Employment Law

Employment Agreements:

Our attorneys will prepare an employment agreement template, or templates, for you to use with your existing and future employees. Protect your interests and company property with non-disclosure and non-compete provisions. Your business may have very valuable intellectual property and confidential client information that should be kept safe and protected from everyone, including your current employees. Not only will our agreements make your business run smoothly, they will assist and protect your business when the time comes to separate from one of your employees.

Have you ever worried about your employees starting a competing business? Contact us today for a free consultation and have one less thing to worry about.

Employee Policies and Handbooks:

In addition to an employment agreement with each of your employees it is important to maintain uniform policies for workplace performance, behavior, and vacation procedures. Our attorneys can prepare these policies for you as well as for your employees in the form of an Employee Handbook. Your handbook will clearly lay out company policy and help reduce your potential liability in the event of an adverse legal action taken by a disgruntled current or former employee. We will help you establish guidelines for employee phone and cell phone use, email and computer use, even proper use of social networking sites with relation to the business.

Document Audit:

Do you already have employment agreements and employee policies? When was the last time they were updated? Our attorneys stay up-to-date with the latest employment law regulations and cases and can help ensure that your documents are in compliance with recent laws and the latest technology. Do you have a Twitter and Facebook policy? — you should! The activities of your employees online can have a serious impact on your business.

Independent Contractor Agreements:

Are you hiring someone on a temporary basis? Do you need an agent or sub-contractor to assist you with an existing job or project? If you want to work with someone but do not want a regular employment relationship, an independent contractor agreement may be just what you need. Let our attorneys draft a custom independent contractor agreement to protect you from liability and memorialize the terms of your agreement.

Recent Developments:

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released updated guidelines aimed at protecting consumers from potentially misleading endorsements. Under these new rules, an employer could be liable for statements made on non-employer maintained websites (such as personal blogs, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter) by employees. Employees are now required to disclose their relationship to an employer when making endorsements even if those endorsements reflect their own thoughts, opinions and beliefs. A misleading statement by an employee made on one of these social networking sites can expose an employer to expansive liability and it is recommended that all employers review their employment policies to ensure that situations such as these are covered. Avoid potentially costly litigation by updating your employment agreements today!