What Is Generally Going To Be Addressed In An Employment Contract?

In a general employment contract, you’ll have the terms of employment, how long the employee is going to be working there, how much payment, the terms of payment, what happens if there’s a dismissal, how the relationship terminates, and what the rights, responsibilities, and obligations ongoing between the parties are if the relationship terminates. There will also be what’s expected from the employee, what’s expected from the employer, and some additional issues that will be addressed.

What Is The Difference Between An Employee And An Independent Contractor And Should This Be specified In A Contract And Why Is That So Important?

To differentiate between the two, an employee gets the W2, and an independent contractor receives a 1099. The IRS would prefer workers to be W2, so they have some specific conditions that define what constitutes an Independent Contractor. These factors in a general way concern the amount of control over the person and when and how they are doing the work

How Can An Employer Protect Their Work Product And Other Confidential Information Through Their Employment Contracts?

Again, this is another area where specificity in the contract is essential. The employer must identify with their lawyer precisely what they’re looking to protect, how it is created, and what it is about that particular set of information that’s so important. Then, you work together to create a document that will specifically identify that information and the information generated from the work product and the confidential information and make sure that that’s protected.

What Is The Difference Between A Non-Compete Clause And A Non-Solicitation Clause In An Employee Contract?

The difference between a non-compete clause and a non-solicitation clause is the non-compete will prevent the employee from working in the designated field. The non-solicitation clause will prohibit the employee from cultivating business from existing clients or existing contacts that the employee or the business has. Both of these clauses need to be limited by time and by geography. Specifically, with non-compete clauses in Pennsylvania, courts do not want to prevent people from making a living. So this affects their interpretation of these clauses.

These things can be narrowly construed, and they need to be very specific about what is and isn’t protected so that you can maximize the chances of the court enforcing the agreement as you wrote it because for either of these, if the court thinks that the agreement is too broad, then they will not enforce that or they might, on their own, rewrite it in a way that they feel makes more sense and is more fair.

Why Is It Better To Hire An Attorney To Create Our Employment Contracts Versus Trying To Handle It In-House?

It is wise to hire an attorney to create these contracts because, again, you want to ensure that it’s less expensive to address these issues on the front-end than on the back-end. You also want to make sure that you maximize the opportunity for these clauses to be enforceable as written.

For more information on Employment Contracts in Pennsylvania, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (610) 649-3769 today.