Business law

EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENTS IN DENVER, COLORADO.

MY BACKGROUND.

I have been practicing law for more than thirty-five (35) years, I am an Inactive CPA, and I have a 5-Star Rating. I have been involved with many employment agreements.

HOW I WILL HELP YOU.

If you are an employer, I will help you. If you are an employee, I will help you.

I will help guide you, legally and practically, with the employment issues involving an employment agreement with which you are presented.

Depending upon what is needed, I will prepare an employment agreement; I will review and interpret an existing employment agreement; and I will review and interpret the employment agreement after the employment is terminated, whether the employment is terminated by the employer or by the employee.

WHY A WRITTEN EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT IS IMPORTANT.

You always want to have a signed employment agreement.

Like other agreements, the more specific the employment agreement is, the better for everyone. You do not want ambiguities in the employment agreement.

While verbal agreements are just as binding as written agreements, proving a verbal agreement is much more difficult than proving a written agreement. When an employer states X and the employee states Y, who is a judge supposed to believe? As a practical matter, when there is a controversy in a lawsuit, the party who has the better “paper trail” usually prevails.

Your employment agreement should be very specific, to include the following subjects:

1. Names of the employer and employee.
2. The date of the employment agreement.
3. When the employment commences.
4. The duration of the employment or whether the employee is “at will.” (See below for analysis of “at will.”)
5. The compensation for the employee.
6. When the compensation will be paid.
7. The duties of the employee.
8. Where the services will be performed.
9. The hours the employee will work.
10. Personal leave, sick pay, and vacation.
11. Holidays observed.
12. Which state’s law applies to the employment agreement.
13. The employment agreement is the entire agreement between the employer and the employee. No side deals. If a concept is not in the employment agreement, the concept is not enforceable. This protects both an employer and an employee.
14. Whether there is a covenant not to compete (taking into consideration what the laws in the State of Colorado are concerning covenants.
15. Confidentiality provisions.
16. Ownership of inventions and intellectual property.

“AT WILL” EMPLOYEES.

In Colorado, there is a strong presumption that an employee is “at will,” which means neither the employer nor the employee needs “cause” to terminate the employment.

Generally, in Colorado, employers will require employees to sign a document acknowledging that the employee is “at will.”

In an employment agreement, you may change an employee from being “at will” to being an employee for a specific time period.

COVENANTS NOT TO COMPETE.

Covenants not to compete (non-compete agreements) take various forms and include:

1. The person may not compete with the company.
2. The person may not solicit employees or agents of the company.
3. The person may not solicit customers or clients of the company.

When a client asks me to review an employment agreement, the first question I always ask is whose state’s laws apply pursuant to the provisions of the agreement.

While a client may live and work in Colorado, the employer may be a national employer and have the laws in the state where the home office is located apply to the covenant not to compete.

The reason this is such an important question at the very start is because different states have different laws.

In Colorado, covenants not to compete are generally prohibited, but there are exceptions.

In Colorado, there is a specific, detailed statute that governs covenants not to compete, which is C.R.S. 8-2-113. In Colorado, covenants not to compete are void unless they meet the requirements of C.R.S. 8-2-113. If the covenant not to compete meets the requirements of C.R.S. 8-2-113, the covenant not to compete must also be (1) reasonable as to duration and (2) reasonable as to geographic area.

In some states, covenants not to compete are much easier to enforce than in Colorado. In California, the opposite is true because in California covenants not to compete are generally void.

CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.

Most employment agreements will contain provisions to protect the employer’s confidential information, with the definition of “confidential information” included in the employment agreement.

Colorado has a Uniform Trade Secrets Act C.R.S. 7-74-101-7-74-110, which also protects employers’ trade secrets and confidential information. The definition of “trade secrets” is very broad.

CALL ME.

If you are looking for help with an employment agreement, please call me at 303-782-4900 and we will discuss how best to proceed.