Breach of Employment Contract Examples

What are some examples of breach of employment contracts?  First, you need to think that there will be a termination section in any employment contract. And then in that section, it will state the reasons for the contract to be terminated. There are four common reasons. One, if it’s just for a set amount of time and doesn’t automatically renew, say a one-year contract, one-year ends, neither party renews it, the contract can terminate that way. It can be terminated by mutual agreement. It can terminate generally without cause, meaning, either party can terminate the agreement for any reason at any time with a certain amount of notice to the other. And then lastly, and this is what we’re going to talk about, a contract can be terminated for cause. If someone terminates for cause, it means that one of the parties has breached the contract and then has failed to fix the breach.

If a party is in breach of contract, the contract will likely state, you must provide written notice to the other party that they’re in breach. And then normally, there would be cure period. Somewhere between 15 to 30 days is standard. Let’s just say you’re an employee and in the contract, it states you will be given a quarterly bonus. You earn the bonus based upon whatever the language is in the contract and then the employer just doesn’t pay it out either in time or at all. Well, you could write them a letter stating, you’re in breach of contract. You were required to do this; you didn’t do it.

And then they have the cure period so they can fix the breach. Let’s just say it’s 15 days here. Then they would have 15 days to fix the breach of contract and then meaning pay the bonus. If they don’t, then it’s the employee’s right to terminate the agreement immediately for cause. Breach of contract can go both ways. The employer can breach the contract and then the employee can breach the contract as well. If you’re an employee, the things that you can do to breach the contract are plentiful and they’re usually spelled out specifically in the agreement. Let’s say you’re a healthcare provider, you lose your medical license, DEA registration, you’re uninsurable, and most of the time, you get a felony. Things that can prevent, let’s say it’s a physician, from completing the task that they have to do. In that scenario, it’s usually an automatic and immediate cause for termination. If you can’t practice as a doctor, obviously you can’t fill the terms of an employment contract. Other blogs of interest include:

Those are some examples of breach. Others could be, maybe you’re scheduled to take a certain number of calls and you refuse to do it. Or you’re only coming into the office half the time that was scheduled or you refuse to work in some specific locations that are agreed to in the contract. Those are reasons that an employer could fire an employee. Now, what are some things that the employer can do to breach the contract? As I said before, if they’re just not paying compensation on time, or maybe they’re not doing it properly. Staffing has been kind of a big issue recently, I guess, kind of inability to staff properly. So, in the contract, it will state the employer will provide proper equipment, office space, and staffing. I know the veterinarian industry, for instance, is really being a hard hit.

And so, if there aren’t enough vet techs, front office staff, the veterinarian can’t be efficient in their time where they’re doing duties that they shouldn’t have to do. That could be a reason that the employer is in breach of contract by just not providing enough administrative support, which would allow the professional to do their job effectively, and especially if the professional is on some kind of productivity compensation, not having adequate staffing or administrative support can directly affect how much the professional is going to make because they can’t be as productive, they’re not generating as much net collections and therefore they’re just not going to make enough. So, those are kind of common examples of breach of contract in an employment contract. Obviously, there’s a ton more that could happen, but I think those are kind of the most common.