Anyone can offer you a dream job, and you can do enough practice interviews with career coaches until you can convince prospective employers that you are a model employee. Talk is cheap, though, and promises often fall apart once the work begins in earnest. It is frustrating when your employer denies that they promised you certain perks after you spared no effort in doing what you thought you had to do to get those rewards. Sometimes employees feel like employers are always moving the targets and work harder and harder for no additional rewards.
The only way to get the courts to compel someone to make good on their promise is to show written proof of the promise. The conditions of your employment are what your employment contract says they are. If you do not have an employment contract, then your employer is only bound by the minimum standards set by federal and state laws. The Huntsville employment contract lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys, LLP, can help you review the employment contract your employer has offered you and, if appropriate, negotiate for more favorable terms in your contract.
Can You Work in Alabama Without a Contract?
Alabama is an at-will employment state; at-will employment is the norm rather than the exception in the United States. If you are employed on an at-will basis, as most employees are, your employer ha the right to fire you at any time and for any reason other than as a matter of discrimination based on a protected characteristic or retaliation for engaging in a protected activity. If you do not have an employment contract, your employer is still bound by federal and state employment. For example, these are some rights that all workers have in Alabama, regardless of whether they have an employment contract:
- Being paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour
- Receiving pay for all time worked, even if they quit in the middle of a pay period
- Overtime pay, at the rate of 1.5 times the worker’s usual hourly rate for hours beyond the 40th hour that the worker works in a week
- A work environment that meets the legal standards for safety
- Employer-provided health insurance if the employee works full-time
- The right to return to work after an unpaid leave of absence of up to 12 weeks if the leave of absence was for health reasons or to care for a sick family member or new baby, pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act
- Reasonable accommodations for the employee’s disabilities
Employers may inform employees of their job duties by recording them in an employee handbook, even if the employer does not sign individual contracts with employees.
Elements of an Employment Contract
If you have an employment contract, that means that you are getting more than the legal minimum. Employees with contracts have more job security, make more money, and get more benefits and job perks than employees who work on an at-will basis. An employment contract should include the following provisions:
- The identifying information of the parties to the contract, namely the employer and the employee
- The employee’s position title and job duties
- The employee’s rate of pay and benefits
- The duration of the contract and procedures for renewing it, if it is renewable
- Procedures for terminating the contract early
- Obligations of the parties upon the end of the employment relationship
- Dispute resolution procedures, including how to repair a breach of contract and which courts have jurisdiction to rule on disputes arising from the contract
Can Employment Contracts Be Unenforceable?
Individuals and businesses have the right to conclude legally binding agreements by signing contracts. They can agree to almost anything, as long as the things that they are agreeing to do are not violations of the law. For example, the court will not enforce a contract where an employer promises to pay you for pressing counterfeit oxycodone pills. Likewise, the court will not enforce the contract if signing it was a matter of fraud or duress. An example of fraud would be if the employer knew that statements in the contract were false, such as if the employer hired you to drive a van, but it did not own a van and had no intention of buying one. Duress is where the employer compels the employee to sign by using threats. For example, it is duress if the pay is far below the market rate for the services you are performing, but the employer threatens to badmouth you to other employers or to tell your spouse that you committed adultery if you do not sign to accept the low rate of pay.
What are Force Majeure Clauses?
A breach of contract occurs when one party does not fulfill the obligations to which it agreed in the contract; breach of contract is a common reason for lawsuits arising from employment contracts. Force majeure clauses protect both parties from breach of contract lawsuits if one of them is unable to fulfill its contractual obligations because of major, system-wide events beyond its control; these events are called force majeure events, sometimes also called acts of God. Examples of force majeure events include weather emergencies, supply chain disruptions, natural disasters, wars, and widespread outbreaks of disease. “Force majeure” is a French phrase meaning “superior strength;” the idea is that these events are bigger than either party to the contract.
As with all contract provisions, force majeure clauses should be specific about what counts as a force majeure event. If your contract protects against lawsuits arising from a breach of contract when a force majeure event was the reason for the breach, it should be specific about which events count as force majeure events.
Contact HKM for Employment Contracts
The Huntsville employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys, LLP, can give you advice about employment contracts and negotiate on your behalf for better terms in your contract. Contact HKM Employment Attorneys, LLP, in Huntsville, Alabama, to set up a consultation.
