Implementation of employment contracts in business law practice: a doctrinal analysis after constitutional court decision no. 168/PUU-XXI/2023

Abstract

This study analyzes how employment contracts should be formed, performed, and adapted in Indonesian business law practice after Constitutional Court Decision No. 168/PUU-XXI/2023. It uses doctrinal (normative juridical) legal research with statute, case, and conceptual approaches. The primary legal materials are the Civil Code, Law No. 13 of 2003 on Manpower, Law No. 6 of 2023, Government Regulation No. 35 of 2021, and the Court decision. The secondary materials are 35 journal articles published in 2021–2025. The materials were analyzed through systematic interpretation, a before-and-after comparison of the norms changed by the decision, and a thematic synthesis of the literature under three categories: validity, performance, and legal certainty. The analysis yields three findings. First, contract validity operates on two layers, because Article 1320 of the Civil Code must be read together with mandatory labor norms. Second, the decision changes five clause-level checkpoints: fixed-term duration, written Indonesian form, outsourcing scope, weekly rest, and wages and termination. Third, the literature explains the gap between contract text and practice through flexible rules, unclear worker status, limited worker understanding, and slow enforcement. The study proposes a contract-lifecycle compliance framework covering formation, performance, adaptation, and dispute, and notes that field validation through interviews remains a task for further research.