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Comment by ternaryoperator | Hacker News Reader

What contracts? Is there any major US tech company that has employment contracts? Certainly none that I've worked at.

An employment contract will absolutely exist for employees. Just because at-will means it can be terminated at any time doesn’t mean there is no contract.

I've been in the industry for 10 years and have never had a contract.

Did you sign anything at joining which stated your role, salary, and/or office location?

Usually when you get a job offer you'll be sent an offer letter stating role, salary, start date, etc. Often companies ask you to sign it when you accept the offer, but those letters always include language explicitly stating that they don't constitute an employment contract.

you have never signed anything when starting a job?

I mean of course, starting a new job involves signing tons of paperwork. Employee agreements, IT security policies, sometimes codes of conduct or confidentiality agreements... but no contract.

Edit to my comment: Based on the answers below there seems to be confusion about employment contracts. Signing a letter that specifies your position and salary, as well as NDA forms, are all contracts, but not employment contracts in the traditional sense I meant here.

Traditional employment contracts, which were common years ago but are now used principally for C-suite positions, typically have terms employees can sue to enforce such as WFH.

For most positions in tech, nothing in the paperwork will give you a way of enforcing WFH if the company changes its policies.

That's what I meant by my comment above, which I can no longer edit. (I should have been clearer.)

Wait what, how does that work? How can you employ someone without a contract?

They for sure all have contracts. If nothing else with non disclosure clauses.

Pink promise driven employment?

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