Much of the confusion about breach of contract laws is the insufficient understanding of the terms being used. In law, the term breach of contract refers to the legal claim of one party when another has failed to deliver or perform as agreed upon in a valid contract.
A contract, on the other hand, is an agreement that is legally binding to two or more parties. The agreement could be verbal or written, with the exception of real estate and the sale of goods that are worth $500 above. These agreements need to have a written document for the contract to be considered binding and enforceable.
To form a contract, competent parties enter into an agreement to provide some sort of benefit for each other. An example is to provide money or some other form of compensation in exchange for goods or service.
A contract also requires that a reasonable set of details be provided regarding the requirements. When a writer, for example, agrees with an editor to produce a 200-word article on Monday in order to be paid $20, a contract is made between them.
It also goes to say that if one party does not offer something of acceptable value to the other party, then a contract has not been made.
Written contracts in the workplace
A common contract that one usually goes into would be an employment contract. It is usually good practice for employers to produce some kind of contract for an employee to sign before formally starting with his/her duties in the office. This contract may contain these details:
The job title and description
The agreed salary and benefits
The possible grounds for termination
The duration of time the employment will last
Limitations on the employee's ability to compete with your business once he/she left your company
The agreed methods of protecting client lists and trade secrets
Your ownership of the employee's output at work (software programmed, documents written, etc.)
Other methods of resolving disputes in the workplace
Even if employments in California are already considered at-will by default, there are still employers that prefer to draw up contracts stipulating this. At will employment only means that employers can terminate the employment of a person at any time and for any reason (except those deemed illegal or discriminatory by law), and employees may resign from work for any reason as well.
A few benefits of drawing up an employment contract are:
It protects your business interests. This is especially true for employees that are in charge with sensitive information such as clients' contact details, or company trade secrets.
It may be useful in attracting good employees by serving as an outline of the benefits they will receive when employed with your company.
It can afford you some form of security if you are involved in a business that needs to train employees extensively. For example, if your employment contract requires an employee to give two weeks or 30 days notice after submitting a resignation letter, it would give you time to find and train a replacement. Also for some positions, a lock-in period may be imposed to avoid the usually high cost of training new employees.
If you find yourself in a position where somebody has broken a contract he/she has made with you, it might be time to seek legal advice. A Los Angeles lawyer with extensive experience in Breach of Contract Laws may help you get a speedy resolution for your case.
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