INTRODUCTION
The law on employment contracts in Zambia is governed by the established English law of contracts and Statute, the Employment Act. To be legally binding a contract of employment must therefore fulfil all the normal contractual requirements.
(A) DETERMINATION OF THE EXISTENCE OF A CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT AND TERMINATION
In order to determine and delineate employees from other contractual relations, the courts have devised tests to help identify employees:
1. THE CONTROL TEST
This was the first test to be evolved. Under this test the greater the extent to which a person is under the direction of and control of another person, the more likely he or she is an employee. The control test is satisfied if a person controlled both what another person is to do and how to do it. However, as the size and complexity of business increased and employees became more skilled and professional, employment relations became more impersonal. The control test was therefore less effective and even when a ‘right to control’ was substituted for actual control it was not possible to draw the correct distinctions with only one test. The courts developed other tests;
2. THE INTERGRATION TEST
Under this test also called the ‘organization test’ if the person doing the work and the work he does is an integral part of the business, rather than an accessory to it, then the person will be an employee. This test is useful in the case of professional employees, such as doctors who may be an integral part of the business without being under the direct control of their employer. The organization or integral test could not be used to answer all the questions arising, more tests were evolved;
3. THE MULTIPLE TEST
Under this test all relevant factors have to be taken into account to determine whether a person is an employee or not. The following factors would indicate a contract of