Brown & Blaier, PC / Employer-side agreements

Employment & contractor
agreements.
For your business.

Brown & Blaier helps businesses prepare, review, and negotiate agreements with employees and independent contractors, including confidentiality and intellectual property terms.

Inquiries open our firm’s MyCase contact form.

Hiring & service relationships

Documents for the people
who help your business operate.

Hiring an employee and engaging an outside service provider raise different drafting questions. The agreement should reflect the proposed role, responsibilities, compensation or payment terms, and the business information or work product involved.

Our third-party agreements practice includes employment agreements, independent contractor agreements, confidentiality agreements, and related business contracts.

This page focuses on the business’s agreements with its workforce and service providers. Bring the intended working arrangement into the discussion along with the document you want prepared or reviewed.

A template may give you a starting list of topics, but it may not reflect the actual job, location, business model, or ownership of the work being created.

Draft around the actual arrangement

What the agreement needs to address.

Role & responsibilities

Define the position or services, reporting or project expectations, and the work the business is asking the person to perform.

Compensation & payment

Describe the proposed compensation or project fees, payment timing, and any business terms that still need to be resolved.

Confidential information

Identify the information the person will access and the intended limits on its use and disclosure.

Intellectual property

Discuss what will be created, any pre-existing materials, and the intended ownership or permitted use of the resulting work.

Changes & end of the relationship

Address how changes to the role or project, return of materials, and transition responsibilities should be documented.

Consistency with other documents

Consider how the agreement relates to an offer letter, project statement, confidentiality agreement, or other existing business documents.

The document is one part of the relationship

Employee or contractor?
Bring the facts into the discussion.

Calling an agreement an “independent contractor agreement” does not by itself establish independent-contractor status for federal employment tax purposes. The actual relationship matters.

Provide the proposed duties, working location, supervision, and other relevant facts when asking about the appropriate documents.

We can discuss the contract work you need without assuming that a label resolves the underlying classification question. Different legal requirements may need separate review.

See the IRS explanation of employee and independent contractor status for federal employment tax background.

Prepare for a conversation

Tell us about the proposed role.

Start with a general description of the business and the hiring or service arrangement. Identify whether you need a new document, a review, or negotiation of a document provided by someone else.

Keep the initial inquiry general. Avoid sharing confidential information before an attorney-client relationship is established.

  • Employee role or proposed contractor services.
  • Where the work will be performed.
  • Proposed compensation or project payment terms.
  • Access to confidential information and expected work product.
  • Existing documents and your intended start date.
Before you inquire

Common questions.

Is this page for businesses or employees?

This page describes agreements prepared, reviewed, or negotiated for businesses engaging employees and outside service providers.

Can a confidentiality agreement address all ownership questions?

Confidentiality and ownership are separate topics to discuss. Tell us what information will be shared, what work will be created, and how you intend to use that work.

Can I use the same document for every role?

Roles, locations, payment arrangements, and work product can differ. Explain those differences so the scope of the document can be considered in context.

Do you review agreements we already use?

The firm’s contract work includes review and negotiation. Describe the agreement, how you use it, and the changes or questions you want addressed.

Your next step

Prepare for your next
hire or engagement.

Tell us about the working relationship and the documents your business needs.

Start an inquiry

Continue to our firm’s MyCase contact form.

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