Employment Agreements

An offer letter or employment agreement sets the terms between a business and the people it hires: the role, the pay, and what happens if the relationship ends. Getting these documents right at the start protects the business’s confidential information, client relationships, and work product, and prevents disputes later.

Fisher Stone drafts and reviews offer letters, employment agreements, and independent contractor agreements for New York City businesses, for a flat fee, quoted up front. A licensed New York attorney handles your agreement from drafting through signing, reachable by call, email, or text, so the terms match your business and the role you are filling.

Offer letters, employment agreements, and independent contractor agreements

Not every hire needs the same paperwork. A short offer letter covers most standard hires: it names the role, start date, and pay, and confirms that employment is at will. It is quick to issue and enough for many positions.

A full employment agreement fits a role where more is at stake: an executive, a key employee with access to trade secrets or client relationships, or anyone bound to a defined term or restrictive covenants. These agreements cover compensation, benefits, termination rights, confidentiality, and often intellectual property assignment and non-solicitation terms.

An independent contractor agreement covers a different relationship: it engages someone to deliver defined services on their own schedule, for a fee, rather than creating employment. Using the wrong document creates the classification problems discussed later on this page. We often prepare these as standalone contracts; see our contract drafting and review service.

At-will employment in New York and how an agreement can modify it

New York is an at-will employment state. Unless a contract says otherwise, either side can end the relationship at any time, for almost any reason, or no reason at all, as long as the reason is not unlawful. This default lets a business hire, restructure, and let people go without a fixed commitment.

An employment agreement can change that default, but only if it says so clearly. Language guaranteeing a set term, or limiting termination to cases of cause, modifies at-will status and gives the employee contractual rights the default rule does not provide. A business that wants to keep at-will flexibility should say so explicitly, and make sure other materials, such as an employee handbook, do not unintentionally promise something different.

The core terms a full employment agreement should cover

A well-drafted employment agreement addresses the practical terms of the job along with the protections a business needs if the relationship ends. At minimum, that includes:

• Role and duties: the position, reporting line, and scope of responsibilities.
• Compensation and bonus: base salary or wage, how and when it is paid, and the structure of any bonus.
• Benefits: health coverage, retirement contributions, paid time off, and other benefits the role includes.
• Term: whether employment is at will or for a defined period, and how the agreement can be renewed.

Termination, notice, and severance

Termination provisions usually distinguish between termination for cause (misconduct, poor performance, or breach of the agreement) and termination without cause (ending the relationship for reasons unrelated to fault), often with different consequences: a termination for cause may end pay and benefits immediately, while termination without cause may trigger a notice period, a severance payment, or both. Defining these terms, and the notice or severance that applies to each, heads off disputes over which category applies.

Confidentiality, trade secrets, and intellectual property assignment

An employment agreement should protect the information a business shares with, and generates through, its employees. A confidentiality provision restricts an employee from using or disclosing business information, client data, pricing, and internal processes, during employment and after. Trade secrets, information valuable because it is not publicly known, deserve particular attention: losing that protection can mean losing a competitive advantage. Many businesses pair this with a standalone non-disclosure agreement for anyone who needs access to sensitive information without a full employment relationship.

Intellectual property assignment deserves equal attention. Without a clear assignment clause, ownership of software, designs, written content, or other work product an employee creates on the job can be unclear, particularly outside the “work made for hire” doctrine or for a contractor rather than an employee. An assignment provision states plainly that work created within the scope of the job belongs to the business, not the individual who created it. Any business whose staff create work product should have this in writing before work begins.

Restrictive covenants under New York law

A restrictive covenant limits what an employee can do after leaving the business, most commonly through a non-compete, a non-solicitation provision, or both. New York courts do not treat these clauses as automatically enforceable. A non-compete is enforced only when reasonable in duration, geographic area, and scope, and only to the extent necessary to protect a legitimate business interest, such as trade secrets, confidential client information, or client relationships the business helped the employee build. Courts scrutinize these provisions closely, and one that reaches further than necessary risks being narrowed or struck down.

Because of that scrutiny, a non-compete tends to work best for a narrow group, such as executives or senior salespeople with access to trade secrets or client relationships, and only when drafted to match the interest the business needs to protect. For most other roles, a narrowly drawn non-solicitation provision (keeping a former employee from pursuing the business’s clients or recruiting its staff), paired with a solid confidentiality provision, tends to hold up more reliably and still protects much of what the business is concerned about. We draft these provisions around the role and business rather than a generic clause that invites a challenge.

Employee or independent contractor: classification and the notice New York requires at hire

Courts and government agencies decide employee versus independent contractor status by looking at the substance of the relationship, not the label used. Factors include how much control the business has over how and when the work gets done, whether the work is integrated into the business’s regular operations, and whether the person works for other clients and supplies their own tools. A contract calling someone a contractor does not decide the question if the actual relationship looks like employment.

Misclassifying an employee as an independent contractor is a real risk for a growing business. It can mean unpaid overtime and wage claims, back taxes and penalties, and liability for benefits the worker should have received, plus scrutiny from state and federal agencies reaching beyond the one worker involved. Structuring the relationship correctly from the start costs far less than correcting a misclassification later.

New York also requires an employer to give each new employee written notice, at hire, of the employee’s rate of pay and regular payday, and to keep a record that the employee received it. We build this into the hiring paperwork we prepare, so the requirement is met from day one. For the agreements and policies that support your workforce as the business grows, see our general corporate counsel service, or return to the Business Law hub for the full range of services we handle.