Employment agreement template
An employment agreement is the full written contract between a business and an employee. Where an offer letter confirms the job and the pay, the agreement also covers confidentiality, who owns the work the employee creates, outside work, how the job can end and whether there's severance. This template is written for US employers. Read it below, then fill it in and send it from SignMaster.
Updated November 5, 2026 · 4 min read
The contract
Gray blanks are yours to fill in before you send. Each signer fills in the blanks in their color.
- You, before sending
- Employee
- Company
Employment Agreement
This Employment Agreement (the "Agreement") is made on Agreement date between Company name (the "Company") and Employee name (the "Employee").
1. Position and duties
The Company employs the Employee as Job title, reporting to Reports to, working at Work location. The Employee's main duties are: Main duties, and other reasonable duties the Company assigns. The Employee will devote their full working time and effort to the Company and follow its written policies.
2. Start date and term
Employment starts on Start date. The employment is At will or fixed term. If it is for a fixed term, the term ends on Fixed term end date unless renewed in writing or ended earlier under section 11. If it is at will, either party may end it at any time, subject only to the notice in section 11.
3. Salary
The Company will pay the Employee a base salary of Base salary per year, in equal installments on the Company's regular payroll schedule, less required and authorized deductions. The position is classified as Exempt or non-exempt under federal and state wage laws. Salary is reviewed at least once a year.
4. Bonus or incentive pay
The Employee is eligible for: Bonus or incentive terms. Unless stated here as guaranteed, any bonus depends on the written plan or criteria the Company sets, and must be earned under that plan.
5. Benefits, time off and expenses
The Employee may take part in the Company's benefit plans on the same terms as similar employees, under each plan's rules: Benefits. The Employee receives Paid time off of paid time off a year under the Company's policy. The Company reimburses reasonable business expenses submitted under its expense policy.
6. Confidential information
"Confidential Information" means non-public information about the Company and its customers, suppliers and employees, including pricing, plans, finances, methods, software and customer lists. During and after employment, the Employee will use Confidential Information only for the Company's work and will not disclose it, except as section 8 or the law allows. Information that becomes public through no fault of the Employee is not Confidential Information.
7. Company property
When employment ends, or earlier if asked, the Employee will return all Company property, including devices, keys, documents and files, and will not keep copies of Confidential Information.
8. Notice of immunity for trade secret disclosures
Under the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act, an individual is not liable under any federal or state trade secret law for disclosing a trade secret (a) in confidence to a federal, state or local government official, directly or indirectly, or to a lawyer, solely to report or investigate a suspected violation of law, or (b) in a complaint or other document filed under seal in a lawsuit or other proceeding. An individual who sues an employer for retaliation for reporting a suspected violation of law may disclose the trade secret to their lawyer and use it in the court proceeding if they file documents containing it under seal and don't disclose it except by court order. Nothing in this Agreement limits the Employee's right to report possible violations of law to any government agency or to discuss wages and working conditions.
9. Inventions and work product
The Company owns all work product, inventions, designs, code and writing the Employee creates, alone or with others, in the course of employment or using the Company's equipment, time or Confidential Information, and the Employee assigns those rights to the Company. This does not apply to an invention the Employee develops entirely on their own time without using the Company's equipment, supplies, facilities or trade secrets, unless it relates to the Company's business or its actual or planned research or development, or results from work the Employee did for the Company, as limited by applicable state law such as California Labor Code section 2870. The Employee lists below any inventions they owned before employment, which remain theirs.
10. Outside work
While employed, the Employee will not work for or help a competitor of the Company. Other outside work is allowed if it doesn't interfere with the Employee's duties or create a conflict of interest, and the Employee tells their manager about it in advance.
11. Ending employment
Either party may end employment by giving Notice period in days days' written notice; the Company may pay salary in place of some or all of the notice. The Company may end employment immediately for cause, meaning fraud or dishonesty toward the Company, a serious crime, serious misconduct, or a material breach of this Agreement or Company policy that is not fixed within Days to cure a breach days of written notice where it can be fixed. If the Company ends employment without cause, it will pay this severance, if any: Severance terms, provided the Employee signs and does not revoke a release of claims in a form the Company provides. The Company pays all earned salary and accrued amounts the law requires when employment ends.
12. Other agreements
The Employee will also sign these agreements, which form part of the terms of employment: Other agreements.
13. General
This Agreement is governed by the laws of the state where the Employee primarily works, which the parties understand to be Work state. It is the entire agreement about the Employee's employment and replaces earlier offers and discussions, except the agreements in section 12. It can be changed only in writing signed by the Employee and an officer of the Company. If any part is unenforceable, the rest stays in effect. Sections 6 to 9 continue after employment ends. Electronic signatures count as originals.
