Florida Employment Contract Lawyer
As an employer, you have a responsibility to lay out all of the terms of employment for each of your employees before they enter into an agreement of employment with you. There are certain provisions that are common sense to include, but there are others that may not have even crossed your mind.
As Florida employment lawyers, we at Scott Law Team are here to help you identify any future issues between you and your employees and to address them before they even have a chance to materialize. For assistance in drafting employee handbooks, employment contracts, job descriptions, policies, and more, contact us today. How can we help you? Tell us, and we’ll get started. Contact our experienced Florida employment contract lawyers today.
The Basics of Employment Contracts
Start date, compensation, and benefits—those are the three basics that you have most likely already included in your employment contract. However, these three things do not even begin to cover all of the necessary elements for most employers. Read on to find out what other provisions you might consider including.
Are you concerned about the confidentiality of your company information?
You may want to include a confidentiality agreement in your employment contract, or as a contract all of its own, to protect certain information, such as trade secrets, processes, and data, among other things. By including this type of clause, the employee must agree to never share any details about how your business is conducted. This agreement can be written in a way so that it is binding even after the employee has left your company. Let our Florida employment contract lawyers help.
What are the terms of termination?
How much discretion do you want when it comes to the terms of termination? Most of these clauses allow both parties to terminate a contract at any time and for any reason by giving a certain amount of notice. In addition, you may want the ability to fire an employee without notice if he or she violates any term of the contract. Perhaps you want to include a statement that gives you the authority to terminate a contract if an employee becomes permanently disabled and can no longer execute the duties of the position. We can advise you as to the best terms for your company, but whatever they may be, this is a critical element that should not be overlooked.
Which state’s laws will govern any potential lawsuits?
Some states favor the employee over the employer or vice versa. You can control which state will govern any potential disputes that escalate to a lawsuit by including a choice-of-law clause, in which you can specify which state’s laws will govern.
Are you worried about a former employee competing with your company?
You may wish to include a provision stating that an employee may not be employed by a competitor of yours or by a company in the same sector. In addition, such a clause usually specifies that a former employee cannot start his or her own business that directly competes with yours. This is often referred to as a non-compete clause. However, be careful that this clause does not place unreasonable demands. You cannot bar your workers from ever working in the same industry. It should only be enforceable for a certain period of time after separation and should typically be restricted to a reasonable geographic area.
Who has the rights to inventions and other creative efforts?
By claiming ownership of your employees’ inventions and other creative efforts, you further protect confidential information. You can make it so that you own the rights to any intellectual property that your employees produce during employment and even for a period of time after separation.
These are just a few of the terms you can include in your employment contract. This is your chance to define the rules of your business—laying them out exactly as you want them. We encourage you to take full advantage of this opportunity so that you don’t end up with expensive legal issues down the road. Contact our Florida employment contract lawyers at Scott Law Team to begin drafting your company documents.
