All employment relationships have at their heart contractual undertakings.   The employer offers employment, the employee offers his or her services, and there are agreed upon terms and conditions, including compensation and benefits.   Many employment relationships are defined by a variety of writings, for instance: written contract; benefit plans; Employee handbook; confidentiality agreement; non-compete agreement; arbitration agreement; collective bargaining agreement; policy manual; etc.   These may be signed at the time of employment, or at a later time, or not signed at all.

Often there are ambiguities in the contracts and these provide a basis for disagreement with the employer.   Many times employers either mistakenly or purposely deny what is provided in the contract, or overreach in requiring something of the employee that is not provided in the contract.

Common contractual provisions that become the subject of dispute are:

• Buy sell agreements;
• Restrictive covenants;
• Benefit plan entitlements;
• Compensation clause;
• Commission entitlement;
• Bonus entitlement;
• For cause termination;
• Not for cause termination;
• Scope of position;
• Severance provisions

Employees should be careful about signing confidentiality agreements and especially covenants not to compete, inasmuch as these agreements may be extremely restricting with respect to future employment.   However, once signed such provisions are subject to considerable interpretation and negotiation.   Often experienced counsel can be of substantial assistance in such situations.   Contract issues often stand at the center of employee/employer disputes, and together with statutory and common law causes of action constitute the lion's share of employment negotiation, mediation and litigation.