity or volume|gur]] (300-[[bushel]]) [[Merchant ship|vessel]] constructed in an employment contract between a [[Shipbuilding|shipbuilder]] and a [[ship-owner]].<ref name="Sommer 1903 p. 85">{{cite journal|translator-last=Sommer|translator-first=Otto|author=Hammurabi|author-link=Hammurabi|title=Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon|year=1903|journal=Records of the Past|place=[[Washington, D.C.|Washington, DC]]|publisher=[[Records of the Past Exploration Society]]|volume=2|issue=3|page=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924060109703/page/n25/mode/2up 85]|access-date=June 20, 2021|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924060109703/mode/2up|quote=234. If a shipbuilder builds ... as a present [compensation].}}</ref><ref name="Harper 1904 p. 85">{{cite web|translator-last=Harper|translator-first=Robert Francis|author=Hammurabi|author-link=Hammurabi|year=1904|title=Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon|place=[[Chicago]]|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|edition=2nd|page=[https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/hammurabi-the-code-of-hammurabi#lf0762_label_457 83]|website=[[Liberty Fund]]|url=https://oll-resources.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/oll3/store/titles/1276/0762_Bk.pdf|access-date=June 20, 2021|quote=§234. If a boatman build ... silver as his wage.}}</ref><ref name="King 1910">{{cite web|translator-last=King|translator-first=Leonard William|author=Hammurabi|author-link=Hammurabi|year=1910|title=Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon|place=[[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven, CT]]|publisher=[[Yale Law School]]|website=[[Avalon Project]]|url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/ancient/hamframe.asp|access-date=June 20, 2021}}</ref> Law 275 stipulated a [[ferry]] [[Price|rate]] of 3-[[gerah]] per day on a [[charterparty]] between a [[Chartering (shipping)|ship charterer]] and a ship-owner. Law 276 stipulated a 2{{frac|1|2}}-gerah per day [[freight rate]] on a charterparty, while Law 277 stipulated a {{frac|1|6}}-shekel per day freight rate for a 60-gur vessel.<ref name="Sommer 1903 p. 88">{{cite journal|translator-last=Sommer|translator-first=Otto|author=Hammurabi|author-link=Hammurabi|title=Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon|year=1903|journal=Records of the Past|place=[[Washington, D.C.|Washington, DC]]|publisher=[[Records of the Past Exploration Society]]|volume=2|issue=3|page=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924060109703/page/n29/mode/2up 88]|access-date=June 20, 2021|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924060109703/mode/2up|quote=275. If anyone hires a ... day as rent therefor.}}</ref><ref name="Harper 1904 p. 95">{{cite web|translator-last=Harper|translator-first=Robert Francis|author=Hammurabi|author-link=Hammurabi|year=1904|title=Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon|place=[[Chicago]]|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|edition=2nd|page=[https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/hammurabi-the-code-of-hammurabi#lf0762_label_497 95]|website=[[Liberty Fund]]|url=https://oll-resources.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/oll3/store/titles/1276/0762_Bk.pdf|access-date=June 20, 2021|quote=§275. If a man hire ... its hire per day.}}</ref><ref name="King 1910" />

In [[Roman law]] the equivalent dichotomy was that between ''locatio conductio operarum'' (employment contract) and ''locatio conductio operis'' (contract for services).<ref>See [[John Macdonell (jurist)|Sir John MacDonell]], ''Classification of Forms and Contracts of Labour'' (1904) Journal of the Society of Comparative Legislation, New Series, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 253-261, at 255-256</ref><ref>"''locatio conductio operarum'' is a contract whereby one party agrees to supply the other with a certain quantum of labour. ''locatio conductio operis'' is a contract whereby one party agrees, in consideration of money payment, to supply the other not with labour, but with the ''result'' of labour." Sohm, ''Institutes of Roman Law'', 311 (1892)</ref>

The terminology is complicated by the use of many other sorts of contracts involving one person doing work for another. Instead of being considered an "employee", the individual could be considered a "worker" (which could mean less employment legislation protection) or as having an "employment relationship" (which could mean protection somewhere in between) or a "professional" or a "dependent entrepreneur", and so on. Different countries will take more or less sophisticated, or complicated approaches to the question.{{examples|date=September 2023}}