There are many legal contracts that are important for any business. Having strong contracts can avoid any legal disputes and/or court proceedings. An effective legal contract will be well crafted and it will outline all the possible consequences.
In today’s economy it is becoming more frequent to hire independent contracts to perform jobs for the company. Having an strong Independent Contractor Agreement is paramount.
You also want to make sure that the person is classified correctly as an independent contractor. The reason for this is that if the person is wrongly classified, the IRS may access penalty and taxes for failure to pay the employment taxes.
The test for independent contractors is control. Although similarly, the IRS and the State of Florida use different tests in determining who is an independent contractor. Therefore, having a business attorney that is knowledgeable on both tests is important.
Things to think about when drafting an independent contractor agreement is not to exert to much control on the independent contractor. You also want to place provisions regarding the ownership of the work that the independent contractor is creating for you and any confidentiality of the work being done.
Florida is an “At-Will” State. Meaning that if you don’t have an employment agreement with the employee the employee may leave at any time or you can fire them at any time so long as you don’t do it for the wrong reasons.
Employment Agreements are useful when the employee is a key employee or if you want to protect the confidentiality of your processes or the information of your business. Employment Agreements are often used to create confidentiality in the information and non-compete clauses in the event that the employee leaves your business.
We can review your regular contracts or draft them for you. We find that when we review contracts there are always important clauses that are missing or you don’t think through all the consequences.
A lot of people also rely on the free forms on the internet to run their business. Although this can work for some time, it is not specifically tailored to your business needs.
Let me help you review and draft your contracts. I can almost guarantee you that if I review your contracts I can improve them just with a quick glance.
Call me today at (305) 489-1415 for a free consultation or fill the form in this page. Hope to hear from you soon.