In the book Dubious Doublets, Stewart Edelstein presents numerous examples of linguistic doublets, which are words that share a common origin but over time took on different spellings, pronunciations, meanings, or some combination of these. Sometimes the relationship between the two words is obvious, for example, hump and hunch. If you are in a hunched-over position, then the shape of your back resembles a camel’s hump.
The relationship between lump and lunch is more of a stretch, but originally, the word lunch referred to a lump of food, such as bread or cheese, that you would carry with you when traveling. It makes sense for the words break and breach to be doublets when you think about the phrase “breach of contract.” A breach of contract occurs when one of the parties to a contract violates one or more of the terms of the contract. No one thinks more carefully about the meanings of words than lawyers do.
The Boulder breach of contract lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP can help you resolve legal disputes arising from breach of contract allegations related to your employment contract.
Employment Contracts Lawyer in Boulder, Colorado
You only have recourse to breach of contract claims if you have an employment contract, but that is not the only reason that signing an employment contract is desirable. An employment contract is more specific about your rights and obligations and those of your employer than the documents on which you would have to rely if you did not have a contract. Many employment contracts also give employees greater protection than state or local laws would give them, such as higher pay, employer-provided retirement accounts, or guaranteed employment until a certain date. Employment contracts differ from each other as much as jobs do, but to be legally enforceable, an employment contract should include the following elements:
- The names and other identifying details of the parties to the contract, namely the employee and the employer
- The employee’s job duties
- Salary and other compensation that the employer must provide to the employee, such as paid time off, employer-provided health insurance, and bonuses, among other benefits
- The date the employment relationship begins
- The date the contract expires, and how to renew it, if it is renewable
- How to terminate the contract early without breaching the contract
- Non-disclosure or non-compete provisions
- Dispute resolution procedures, including which courts have jurisdiction to rule on contract disputes
How Do Breach of Contract Lawsuits Work?
Breach of contract occurs when one of the parties does not keep the promises they made in the contract. For example, the employer breaches the contract if they do not pay the employee as much as they promised to pay or if they impose responsibilities on the employee beyond the duties specified in the contract without increasing the employee’s pay. The employee breaches the contract if he or she reveals to a competitor information that was supposed to be protected in the contract’s non-disclosure provisions. These are just a few of the many possible scenarios that could constitute breach of contract. It counts as a breach of contract every time a party to the contract acts in a manner contrary to the text of the contract.
Before you file a breach of contract lawsuit, you should make a serious attempt to resolve your dispute with your employer. It is never too early to hire a Boulder breach of contract lawyer, though. Your lawyer can help you exercise your rights and give you guidance on negotiating with your employer before you sue. Sometimes, the dispute resolution provisions of the employment contract contain guidelines about the prerequisites for filing a breach of contract lawsuit.
Even if your contract does not contain specific rules about how to do this, you should notify your employer in writing if they have breached the contract and specify a deadline after which you will file a lawsuit if your employer does not repair the breach. For example, repairing the breach could mean paying you your overdue pay or letting you work remotely on the days indicated in the contract instead of requiring you to go to the work site in person every workday.
To prevail in a breach of contract lawsuit, you must prove the following claims:
- The contract between you and your employer was legally valid
- Your employer violated one or more of the terms of the contract
- The breach of contract caused you to incur financial losses
If the court rules in your favor, it will order your employer to pay you compensation for the financial losses you suffered because of the breach of contract. Most breach of contract disputes, like most lawsuits related to employment, settle before the case goes to trial. In practice, this means that you and your employer, with the help of your lawyers, reach an agreement about how much compensation your employer should pay you, instead of a judge deciding.
Your Rights If You Do Not Have an Employment Contract
You can only file a breach of contract lawsuit if you have an employment contract, but all employees in Colorado have rights, regardless of whether they have contracts. State law and the written policies of individual employers determine the rights of workers who are employed on an at-will basis, a group that includes most of the workforce. Even without a contract, the law guarantees you the right to fair pay and protects you from discrimination, retaliation, harassment in the workplace, unsafe working conditions, and wrongful termination of employment. At-will employees have the right to sue their employers for violations of labor laws. You should hire an employment lawyer if your employer has treated you unfairly, even if your employer hired you at will.
Contact HKM Employment Attorneys, LLP, About Breach of Contract Claims
The Boulder employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys, LLP, can counsel you about filing a breach of contract claim. Call our employment lawyers in Boulder, Colorado, to set up a consultation.
