Empower your business with open source contact management in employment contracts

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[Music] what you need to know about employment agreements so I'll get through some of these talking points and we'll get through them first one why are they why are they so important employment agreements for Joe I started off by the show today by saying that we spend so much time at work and most of us spend more time at work than we do anything else we probably spend more time at work than we spend time with our family or on vacation or doing our hobbies so the employment agreement is the agreement that's the document that governs what we can and cannot do at work where we spend most of our time that's why an employment agreement is so important a lot of people don't appreciate the importance we're gonna give some examples as to why it's so important but it's extremely important document and not only does it govern your employment which is a reason enough to care an employment agreement could be with you for a very long time even after employment comes to and then so it's very very important to pay attention and to be very very picky about what you sign so what's better a old-school handshake or a you know fifty five page document I know you're probably thinking but what's actually better I have received on so many calls from people who received a job offer they received a a one or two paragraph letter and they call me very concerned very upset saying I'm taking this new job on and and they're giving me this one paragraph document I need to add things to it I want a more comprehensive more extensive document well don't don't worry about that that's exactly what I tell these individuals don't worry about the one paragraph document worry about the thirty page document with a lot of legalese because I can promise you that in that document the big document they're going to be a lot of terms that are going to be unfavorable to you for an employee it's far better to start doing on a handshake or in a very short document all that means is that you have the full protection of the law what a written agreement does is usually take away some of those protections that you have and either eliminates them or turns it around and gives it to the employer so in that regard if you're an employee if I'm talking to you as an employee you you don't want to have an employment agreement on the other hand if I put on my employer hat on I say you shouldn't hire someone without an employment agreement depending on your perspective but either way it's a very important document is it really less is more in that case less is more for the employee and more is more for the employer so what should an employee if they're signing an agreement ought to be watching out for we're some of the signs well done most people that I know probably people that you know if you received a job offer what are you gonna look at salary how much holiday time I get yeah I get bonuses that's probably my salaries fun bonus looks good I got my formation vacation I'm a happy guy and that's fine and I'm certainly not suggesting that you shouldn't look at that but what I'm here to say is there's other terms at least as important as those that you need to watch out for just one example may be a term in the agreement that limits your future severance you may sign an agreement not realizing five years later when you are let go that that document from five years ago limits your severance and now instead of getting twelve months pay you're gonna get six weeks pay so that cost you tens of thousands of dollars how about a non competition obligation that says that you can't work in the industry if you lose your job there could be terms also John that allow the company to change the terms of employment so you may sign an agreement to be the marketing manager making eighty thousand dollars a year but all of a sudden the agreement actually says that we can change your job we can change your pay so the job that you've had is not actually the job that you're going to have so that's why it's so many so important to look at other things other than just pay and to understand and if you don't understand what you're signing that's a problem you should never ever ever sign something without understanding what I mean you can give me a call I can interpret it to you in simple English and tell you whether you should be concerned one eighty five five eight two one fifty nine hundred is the number Lee or just mentioned what you should know about employment agreements moving forward can you do you have wiggle room can you two get negotiated all before you start or least sign well probably the first thing I am told by individuals when I say this is not good that's not good is what can I negotiate the employer has the job I want the job so what power do I have well the reality is John that you do have something the employer wants and that is yourself if your employer has gone through an interview process and they've decided at the end of that long process that you're the right candidate you're the better than the other candidates if they were looking at well then you have something that you have some leverage and you can use that leverage ask yourself this John well your employer want to lose their perfect candidate if that candidate is concerned about job security in most situations the answer is no they're not gonna want to do that so you can negotiate you should negotiate and in fact you should tell your employer what your concerns are I wouldn't go back with 25 things a laundry list but narrow it down to the two or three things you care about the most and approach your employer about those okay so I've signed the agreement now I'm ready to work I didn't get any advice so what yeah and then a lot of people think that just because they didn't get advice now all of a sudden they they are they can get out of it if you sign it you have to live with it that's always my mantra so even if you didn't have an opportunity to consult someone like myself about your employment agreement you're gonna be bound by its terms that's why it's so important to understand what you're signing and not try to get out of it later there are ways to get around and out of employment agreements but I would rather not have a fire than try to put out the fire so that's why I say be proactive if you have a job offer congratulations congratulations that's wonderful but give me a call let's understand what you're signing lost your job employment law myth number 9 I Can Has call the labor board instead of a lawyer fact the labor board cannot help an employee get their full entitlements always go to employment lawyer CA and check with the employment lawyer first