Yes, an employee can cancel employment as long as there was no contract for that employment. If there was a contract, the employee can be sued for breech of contract.
An employment contract dictates the conditions of employment, such as salary, vacation, benefits, etc. An "at will" employee serves at the pleasure of the employer, meaning their employment can be terminated at any time, for any reason, or for no reason at all. The effect of an employment contract on an at-will employee would be to set salary, benefits and so on as long as the employee worked at that employer.
A contract of employment is a document which describes the employer and employee agreement. The document contains the duties to be done over a certain duration and the amount of remuneration to be expected.
Agreement between employer and the employee
A substantive contract is a legally binding contract between an employer and an employee that details the duties and expectations of the position. With this contract legal action can be taken if either party is in breach of the agreement.
An employment contract is a written document signed by both the employee and employer that documents what is expected from both of you as a result of your business relationship. An employment contract can benefit both the employee and the employer by avoiding misunderstandings and miscommunications regarding what the employer expects from the employee in exchange for his paycheck. An employment contract can spell out or address a wide range of issues affecting both the employee and the employer. These include the length of employment expected, the exact responsibilities born by the employee, the specific benefits such as health insurance, vacation pay, sick days or disability leave that the employee is entitled to, the reasons that the employer can terminate the employee’s services, any non-compete agreement once the employee leaves the employer for another opportunity, the matter of confidentialty when dealing with client lists, trade secrets and other proprietary information owned by the employer, who owns any work products that the employee develops, creates or supervises while an employee, and how any disputes are agreed to be handled between the employee and employer. An employment contract can specifically spell out the amount of hours or days to be worked, the designated break and lunch times allocated each workday, and the amount of paid leave offered for vacation, disability or illness. An employment contract is a wise idea for businesses dealing in developing new products or dealing with a lot of confidential information because it makes very clear that the employee cannot violate this confidentiality at the risk of termination and lawsuit. If training is involved when hiring a new employee, an employment contract can help ensure that they don’t leave within a few months time for greener pastures, causing all that money and effort to go to waste. Employment contracts also protect businesses from having an employee leave and get hired immediately by a competitor or go directly into a competing business. An employment contract can protect the employee from being terminated for no reason after a time shorter than specified in the contract, unless an at-will agreement has been signed. This means the employer can terminate the employee at any time, for any reason. Also, terms of an employment contract are binding and cannot be changed without both parties agreeing to renegotiate. Since an employment contract is legally binding on both parties, it should never be signed unless all terms are understood and agreed to and legal counsel for both parties has reviewed the document for anything misleading or questionable.
A yellow dog contract is an agreement between an employer and employee where the employee agrees, as a condition of employment, not to be a member of a labour union while employed.
A zero-hour contract is a contract of employment which creates an on-call arrangement where the employee agrees to be available for work as and when required.
A zero-hours contract is a contract of employment which creates an on-call arrangement where the employee agrees to be available for work as and when required.
Human resources policies can be construed as a contract of employment. Violate any of the rules that are set by human resources and the employee can be fired. There is no guarantee of employment, however.
Yes, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act can override an employment contract if the terms in that contract conflict with the law. The contract cannot overrule because Title VII is codified law (is that the right term?) and therefore supersedes an employment contract.
Yes, it is legal for an employer to reduce an employee's salary as long as it is done in accordance with employment laws, the terms of the employment contract, and any applicable collective bargaining agreements.