Employee details
Home address: Employee address
Personal email: Personal email
Inventions owned before employment (write "none" if there are none): Prior inventions
I have read this Agreement, including the notice in section 8 and the inventions terms in section 9, and I had the chance to ask questions before signing.
Employee
For the Company
Opens it in SignMaster as a template you can edit and send.
A starting point, not legal advice. Have a lawyer review it for your state and situation.
On this page
When you need more than an offer letter
For most hourly and entry-level roles, an offer letter and your handbook are enough. Reach for a full agreement when a hire will see your secrets or build your products, when you're offering a fixed term, a notice period or severance, when someone is relocating for the job, or when the role carries a commission or bonus large enough to argue about. The agreement puts those terms in one signed document instead of scattered emails.
What the template covers
- Position and duties: title, manager, location and a summary of responsibilities.
- Term: at will, or a fixed term with an end date.
- Pay and classification: base salary, payroll schedule, exempt or non-exempt status and an annual review.
- Bonus, benefits, time off and expenses, each pointing to the plan or policy that controls.
- Confidentiality: what's confidential, during and after employment, and returning company property.
- Inventions and work product: the company owns what the employee makes for the job, with the exclusions state laws require.
- Outside work: no competing work, and other side work disclosed.
- Ending the job: notice, termination for cause, and optional severance in exchange for a release.
Inventions, side projects and trade secrets
An invention assignment clause gives the company what the employee creates for the job. Several states, California first among them in Labor Code section 2870, say it can't reach inventions the employee develops entirely on their own time, without company equipment or information, that don't relate to the business. Some of those states also require you to tell the employee about that limit in writing, so section 9 does.
The federal Defend Trade Secrets Act adds another notice. Any agreement with an employee that governs confidential information should tell them they're immune from liability for disclosing trade secrets in confidence to a government official or lawyer to report a suspected violation of law. Leave it out, and you lose the right to recover extra damages and attorney's fees from that employee under the Act. Section 8 contains the notice.
Mistakes in employment agreements
- Promising a fixed term without meaning to. A one-year term means you may owe the rest of the year's pay if you end it early without cause.
- Defining cause vaguely. List what counts, such as fraud, serious misconduct or a breach left unfixed after notice.
- Offering severance without a release. Pay severance in exchange for a signed release of claims.
- Adding a non-compete by default. Many states limit them; a non-solicitation agreement is often enough.
- Changing the agreement for current staff without giving anything new. Some states require fresh consideration for new restrictions.
How to send it with SignMaster
- 1
Open the template
Choose Use this template. The agreement opens in your SignMaster workspace with the employee signing first and the company second. If your state needs different inventions or termination wording, cover that clause with White-out from the editor's Markup tools and type the replacement in a Text box.
- 2
Fill in the hire
Type the gray blanks: title, manager, duties, start date, term, salary, classification, bonus, benefits, notice and any severance. For roles you fill often, save a copy of the template with the pay and benefits already filled in.
- 3
Send it privately
Add the employee's name and email and require an access code, since the agreement shows pay. They add their address and personal email, list any inventions they already own, and sign on any device.
- 4
Countersign and store it
An officer of the company signs last. Both sides receive the signed PDF with its certificate of completion. Its SHA-256 fingerprint makes any later change to the PDF detectable.
Updating agreements for the whole team
When you add the trade secrets notice or a new inventions clause for everyone, each employee needs their own agreement with their title and salary. Put the team in a spreadsheet with columns named after the gray blanks, such as Job title and Base salary, and bulk send creates a private envelope for each person. Remember that some states expect something new in return when you add restrictions for current employees.
Questions? Answers.
What's the difference between an offer letter and an employment agreement?
An offer letter confirms the basic terms and usually keeps employment at will. An employment agreement is a full contract that also covers confidentiality, inventions, termination and severance.
Can an employment agreement be signed electronically?
Generally, yes. The ESIGN Act and state laws give e-signatures on employment contracts the same effect as ink. See can you e-sign an employment contract.
Does an employment agreement end at-will employment?
Only if it says so. This template lets you choose at will or a fixed term in section 2. If you choose at will, either side can still end the job at any time.
Who fills in which blanks?
The company fills the gray blanks with the job, pay and terms. The employee fills in their address, personal email and any prior inventions, ticks that they've read it, and signs first.
Sources
- California Labor Code § 2870: employee inventions · leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
- 18 U.S.C. § 1833: immunity notice under the Defend Trade Secrets Act (Cornell LII) · law.cornell.edu