Employment Contracts

You can enforce ‘last-chance’ pacts with on-the-ropes employees

01/01/2004

Last-chance agreements are signed pacts between employers and employees that provide workers accused of serious misconduct one last chance to shape up. They’re common in cases involving alcohol abuse, drug abuse …

Don’t break severance promise, you may be personally liable

01/01/2004

A company president refused to fully honor employee Donald Chisholm’s severance agreement, even though it was clearly spelled out in Chisholm’s employment contract. So Chisholm sued for breach of contract and …

An unsigned contract can still be legally binding

11/01/2003

Issue: Some courts consider agreements, signed or unsigned, to be valid, binding contracts.
Risk: A manager’s verbal promise could lock your company into legal agreements it must follow …

Avoid making promises that become job contracts

10/01/2003

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Use telecommuters? Defuse 5 main lawsuit threats

09/01/2003

Telecommuting is popular with employers and employees. Com-panies with telecommuting programs can realize productivity gains, im-proved morale …

Require staff to arbitrate disputes; court upholds ‘partially legal’ pact

07/01/2003

Don’t be leery of requiring employees to sign mandatory arbitration agreements. As the following ruling shows, even if a court disagrees with part of your agreement, …

Don’t make promises the company might not keep

07/01/2003

Issue: Courts will make your company follow through on oral promises you make about benefits.
Risk: You or an ill-informed manager could inadvertently force your company to provide benefits it …

Give employees advance notice of severance plans, waivers

05/01/2003

Don’t spring severance-plan details on employees right before a layoff. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) says you must give employees advance notice …

Don’t cut severance if it violates written contract

05/01/2003

Q. We need to change our severance policy, mostly due to declining business conditions. Can we reduce the severance amounts cited in employment agreements with certain staff as long as we notify them of the change? —J.C., Illinois

Don’t conspire with competitors to freeze workers out of a job

03/01/2003

Never agree with another company to refrain from hiring each other’s employees unless your workers and the other company’s workers sign the agreement. Reason: …