Employment Terms
Job title, duties, FLSA status (exempt/nonexempt), reporting lines.
A concise Employee Core Agreement reduces ambiguity about compensation, duties, and post-employment obligations, supports enforceability of confidentiality and IP clauses, and creates a documented baseline for performance management and compliance with wage and hour laws.
Employers, HR teams, hiring managers, and new employees routinely prepare and execute Employee Core Agreements to set clear employment terms and legal protections.
Smaller employers often use standardized templates; larger organizations involve HR, legal counsel, and authorized signatories for tailored agreements and policy compliance.
Job title, duties, FLSA status (exempt/nonexempt), reporting lines.
Salary or wage, pay schedule, bonuses, equity grants and vesting.
Health insurance, retirement plans, PTO, and eligibility rules.
Nondisclosure obligations, proprietary information definition, survival clause.
Assignment of work product, invention disclosure process, scope of assignment.
At-will statement (if applicable), notice, severance, final pay rules.
| Field | Configuration |
|---|---|
| Signature Field | Require signer name, signature, and date |
| Authentication | Use email + optional SMS code for signer identity |
| Routing Order | HR → Hiring Manager → Employee |
| Retention | Store PDF with certificate of completion |
Choose an e-signature process and platform that supports secure authentication, an audit trail, and compliant record retention.
Employee begins work; affects payroll and benefits eligibility
Set a response window to reserve the role
W-4 provided at hire; W-9 when required
Complete by first day of employment per 8 CFR §274a.2
Usually 30–60 days from hire per plan rules
Optica standardized core agreements to reduce negotiation time by centralizing role descriptions and pay bands.
Martin Properties moved to online execution for lease and employment documents to keep processes mobile-friendly.
| signNow | DocuSign | Adobe Sign | PandaDoc | HelloSign | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $8/user/mo | $15/user/mo | $14/user/mo | $19/user/mo | $15/user/mo |
| Free Trial | 7-day free trial | Varies | Varies | Varies | Varies |
| Bulk Send | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Audit Trail | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| HIPAA Compliant | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Envelope Cap | No cap | 100 envelopes/user/year | Varies | Varies | Varies |
The individual whose employment terms are recorded. Signing indicates acceptance of duties, compensation, and contractual obligations; personal liability may follow for confidentiality breaches.
Company signatory with authority to bind the employer—often an HR director or officer. Their signature confirms the employer’s commitment to the stated terms.
Export executed agreement as PDF/A for long-term storage; keep a DOCX source for editable records and change logs.
Attach offer letters, IP assignment exhibits, benefit election forms, and signed confidentiality addenda to the personnel record.
Record revision history and maintain single source of truth to avoid conflicting versions across departments.
Store copies in HRIS, secure cloud storage, and archived backups with restricted access controls.