Standard Employment Agreement
The written terms for an ongoing employee.
A contract between an employer and an employee that sets out role, compensation, benefits, termination terms, and obligations like confidentiality and IP assignment. In Canada, an employment agreement operates alongside (and can't remove) minimum protections set by provincial or federal employment standards legislation, so getting the termination and notice provisions right matters.
- Business days
- 1–5Business days
- Lawyer reviewed
- 100%Lawyer reviewed
- Surprise bills
- $0Surprise bills
What a Standard Employment Agreement should include
Role and reporting — position, duties, and who they report to.
Compensation — salary, bonus or commission mechanics, and when each is reviewed.
Termination provisions — the clause most likely to be scrutinised, and the one where drafting errors are most expensive.
Confidentiality and IP — what the employee may not disclose, and company ownership of what they create.
Restrictive covenants — any non-solicitation or non-competition terms, and whether they are enforceable where you are.
Policies — which handbook terms are incorporated, and how they may change.
When you need one
Before the first day, for every employee. Employment standards are provincial, and the minimum entitlements, the rules on restrictive covenants and the treatment of termination clauses all differ across Canada — an agreement drafted for one province should not be assumed to work in another.
How Ruby drafts it
Tell us what you need
Describe the agreement, your business context, and how fast you need it. A few smart questions, not a legal questionnaire. Your price and turnaround are confirmed before anything starts.
Ruby drafts it
Once pricing is confirmed a qualified Ruby lawyer is assigned to your file, and the first draft is built from your answers and real Canadian statute.
A licensed lawyer reviews every line
A lawyer licensed in Canada reviews and finalizes the document before it reaches you, and writes the plain-language summary that comes with it.
Signed, stored, and yours to revisit
You get the final agreement and its summary, stored so you can come back to it rather than hunting through email for the current version.
The fee is set before any of that starts. Hourly billing moves as scope does; a flat fee is one number, confirmed in writing, that doesn’t change after the work is done. See how Ruby prices agreements.
Or did you mean one of these?
These get confused with a Standard Employment Agreement often enough to be worth ruling out before you buy the wrong document.
Questions people ask
An employment relationship exists whether or not it is written down. What writing changes is certainty: without it, terms are implied, and the implied position on notice of termination is generally more generous to the employee than a properly drafted clause.
Because it is the term that decides what an exit costs, and because a clause that fails for any reason can be struck, leaving the more generous common-law position to apply instead. It is the provision most worth having drafted carefully and reviewed when the law moves.
Not safely. Employment standards, and the treatment of restrictive covenants in particular, vary by province. The structure can be shared; the specific entitlements and restrictions need to match where the employee actually works.
Looking for the plain definition rather than the document? See Standard Employment Agreement in the Ruby legal glossary.
This page is general information about Canadian business law and is not legal advice. Laws differ by province and change over time, and how they apply depends on your circumstances. For advice on your situation, speak with a lawyer licensed in your province.
Need a Standard Employment Agreement?
Ruby drafts it for a flat $499 CAD, confirmed before any work begins, with a licensed Canadian lawyer on every document.