Small Business Essentials: An employment lawyer's perspective.

• Date: 01 December 2021
• Author: Skeith, Andrew
• Published date: 01 December 2021
• Author: Skeith, Andrew

Three essentials all small business owners should have in place are employment agreements, policies, and termination letters and releases.

One of the most common mistakes small business owners make is assuming a small number of employees means proper employment documents are less important. On the contrary, the best time to speak to an employment lawyer and get help with the necessary contracts and policies is when your business is first thinking of hiring an employee.

While employment lawyers can help small business owners in a variety of ways, below are three essentials that all small business owners should have in place.

Employment Agreements

Having properly written employment agreements signed by your employees when they are first hired can help your business reduce risk, liability, and legal costs down the road. While an employment agreement can have several important provisions, one of the most important to include is a termination clause.

The Employment Standards Code is legislation that governs minimum standards applicable to workplaces in Alberta. Among other things, the Code sets out minimum amounts of termination pay an employer must pay an employee if they let them go without cause.

Employers cannot contract out of these amounts, but they can agree to pay employees more severance.

If an employee does not have a termination clause in their employment agreement, they will also have a right to "common law" reasonable notice if they are terminated...