Description

Short Form Offer Letter – Employment Agreement (IL)

Illinois Offer Letter – Non-Executive Employment Agreement (Short Form) Preparation Form (Coming Soon). We recommend that you gather the information in this form prior to accessing the online questionnaire.  Doing so will help you efficiently create your custom Illinois Offer Letter/Short-Form Non-Executive Employment Agreement. The questions for Illinois are relatively similar to other states, for which we have created preparation forms: New York.

Summary

This Illinois-specific Offer Letter/Short-Form Employment Agreement outlines the general terms and conditions of employment for a non-executive employee. The authors have drafted this offer letter and employment agreement in favor of the employer. It is a conditional offer of employment. Once an employer decides to offer an applicant a position, they can send the applicant this agreement.

Details

Employers often create employment agreements with non-executive employees by defining the terms and conditions of employment in the employee’s offer letter and asking the employee to sign the letter. Regardless of the format, an employment agreement should always contain at least the following terms:

• The position offered.
• Whether the position is exempt or nonexempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Additionally, whether the position is full-time or part-time, and if part-time, the hours and days the employee is expected to work. Lastly, whether the employment is at-will or for-cause, and if the latter, the events triggering for-cause dismissal and the consequences of termination without cause.
• If the employment is for a specific term (and therefore not at-will), what that term is and what happens at the end of the term.
• The pay offered.
• The frequency or schedule of wage payment.
• A statement of the benefits offered.
• Illinois law requires employers to notify employees at the time of hiring of both:
  • The rate of pay.
  • The time and place of the payment.

Whenever possible, the notification must be in writing and be acknowledged by both parties.

Arbitration Agreements

Some employers may want to require that employees resolve employment-related disputes by binding arbitration rather than in court. Employers that opt to resolve disputes in arbitration may also benefit from including a class and collective action waiver. The US Supreme Court has held that class and collective action waivers are enforceable in the employment context, subject to traditional contract defenses, such as fraud, duress, and unconscionability, and do not violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Employers sometimes include mandatory arbitration clauses in an offer letter or other employment-related agreement. However, it is generally preferable to have employees execute a stand-alone arbitration agreement and condition the employment offer on the employee signing that agreement. If using that approach, this Agreement should specifically reference that a signed arbitration agreement is a condition of the employment offer.