Verbal Employment Contract for Teens

There are many different kinds of jobs and careers out there that you can choose from. You could be a scientist, a writer, a chef, or a landscape artist. When you are young and first starting out your working life, you won’t likely have such fabulous titles, though. Instead, you will probably be working for these people as an employee a lot lower down on the totem pole. For example, a lot of teenagers get jobs working for landscaping artists. They run the lawn mowers and trim hedges for them. In these instances, the jobs are usually very relaxed and the management trusts that you’ll do as you are supposed to do. This kind of trust and respect often leads to a verbal employment contract for certain kinds of jobs. Most companies use paper employment contracts that you sign. This is because there can sometimes be misunderstandings when it comes to verbal employment contracts. You also can’t really prove what was said in them. Because of this, verbal employment contracts are usually only used for smaller, more insignificant jobs. These are the jobs that the employer doesn’t expect long term employees from. After all, you may like cutting grass during the summer, but you probably wouldn’t want to do it as a full time and long term career. Your employers know this, so they use verbal employment contracts to make the hiring process much easier.

There are some things that you should be wary of, though. If you start a job with a bigger company, such as a fast food restaurant or other type of chain company, you will likely need to sign a regular employment contract. In fact, if they don’t have you sign one, you should be wary. Some managers in certain stores bypass regular contracts and use verbal employment contracts when they want to be able to take advantage of their employees. If it seems at all fishy, request a form that you can sign. If it still feels odd, you may want to consider other employment. Consider this: a signed contract not only protects the company, but it protects you as well. Only accept verbal employment contracts from small, independently owned companies that you already trust. This will save a lot of heartache and possibly some lawsuits as well.

If all goes well, the situation that you choose will mean that you will have really good and safe employment at your first job as an adult. Always keep in mind that you have rights and that they shouldn’t be tampered with.