Teachers and parents today lament that it is hard to get young people excited about reading anything, since they can so easily click and scroll on devices, interacting superficially with content that targets ever-shorter attention spans, even though it is admittedly wonderful to see children and teens enjoy reading. These old fogeys, who are horrified at the rise of chatbots, even though some of these old fogeys are barely out of their 20s, look back fondly on the things they used to enjoy reading. Depending on their age, they read comic strips in newspapers while they ate breakfast or comic strips taped to the walls of the classroom while their attention wandered in class. Millennial girls read Babysitters’ Club novels, and Generation Z girls read Babysitters’ Club graphic novels.
As we grew older, our tastes changed. Reading the magazines in dentists’ office waiting rooms or on our grandparents’ coffee tables made us feel grown up. Some of us gravitated toward novels about romance, terrifying monsters, or wondrous worlds that exist only in the imagination of their authors. We didn’t start to feel old until we started to enjoy reading the news, especially about boring things like proposed legislation or mortgage interest rates. You know you are old and square when you are excited to read an employment contract. In fact, maybe you are so young that you are not excited to read your employment contract; you just want to sign it, get to work, and anticipate the arrival of your paycheck in your bank account.
No matter your age, signing an employment contract without reading it first is a major mistake. A Boulder employment contract review lawyer can help you review your contract and make an informed decision about whether you want to request amendments before you sign.
Why Do Employers and Employees Sign Employment Contracts?
Not every employment relationship takes place under the auspices of an employment contract. If this is the first time an employer has offered you a contract, you have probably worked before, but you did not have an employment contract at your previous jobs. Most work that takes place in the United States, and by extension, most work that takes place in Colorado, is at-will employment. In an at-will employment relationship, the employer is responsible for paying the employee fairly, and the employee must fulfil the job duties listed in the employee handbook or other document of company policies, but there is no fixed term for the employment relationship. Employees may quit the job whenever they choose; the law does not require you to give notice when you quit a job in an at-will employment relationship, but most employees do this as a courtesy. Likewise, employers may fire you whenever they choose; they do not even have a reason. In practice, firing employees for no reason is a legal gray area; employees can still sue for wrongful termination of employment if they can prove that the employer’s decision to end the employment relationship amounted to discrimination or retaliation.
An employment contract clearly outlines the employment relationship. It protects both parties in the event of a dispute. The contract says what your responsibilities as an employee are, so if your employer claims that you are not doing your job properly, you can point to the clauses in your contract that list your responsibilities and provide evidence that you are fulfilling them. Likewise, if your employer does not pay you as much as promised, you can rely on your contract as evidence of what your employer promised to pay. Probably the biggest difference between employment contracts and at-will employment is that a contract guarantees that you will have your job until the date listed on the contract. Some contracts are for work that is inherently temporary, while others offer renewal options, and still others renew automatically.
Read the Fine Print in Your Employment Contract
In your excitement about your new job, with its lucrative pay and its job security, your eyes will naturally gravitate to the parts of the contract that talk about the rewards you will get for your work. These are not the only parts of your contract that deserve your attention, though. You should read the parts of your contract that talk about dispute resolution just as carefully. For example, the more detail your contract has about how to repair a breach of contract, the better. Does the contract have force majeure clauses, about emergency situations where it is not considered a breach of contract if you cannot fulfil your contractual duties? The mere existence of a force majeure provision is better than nothing, but it is better if the contract lists specific force majeure events. A force majeure event is a large-scale emergency that disrupts work across an entire industry or entire society. For example, wars and natural disasters are force majeure events.
Likewise, if your contract says, “The courts of Colorado have jurisdiction to rule on disputes arising from this contract,” you might take it for granted, but it actually means that you hit the jackpot. Some employment contracts require you to resolve contract disputes with your employer through arbitration, which is less transparent and arguably less fair than filing a breach of contract lawsuit in court.
Employment Contract Red Flags
Any employment contract is better than none, but some contract provisions can open the door to trouble. If your contract has these provisions, you should hire an employment contract lawyer to help you negotiate with your employer to amend them. For example, mandatory arbitration clauses put employees at a disadvantage when resolving contract disputes. Likewise, beware of non-compete clauses that restrict the employment you can pursue after you stop working for your current employer.
Contact HKM Employment Attorneys, LLP, About Employment Contract Review
The Boulder employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys, LLP, can counsel you about your employment contract before you sign it. Contact the employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP in Boulder, Colorado, to set up a consultation.
