Employment Contract

An Employment Contract establishes the rights, expectations, and obligations of an employer and employee in a working relationship. It includes the details of employment, such as compensation, work hours, job duties, sick pay, and more.

Are you planning to hire any employee in your business? If your employee will have access to sensitive information such as your customer lists or methods of operation, you should consider having a written employment agreement before you hire the employee.

The employment agreement usually addresses many legal issues important in the employer-employee relationship including:

• Term of employment (is the employment for a fixed time period or is it for an indefinite time period?)
• Amount of compensation (salary / pay) and any included benefits such as automobile, vacation or health plan
• The duties, tasks and responsibilities expected of the employee
• Representations by the employee such as their academic or professional qualifications
• Right to terminate the employee for cause if certain events occur (eg. theft)
• Right to terminate the employee without cause if certain events occur (eg. poor performance)
• Confidentiality of information to prevent employee from disclosing to others any confidential information after the employment ends
• Non-competition restrictions during and after employment with your company
• Non-solicitation restrictions to prevent the employee from attempting to solicit your customers/clients and other employees
• Clarification that the employer is the owner of the customer lists, contact information, customer records, business methods, copyrights, and patents (if any)
• Details of any office procedures and policies
• Any other issues specific to the employment situation