When you start your own business, one of the most important factors that you need to figure out is employment. How many employees do you need? What processes do you have in place to train them? How much will you pay them? What benefits will you offer? What clauses will be tied to their employment with your company to ensure your business is protected?
All of these factors can be solved, and many of them can be addressed in an employment contract. This contract, though, must be properly drafted and reviewed with legal help to ensure that it is compliant with the law — and to make sure you are legally secure.
An employment contract can address many of the factors we outlined above. In most cases, a new hire will be offered an employment contract that includes a confidentiality agreement and a non-competition agreement. These provisions state that the employee agrees to not reveal information and secrets about your company (for the former) and to not work for competitors for a certain amount of time after working at your company (for the latter).
Exclusivity clauses and outlining who owns what at the company when new ideas are put into action are important too. Exclusivity clauses state that the employee can’t work for another company while employed at your company. “Ownership of ideas” is a provision that defines who owns what idea when it is thought of during the course of employment. Usually these clauses are written to benefit the company.
Source: FindLaw, “Employment Contract Provisions,” Accessed May 25, 2016
