Employment Agreements

In the United States, employment is generally considered to be "at will," in the absence of a contract between the employer and the employee or in the absence of a collective bargaining between a union and an employer. At-will employment generally means that either an employer or an employee may end the employment at any time for most any reason. In other words, no "good cause" is required to fire an at-will employee.  Despite this general rule, there are a number of exceptions to the rule that an employer may terminate an employee's job without "good cause." One of the most common ways that an employee may gain some protection against being fired without cause is through policy statements made by an employer in an employee handbook. Often times, these statements may be read as a contract between the employer and the employee. When courts apply such an interpretation to employee handbook statements, the employee is treated as though a contract for employment was executed.

More often, companies are turning to employment agreements in an effort to protect themselves and their trade secrets in the event of eployee separation from the company.  An employment agreement is a contract entered into between an employer and an employee at the commencement of the period of employment and stating the exact nature of their business relationship, specifically what compensation the employee will receive in exchange for specific work performed. In addition to monetary compensation, the employment contract often specifies a fringe benefit package, including a retirement plan, employee stock options, holiday entitlement, required hours of work, and health insurance benefits.  Normally, such contracts provide for termination of employment, by either party, and include associated matters such as notice period and compensation arrangements.  Employment agreements can also contain non-disclosure and non-compete clauses to protect a companies trade secrets from being dispersed when employees leave.

How We Serve Our Clients

With our experience in employment matters, we are adept at providing consultation with regard to the enforcability of non-compete and non-disclosure clauses in employment agreements, as well as drafting employments agreements to protect not only the company's trade secrets but their most valuable assets, their human resources.