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An offer of at-will employment for an Employer hiring an Employee who will work in California, setting out position, pay and overtime classification, the written wage notice, commissions and bonuses, paid sick leave, expense reimbursement, benefits, confidentiality, invention assignment limited by California law, a statement that no non-compete applies, severance and California law and forum, with arbitration only as a voluntary election. Whether the individual is an employee or an independent contractor is settled by the decision card (worker_classification), from the facts, not assumed from the label. How far the hirer may take assignment of the individual's inventions is settled by the decision card (invention_assignment_limits), from the law of the state, not assumed from the draft. Whether a non-compete or similar restraint can be included and enforced is settled by the decision card (restrictive_covenant_enforceability), from the law of the state, not assumed from the draft.
California, United States
Highlighted blanks are the details your parties fill in.
This offer letter is dated the date on which it is signed by the last of the parties.
[TO BE CONFIRMED — Employer legal name and address] (the "Employer") offers employment in California to [TO BE CONFIRMED — Employee full name and address] (the "Employee") on the terms below.
"Position" is the job described as [TO BE CONFIRMED — Job title].
"Duties" are [TO BE CONFIRMED — Principal duties].
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"Start Date" is [TO BE CONFIRMED — First day of work].
"Work Location" is [TO BE CONFIRMED — California work location (office address, or home-office address if remote)].
"Schedule" is full-time work.
"Base Pay" is [TO BE CONFIRMED — Salary or hourly rate] per year.
"Paydays" are every other Friday, covering the pay period that ended the preceding week.
"Classification" is [TO BE CONFIRMED — Overtime classification under California law] for California overtime purposes.
"Bonus Plan" is [TO BE CONFIRMED — Bonus opportunity (target, criteria, timing)].
"Commission Plan" is [TO BE CONFIRMED — Commission plan (rate, what is commissionable, draws, payment timing)].
"Sign-On Payment" is [TO BE CONFIRMED — Sign-on bonus].
"Equity Grant" is [TO BE CONFIRMED — Equity award (type, amount, vesting)].
"Time Off" is paid time off under the Employer's written policy as in effect from time to time.
"Sick Leave Method" is accrual of one hour for every 30 hours worked, with the usage and accrual limits the law permits.
"Reply Date" is [TO BE CONFIRMED — Deadline to accept].
"Resignation Notice" is two weeks.
"Severance Package" is [TO BE CONFIRMED — Severance terms].
"Court County" is the California county in which the Employee works.
The Employer is pleased to offer the Employee the Position. The Employee will report to the Supervisor and will carry out the work that goes with the Position and other lawful work of a similar level that the Employer assigns in good faith. The Employee will work principally at the Work Location, in California.
The principal Duties of the Position are as listed in the Key Terms. The Employer may add to or adjust the Duties as the business needs, within the scope of the Position.
The Employee will work on a Schedule basis. Any other paid work during the employment must not compete with the Employer or conflict with the Employee's duties; the Employer will not treat lawful off-duty conduct, or lawful work for another employer that is not in competition, as a breach of this letter.
The Employee is to begin work on the Start Date, or on a later date the parties confirm in writing.
This offer remains open until the Reply Date. The Employee accepts by signing this letter and returning it by then; if not accepted by then, the offer lapses.
Employment under this letter is at will, which California law permits. The Employee or the Employer may end it at any time, with or without cause or notice. Nothing in a policy, handbook, conversation or past practice promises employment for a fixed period or only for good cause. Only a written agreement signed by the Employee and an authorized officer of the Employer that refers to this paragraph can change the at-will relationship.
The Employer asks the Employee to give the Resignation Notice in writing before resigning, so that work can be handed over. This request does not change the at-will relationship. If the Employer asks the Employee to stop work early, it will pay the Employee's regular wages through the end of the notice period the Employee gave.
When the employment ends, the Employer will pay all wages earned through the last day worked, and any accrued vacation or paid time off that California law treats as earned wages, within the time California law requires for a discharge or a resignation.
