Liability Insurance

An Employment Contract Agreement can cover many circumstances. Some of the more common situations include: wages, rate of pay increases, benefits packages, workplace policies, termination policies, and anything else the employer and employee agree to.

Commonly, an employment contract agreement is presented in an employee handbook. Many companies will have you read over the entire handbook and sign each page, or have an orientation session for staff which join the company at the same time.

The employment contract is a useful tool in the business world as it defines exactly what a job consists of and what is expected of the employee while giving an in-detail summary of what the employer offers. It often has very detailed pages regarding all the specific policies for that employer. This helps protect the employer against potential lawsuits in any form. For example, if the employment contract specifies that a staff member cannot be late for work more than (say) 5 times in every 90 day period, the employer is quite entitled to terminate an employee’s contract (ie. “fire” the staff member) if that condition is breached, without running the risk of being sued.

The employment contract is really a great thing for businesses of all shapes and sizes and very useful for an employee. Some employees might not read over everything before signing the employment contract agreement and miss out on potential benefits by not signing up for them. An employee handbook that is very large can cause boredom to set in but the employee should make sure to read every single page before signing anything. You don’t want to start a new job thinking you are going to make $15 per hour only to realize you are actually making $4 per hour plus commission!

Employment contract agreements help protect the employees as well. They usually have a very well defined policy on subjects such as harassment and discrimination.

By knowing and following the employment contract, the employees can protect themselves from termination which can sometimes be immediate and without warning. This can be due to violating breaking company policy, making a badly timed joke, or not following exact safety procedures. If the employee does break these policies, usually they receive no benefits and the employer is not liable for what they have done.

Some employees may see an employment contract in a positive light. Executives sometimes are guaranteed large lump sum payouts plus benefits if there employment is terminated.

Depending on the company you work for and what type of position you hold, some companies allow employees to petition to have new policies implemented or redundant policies removed.