How to Review an Employment Agreement: A Clause-by-Clause Checklist

How do you review an employment agreement before signing? Read the agreement against a fixed checklist, clause by clause, and ask one question of each clause: what does this commit me to, for how long, and what happens if the relationship ends? An employment agreement looks routine, but a few clauses, the notice period, the restraints, and the intellectual property assignment, can follow you for years after you leave. The fastest safe review is not skimming. It is knowing which clauses carry the weight and checking each one in order. This checklist works whether you are the employee deciding to sign or the employer issuing the contract. This is a practical review checklist, not legal advice. Employment law is highly local, so for a senior role, an unusual term, or a cross-border contract, have a qualified lawyer in the relevant jurisdiction review the final document. ## The employment agreement review checklist Work through these in order. The "what good looks like" column is what you want to see; the "watch for" column is the common trap. | # | Clause | What good looks like | Watch for |

|---|--------|----------------------|-----------| | 1 | Position and duties | Clear role, reasonable scope | "Any duties as assigned" with no limit | | 2 | Pay and review | Gross pay, frequency, lawful deductions | Pay below minimum wage; vague bonus terms | | 3 | Probation | Fixed length, clear notice | Repeated or indefinite probation | | 4 | Hours and overtime | Normal hours stated, overtime addressed | Unpaid, open-ended overtime | | 5 | Benefits and statutory | Leave and statutory entitlements confirmed | Attempts to waive statutory rights | | 6 | Notice period | Balanced notice both ways | Long notice to resign, short to dismiss | | 7 | Termination | Fair process, misconduct defined | Dismissal "at any time for any reason" where unlawful | | 8 | Confidentiality | Reasonable scope and duration | Perpetual duty over everything | | 9 | IP assignment | Work-in-role assigned; personal inventions carved out | Assigns prior and unrelated inventions | | 10 | Restraints | Narrow non-solicit, reasonable limits | Broad non-compete with no geography or time limit | | 11 | Variation | Changes need agreement | Employer can change terms at will | | 12 | Governing law and forum | Local law and a reachable forum | Foreign law with no connection to you | ## Which clauses deserve the most attention? Notice and termination (clauses 6 and 7). Check that notice is balanced: a contract that needs three months from you to resign but lets the employer dismiss on two weeks is one-sided. Confirm that termination follows a fair process where the law requires it, and that "serious misconduct" is defined rather than left to the employer's sole discretion. In most of the world employment is not "at will", so a clause allowing dismissal at any time for any reason may simply be unenforceable. Restraints after employment (clause 10). This is the clause most likely to bite after you leave. A non-solicit of clients or staff for a short period is usually reasonable. A broad non-compete that stops you working in your field, with no sensible limit on time or area, is often unenforceable, but you do not want to spend a year arguing about it. Push for the narrowest version. Intellectual property (clause 9). A fair clause assigns work you create in the role to the employer and carves out your genuinely personal, unrelated inventions and anything you made before you joined. Watch for a clause that claims everything you ever create, which is both unfair and, in several jurisdictions, unenforceable. Pay and statutory rights (clauses 2 and 5). Confirm the pay meets at least the legal minimum, that deductions are lawful, and that the contract does not try to waive leave, social security, or other statutory entitlements, which generally cannot be signed away. ## Red flags that should make you pause - One-sided notice. Long notice to resign, short notice to be dismissed.

• Overbroad non-compete. No limit on time, area, or scope. Treat it as a negotiation point, not a formality.
• Sweeping IP assignment. Claims your prior and personal inventions, not just work done in the role.
• Attempts to waive statutory rights. Any clause trying to remove minimum wage, paid leave, or social security is a warning sign about the employer.
• Unilateral variation. The employer can change pay, duties, or location at will.
• Unpaid open-ended overtime. "As required" hours with no overtime or time-off policy.
• Clawback or penalty on exit. A large repayment or training-cost clawback on resignation can be an unfair restraint; read it carefully.
• Foreign governing law. Law and courts with no real connection to where you work. ## How does jurisdiction change an employment review? The structure of an employment contract is similar worldwide, but the rules behind it are not. Minimum wage, hours, overtime, paid leave, statutory benefits, termination process, and severance are set by law and override anything the contract says. Non-competes are enforceable in some places and largely void in others. In the United States most employment is "at will"; in the United Kingdom, Europe, and much of Asia, dismissal needs a fair reason and process. In India, state Shops and Establishments Acts, provident fund, gratuity, and the labour codes apply on top of the contract. The practical rule when you review: never assume a clause is valid just because it is written down, and check it against local law. This varies by jurisdiction. ## A fast three-pass method 1. Money pass. Read pay, benefits, hours, and statutory entitlements. Confirm the numbers are lawful and the bonus terms are clear.

2. Exit pass. Read probation, notice, termination, and any clawback. Decide how you leave and on what terms.
3. After-you-leave pass. Read confidentiality, IP assignment, and restraints. These are the clauses that follow you, so give them the most time. If all three passes are clean, you can sign with confidence. If a clause fails, mark it, propose a specific edit, and send it back. Most employment negotiation is a few targeted changes, not a rewrite. ## Where a contract workspace helps The review you just did by hand, reading the notice clause, checking the restraint, remembering when probation ends, is exactly the work an AI contract workspace can do in one place. Instead of scanning each contract for the risky clause yourself, you see each position marked favourable, neutral, or unfavourable to your company, with an overbroad restraint or a one-sided notice period called out, and you edit a clause in plain English and get a clean diff back, while probation and renewal dates are tracked automatically. Adira is one workspace built around that idea, keeping drafting, per-clause risk review, version history, and deadline tracking together and tuned to how your company contracts. A repeatable checklist becomes far easier when the contract, its risks, and its dates live in one workspace rather than in your memory. Use the checklist above on the next employment agreement you see, and give the after-you-leave clauses the most attention.