The Employer will pay the Employee Base Pay on the Paydays, less taxes and deductions the law requires or the Employee authorizes in writing. The Employer will review Base Pay at least once a year, and any change takes effect only from the date of written notice to the Employee.
The Employer classifies the Position as stated in the Classification. If the Position is non-exempt, the Employee will be paid overtime and premium pay as California law requires, will be provided meal periods and paid rest periods as California law requires, must record all time worked accurately, and must tell Human Resources at once if a meal or rest period is missed or work is unrecorded; the Employer will not discipline the Employee for reporting this. If the Position is exempt, the Employee is paid on a salary basis and is not entitled to overtime, and the Employer will review the classification if the Duties change.
If the Position is non-exempt, the Employer will give the Employee, at hiring, the written notice of pay rate, basis of pay, regular payday, allowances and employer details that California Labor Code section 2810.5 requires, in the language the Employer normally uses to communicate with the Employee, and will give written notice of any later change within seven calendar days unless the change appears on a timely wage statement or another required writing.
The Employee may earn a bonus under the Bonus Plan according to the criteria and dates stated there. The Employer will apply the criteria reasonably and consistently, and will pay any bonus earned, less required deductions, within 30 days after the end of the measurement period, or earlier if the Bonus Plan says so.
The Employee will be paid commissions under the Commission Plan, which sets out in writing how commissions are computed and paid. The Employer will give the Employee a signed copy of the Commission Plan and the Employee will sign a receipt for it. If the Commission Plan expires and the parties keep working, its terms continue until replaced in writing.
The Employer will pay the Employee the Sign-On Payment, less required deductions, with the first regular paycheck after the Start Date. The Sign-On Payment is the Employee's to keep: this letter does not require the Employee to repay it if the employment ends. Any repayment arrangement can only be made in a separate written agreement that complies with California law.
The Employer will recommend that its board of directors grant the Employee the Equity Grant under its equity plan. The grant happens only when the board approves it, and the plan and an award agreement then govern vesting, exercise, forfeiture and what happens when the employment ends. The Employee should read those documents, and the Employer will provide them promptly after approval.
The Employee may join the health, retirement and other benefit plans the Employer offers to employees in the Position, on the plans' terms and eligibility rules. The Employer may change or end a plan under its terms and the law.
The Employee will receive paid sick leave under the Sick Leave Method. The Employer will count the Employee's available sick leave on each wage statement or in a separate document given with each payday, will not refuse to let the Employee use accrued sick leave for the purposes the law allows, and will not discipline or retaliate against the Employee for using it. This letter gives the Employee at least what California's paid sick leave law requires and any local ordinance that applies at the Work Location.
The Employee will receive Time Off as stated in the Key Terms. Time off that has accrued under a vacation or paid-time-off policy is treated as earned wages as California law provides and is paid out at the Employee's final rate when the employment ends, unless the policy gives Time Off in a form California law does not treat as vacation.
The Employer will reimburse the Employee for all necessary expenses the Employee incurs in doing the Employee's work, including a reasonable share of the cost of using a personal phone, home internet or vehicle for work. The Employee should submit expense reports with receipts within 60 days, and the Employer will pay within 30 days after receiving a complete report, in line with California Labor Code section 2802.
The offer is conditional on the Employee showing, within three business days after the first day of work, documents that prove identity and authorization to work in the United States for the federal Form I-9.
If the Employer runs a background check, it will do so only with the Employee's separate written authorization, only to the extent California and local fair-chance law allow for the Position, and following the notice, individualized assessment and response steps those laws require before it withdraws the offer because of what the check shows.
The Employee confirms that taking the Position does not break any agreement with a former employer or other person, and will not bring to the Employer, or use for it, any confidential material or property of a former employer. The Employee should tell the Employer promptly if any prior agreement could affect the Position. The Employer does not ask the Employee to honor any restriction that California law makes void.
