Workers in Prince George’s County and greater Maryland may have signed an employment agreement when they began their current jobs. Often, such employment contracts contain standard provisions, relating to material terms such as compensation, leave benefits, retirement plans, employer-provided healthcare, and termination procedures. An employment agreement might also require employees to bring employment claims in a binding arbitration forum, rather than in court.
Whereas top-level executives may consult with an employment attorney as a matter of course before accepting a job offer and signing an employment agreement, lower level employees might be less inclined to seek advice. There could be several explanations for this discrepancy.
Non-executive employees might be too excited by their job offer to thoroughly review the terms of their employment agreements. Others might regard such terms as boilerplate, not requiring a thorough review. To the extent a job applicant does have questions, the applicant might fear the he or she lacks the leverage or expertise to renegotiate the agreement’s terms.
Yet even if an employee did agree to the terms of a contract at the time of hiring, that consent might not necessarily prevent the employee from subsequently bringing an employment discrimination claim or other challenge against an employer in court. A recent lawsuit brought by a football agent who represented various NFL players reminds us of that possibility. The agent claims that his employment agreement with his former employer, a sports management company, contains terms that are unlawful, such as a non-compete provision. He now seeks to have the court void those contractual terms.
Source: forbes.com, “Football Agent’s Lawsuit Against Former Agency Asks Court To Void Parts Of Employment Agreement,” Darren Heitner