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Comment by diehunde | Hacker News Reader

If you get to the point you get an offer, always make sure to get that in the contract. I was working remotely for a company that went through some re-org and ended up with a different manager who wasn't very excited about having remote team members. Unfortunately for him it was part of my contract so he couldn't force me to relocate.

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Very few workers in the U.S. have actual employment contracts. If you work in the tech sector in the U.S. you almost certainly don't. Instead, your employment is "at-will"; i.e. terminable by either party, with or without cause or notice (unless you live and work in Montana). You may have received a written offer of employment when you were hired (outlining your title, salary, hiring bonuses, etc.), but that is not an employment contract. The important distinction for the OP is that a written offer of employment is not legally binding. They can lie or change their minds.

You're right. But at least you would have enough proof to seriously damage their reputation in case they change the terms in the letter. I'd like to believe they would care about that, especially in tech where everybody is struggling to hire good employees.

> If you work in the tech sector in the U.S. you almost certainly don't.

I've been working in the tech sector in the US for a long time, and have had an employment contract at literally every company. I'm genuinely surprised to hear that people are working without one. That seems unwise.

Same - I've always had contract (but the sample size is quite small). The problem is that even if you have "full remote" in your contract, you also probably have "at will" in the same contract, which IMO means they can still play the game of "come in person or you're fired".

I've worked for 4 companies in the U.S. and they only sent Employment offers/letters/agreements that I had to sign. Didn't see the word contract in any of them.

You're almost certainly mistaken. An employment contract is a very specific legal document that ensures certain rights (including pay) and obligations. You (almost certainly) do not have a contract, you work "at will." Your pay could be changed to minimum wage tomorrow and you'd have no legal recourse other than to quit. Similarly, you could quit your job with no notice today and your employer could do nothing. Neither of those would be true if you had an actual contract.

Wow, this is crazy to me.

If you have an agreed rate of pay you have an employment contract.

That that contract does not contain terms modifying the default at-will status of employment does not mean it is not a contract. (A terminable at will contract is still a contract.)

Was this not at-will employment?

While getting it in writing is good, it doesn't actually protect you. Vast majority of people are working at-will. Which means either party can change the terms of employment whenever. And if the other party disagrees then employment is terminated.

In this case meaning, if your contract says remote then they can change it to not remote at any time. That said, any company that will pull shenanigans like that you don't want to be working for anyhow as they don't respect you and that will impact you across all aspects of your work.

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