The employment relationship is essentially contractual in its nature. There are, however, many different kinds of contracts. Once a contract is formed, an employer is bound. Unfortunately, sometimes the courts have found that an employer agreed to a contract when, in fact, the employer had not yet made a firm decision to hire the person in question. To avoid this problem, an employer who provides an applicant with written information relating to the job description, salary and fringe benefits also should include in bold-faced and underlined type: THIS IS NOT AN OFFER OF EMPLOYMENT. Later, if the employer decides to hire this person, a formal offer of employment can be drafted and sent to the applicant.
Most employment contracts are fairly informal, consisting of an oral hiring and perhaps incorporating certain terms derived from an employee handbook, manual or other document. If the employment is for a specific time and more than one year, the law requires that the contract be in writing for it to be enforceable. Apart from that, formal or written contracts are usually used only for professional employees, managers and other highly skilled or compensated workers and in situations involving unusual job...
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