Your contract will be written for your family-owned small business. The agreement will be for employees to sign who wish to further their education, where the company may provide tuition assistance while working for your company. Be creative, yet professional. The following components must be present in your contract. For each element, you must demonstrate your ability to write clearly, concisely, and with advanced communication skills.
Distinguish the type of contract (e.g., bilateral, unilateral) and include the four (4) elements of contract formation.
Develop the factors of time, tasks, goals, potential clauses, assignments, and restrictions into the contract.
Use and define legal concepts by incorporating the legal terminology from your textbook where appropriate and relevant.
Use academic or legitimate news sources, such as The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, CNN, or MSNBC for example.
Identify any ethical issues that exist in this alleged contract and result.
Here is the link to the NOLO.com article, “Contracts 101: Make a Legally Valid Contract”: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/contracts-101-make-legally-valid-30247.html
Professional Contract Formation
Student’s First Name, Middle Initial(s), Last Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course Number and Name
Instructor’s Name and Title
Assignment Due Date
Professional Contract Formation
This contract form should be signed by employees that wish to further their education, for the purposes of the company providing tuition assistance while working for the company. The company will accept to employ these employees by allowing them to work part time and also receive tuition assistance from the company. This is a bilateral contract where both parties will have an obligation. The company will have the obligation to support the employee with tuition fee and the employee will have the obligation to work for the company. When the employee ceases to work for the company, the company will have no obligation to cater for the tuition fees.
This written contract only serves as an offer to the contract. The employee has the obligation of reading and understanding the offer presented by this contract. On acceptance, the employee must sign to show complete understanding and agreement of all the major issues. The consideration of the contract to the employee is guaranteed tuition assistance to support further education. The consideration for the company is continued services from the employee while still getting further education. The employee must understand that this written contract will create a legal relationship that is binding in law. This written document is an offer that after understanding the employee will offer acceptance by signing and considerations will be delivered. There are factors that can affect the contract in different ways.
First factor to consider is time. The contract will available on employee who wish to further their education and it will be the obligation of the company to cater for tuition fees for the determined required academic years as indicated by the education provider. Therefore, in the case of an extension of the years and repetition of an academic year the company will only cater for the initial number of academic years, the additional academic years will not be the obligation of the company.
Secondly, the employee will have to work for the company for the period of learning for further education and mandatory service to the company for five consecutive years after finishing the education. This agreement is meant to see that the company benefit from the utilization of the skills and knowledge gained from the further studies. The company shall demand incorporation of the learned skills and knowledge for the benefit of the company.
Thirdly, the benefits that are entitled to the employee in work while learning further education shall be basic as the ordinary employee, the agreed salary shall be paid regularly and receive constant tuition fees assistance from the company to facilitate for further studies. The company in this agreement will benefit from the normal service offered by the employee and skills and knowledge as gained by employee. In the case, where the education of the employee cannot be applied directly in the company, the employee will get a special agreement that will see them working mandatory for the company for more than five years.
The employee tasks and assignments shall be evaluated and formulated allow them to work for the company effectively and allow them to study effectively on their further education. The Job and employment status of the employee will be Permanent part-time job. The Part-time will be reasonable to be out of work undertaking studies, after that the employee should be back to work as soon as it is possible to be at work. The job obligation of employee shall include timed-services and tasks that will elapse on time to allow the employee to engage the studies.
Termination of contract on employee further education assistance will occur when the employee quits the job. The employee will lose the job and tuition fees payments will be withdrawn immediately. Whereas, the education tuition fees of the employee is more than three-quarters of the total tuition fee requirement, the employee will still be liable to work for the company, on mandatory services. This clause seeks to intensify the seriousness and prevent exploitation by employees. The termination of the contract regarding employee and further education will be held separate from the ordinary employee contract. Therefore, the employee can request for the termination of the employee and further education contract and switch to the ordinary employee contract. That is provided, the academic years and the cost of tuition fees do not amount to three quarters. The company will do not accept the termination of the contract after the spending on more than three-quarters of tuitions fees. In the case where the employee wants to terminate the contract on further studies after the company spend more than three-quarters on tuition fees, the employee must commit to the tuition assistance payback agreement. The tuition assistance payback agreement holds that the employee should agree to pay back the tuition assistance if he/she stops taking the studies or leaves the company after more than half academic years of the total academic years.
This is an educational expense contract that is independent of the employment contract. Within the provisions of this contract, the employee may terminate their employment with the company any time while the company may also terminate the employment and expense agreement anytime. The terms of contract are negotiable on a personal level with the company.
References
Anand, S., Hasan, I., Sharma, P., & Wang, H. (2018). State enforceability of noncompete agreements: Regulations that stifle productivity!. Human Resource Management, 57(1), 341-354.
Contracts now seen as being Rewritable. (2009, March 31). The New York Times – Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/business/economy/31contracts.html
If your job reimburses you for education costs, can you still get a tax deduction? (2018, May 6). Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-money-talk-education-tax-20180506-story.html
Kaplan, M., & Schultz, L. J. (1978). Deductibility of education expense. The CPA Journal (pre-1986), 48(000011), 37.
