“At will” employment simply means that an employer may terminate an employee for any reason. In many states this is the legal relationship between employers and employees unless there is a contractual relationship between them that states to the contrary. It is difficult in the employer – employee legal relationship that states have different laws. But there is another issue, that of the balance with employer – employee relationships.
Most employers will initially prefer to have employees in an at will employment status. In these companies employee manuals will state that nothing in the paperwork of employment, including the employee manual will be deemed to constitute an employment contract defeating at will status.
It is difficult for a certain type of employee to negotiate an employment contract to defeat an employment at will status. If this employee without leverage is not protected by other legal provisions regarding notice, separation pay and insurance rights, employees will be greatly disadvantaged and treated unfairly. On the other hand, employers need to be able to terminate employees for business reasons (treating them fairly) without facing litigation on every termination.
With the current legal scenario, the best practical advice for an employee with leverage is to negotiate and execute a written employment agreement that provides the appropriate terms of employment, both as to its conduct and termination.
Employers should look carefully at each employment level to determine where an employment contract may help improve employee relationship. The default should be at will status for employees where it is available under applicable state law.
By: Rick Riebesell
Posts Tagged ‘Employment Contract’
At Will Employment
February 7th, 2010Employment Contract Samples – Use The Internet And Library To Find Contract Samples!
November 26th, 2009
Employment contracts can always help your establishment if you already have one or if you plan on starting a new one, either big or small. No matter how big or small their establishment is, almost all industries make use of these contracts. The reason behind this is, these contracts benefit not only the employees who sign them but as well as the company. Chances of the company being sued by the present or former workers can be reduced by using a well defined employment contract. The statistics in these papers make the drafting as well as the signing of the papers by the employees worthwhile. Not many people know that a lawyer is not necessarily needed to draft these contract papers. This can actually be done on your own without spending a very large amount of money as the lawyer’s fee. The contract papers that already exist can give you few ideas and examples as to how to draft a new employee contract paper. This is a very simple and easy process, all you have to do is read and collect all the necessary needed information from the various example contracts to draft one on your own.
The internet and the library are the two best ways to find the contract examples for free. Although both these places can give you information for free, both of them have their own ups and downs. In case of the library, the book has to be returned before a specific due date. And so be sure to collect all the information needed before the dead line. And if you happen to find a book that you may want to keep for further reference, you can always purchase it later at the book store. And when it comes to the internet it has a slight upper hand as you can always keep any information that you find provided you’re savvy around the computer. The only problem is, the legitimacy of the information given on the net cannot always be trusted. Not many websites provide the expert advice which they actually claim to give. Always ensure that the website which provides information has real lawyers to lay down the contract examples given. But when it comes to books one does not have to worry about these kind of problems. And at the same time don’t be too choosy when it comes to keeping things for free.
By: Abhishek Agarwal