The Employee must keep the Employer's non-public business, customer, technical and financial information confidential and use it only for the Employer's work, during the employment and afterwards for as long as the information stays confidential. This does not cover information that becomes public without the Employee's fault, or the general skill and experience the Employee gains in the job.
On request, and in any event on the last day of employment, the Employee will return all Employer property and records, and will delete Employer information from any personal device or account after first giving the Employer a copy if it asks.
Nothing in this letter or any Employer policy stops the Employee from reporting a suspected violation of law to a government agency, taking part in an investigation, receiving a whistleblower award, discussing pay, hours or working conditions with others, speaking about unlawful acts in the workplace, or exercising rights under the National Labor Relations Act. Under federal trade secret law, an individual is not liable for disclosing a trade secret in confidence to a government official or an attorney only to report or investigate a suspected violation of law, or in a sealed court filing.
The Employee assigns to the Employer all rights in inventions, software, designs, writings and other work product that the Employee creates during the employment and that either relate to the Employer's business or its actual or demonstrably anticipated research, result from work done for the Employer, or are made with the Employer's equipment, supplies, facilities or trade secrets ("Company Inventions"). Copyright in Company Inventions created within the scope of the job belongs to the Employer as work made for hire where the law allows.
This letter does not require the Employee to assign any invention that the Employee develops entirely on the Employee's own time without using the Employer's equipment, supplies, facilities or trade secret information, unless the invention relates, when conceived or put into practice, to the Employer's business or its actual or demonstrably anticipated research or development, or results from work the Employee did for the Employer. This paragraph is the written notice to the Employee required by California Labor Code section 2872. Any clause of this letter that would require assignment beyond this is unenforceable to that extent.
The Employee may list on a sheet given to the Employer before the Start Date any inventions made before the employment that the Employee wants excluded from this letter. If the Employee builds anything the Employee owns into Company Inventions, the Employee gives the Employer a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free licence to use it in that work.
California law voids contracts that restrain a person from a lawful profession, trade or business, and an employer may not enter into or try to enforce one. This letter contains no non-competition or customer non-solicitation covenant, and the Employer will not ask the Employee to sign one, or enforce one from another state, as a condition of employment. The Employee remains bound by the confidentiality and trade secret terms of this letter, which do not restrict the Employee from working for any employer.
If the Employer ends the employment without cause, it will pay the Severance Package in return for the Employee signing and not revoking a release of claims within 45 days after the last day of work. Any release must comply with California law, will not cover wages already earned or claims the law does not allow to be released, and will not restrict lawful reporting to agencies or the Employee's future work.
The Employer will deduct from all pay the taxes and deductions the law requires and any deduction the Employee has authorized in writing. The parties intend payments under this letter to be exempt from, or to comply with, Internal Revenue Code section 409A, and the Employer may adjust timing to the extent needed to do so without lowering the amount.
The Employee must follow the Employer's written policies, which the Employer may adopt or change from time to time. If a policy conflicts with this letter, this letter controls on the points it covers; the Employer will not apply a policy to limit the Employee's rights under California law.
A notice under this letter must be in writing and delivered by hand, by email to the address the recipient gave for notices, or by a courier to the recipient's address in this letter, and takes effect when received.
This letter, with the plan and policy documents it refers to, is the whole agreement about the Position and replaces earlier discussions and offers. A change to it must be in writing, signed by the Employee and an authorized officer of the Employer.
If a part of this letter is held void or unenforceable, including because California law makes it so, the rest stays in force and the void part will be read down to the extent the law allows. The Employee may not assign this letter; the Employer may assign it to a successor to its business.
California law governs this letter and all claims arising from the employment. Because the Employee primarily lives and works in California, the Employer will not require the Employee to bring any claim arising in California outside California or give up California law's protection.
Any dispute arising from this letter or the employment will be decided by a court in the Court County. Nothing in this paragraph limits the Employee's right to file a charge with a government agency or to use the administrative process before suing.