Free download β’ Use as a template β’ Print or share
A Checklist Employment Agreements template is a structured verification form that HR managers, business owners, and legal staff use to confirm every required clause, disclosure, and signature is present and properly completed before an employment agreement is executed or filed. It works as a quality-control gate applied to the contract document itself β not a replacement for the contract β ensuring that items such as IP assignment scope, non-compete enforceability, execution timing, and governing law designation have each been reviewed and confirmed. The template is available as a free Word download you can fill in for each new hire and store alongside the signed agreement in your HR records.
Missing a single clause in an employment agreement β an IP assignment that doesn't cover remote work, a non-compete applied in a jurisdiction that bans it, or a contract signed a week after the employee's start date β can void the protection you thought you had, often at the worst possible moment: when a key employee leaves to join a competitor or disputes who owns code they wrote at home. Without a consistent review process, these gaps accumulate across your employee file library undetected until litigation or due diligence surfaces them. This checklist gives you a repeatable, ten-minute review that catches the most common execution failures before they become expensive problems, and creates a documented audit trail showing your organization applied the same standard to every hire.
| If your situation is⦠| Use this template |
|---|---|
| Reviewing a standard full-time at-will employment agreement | Checklist Employment Agreements |
| Checking an executive employment agreement with equity and severance | Executive Employment Agreement |
| Verifying an independent contractor agreement before execution | Independent Contractor Agreement |
| Auditing a fixed-term or seasonal hire contract | Fixed-Term Employment Contract |
| Onboarding a remote worker across state or country lines | Remote Work Agreement |
| Reviewing a part-time or hourly worker agreement | Part-Time Employment Contract |
| Running a new-hire onboarding checklist beyond the contract itself | New Employee Onboarding Checklist |
Why it matters: A post-signature review can identify missing clauses but cannot fix them without a contract amendment β which requires negotiation and fresh signatures.
Fix: Treat the checklist as a pre-execution gate: no countersignature until every required field is checked and any flagged items are resolved.
Why it matters: Sending an employee a contract with an unenforceable non-compete in their jurisdiction creates a false sense of protection and can expose the employer to bad-faith claims.
Fix: Add a jurisdiction ban verification step to the non-compete row and confirm it for every hire, not just those in states you already know restrict them.
Why it matters: A narrowly scoped IP clause that only covers work performed on company premises leaves remote workers' output legally ambiguous β a critical gap for distributed teams.
Fix: Confirm the IP assignment clause explicitly covers work performed on personal devices and outside business hours before marking it complete.
Why it matters: An employee who was never given their own copy has limited ability to comply with its terms β and in some jurisdictions, failure to provide a copy is a statutory violation.
Fix: Add a 'copy sent to employee' confirmation as the final checklist step and do not mark the record complete until it is done.
Before opening the checklist, have the employment agreement document in front of you β either the draft for pre-signature review or the fully executed version for a records audit.
π‘ Run this checklist on the draft before signing, not after β catching a missing clause takes minutes to fix in draft and hours to remedy post-execution.
Verify the employer's registered legal name against your corporate registry filing and the employee's name against government-issued ID. Record the exact employment type and start date.
π‘ Cross-check the entity name against your payroll provider's records to ensure consistency β a mismatch causes problems at the first payroll run.
Enter the salary or rate and pay frequency from the contract, then compare them against the offer letter the employee received. Flag any discrepancy before signing.
π‘ Note explicitly whether bonuses are labeled 'discretionary' in the contract β if they are not, flag for review before execution.
Work through IP assignment, confidentiality, non-compete, and non-solicitation fields one at a time. For each, confirm the clause is present, that key definitions are included, and that duration and scope are proportionate to the role.
π‘ For employees in California, Minnesota, or Oklahoma, mark non-compete fields N/A rather than leaving them blank β a blank field could be misread as an oversight.
Record the notice period and severance formula, then verify both against the employment standards legislation in the employee's work location.
π‘ Keep a jurisdiction reference card clipped to the checklist template for your most common hiring locations β it saves a lookup on every new hire.
Confirm that both parties have signed, that signatures are dated, and that the employee's signature predates or matches the start date.
π‘ If a signature is missing, do not file the checklist as complete β an incomplete execution record is as problematic as no record at all.
Save the completed checklist and the signed employment agreement together in the employee's HR file. Record the file location and filing date in the final row.
π‘ Store both documents in your HR information system rather than a local folder so they are accessible during audits, disputes, or due diligence reviews.
A checklist employment agreements template is a structured form used to verify that every required element of an employment agreement β parties, compensation, key clauses, signatures, and filing β is present and complete before the contract is executed or filed. It gives HR teams and business owners a consistent review process that reduces the risk of missing critical provisions like IP assignment, non-compete terms, or proper execution timing.
Use it immediately before countersigning any new employment agreement to catch missing clauses, blank fields, or jurisdictional issues while they are still easy to fix. It is also useful for periodic HR file audits to confirm that all existing employee agreements are complete and properly filed.
No. The checklist confirms that required elements are present and consistently completed β it does not evaluate whether the language in each clause is legally sound for a specific jurisdiction. For senior hires, cross-border employment, or agreements with complex non-compete or equity provisions, a lawyer's review of the underlying contract is still recommended.
At minimum: identification of both parties and job title, employment type and start date, compensation and payment terms, IP assignment, confidentiality, non-compete and non-solicitation (where enforceable), termination and notice provisions, severance formula, entire agreement clause, and governing law. The checklist template covers all of these as discrete verification rows.
In common-law jurisdictions β including the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia β a contract requires consideration from both sides to be enforceable. An employee who has already begun work gave nothing new in exchange for signing a post-start-date agreement. Courts have voided IP assignment, non-compete, and confidentiality clauses on this basis. The checklist's execution-timing field flags this risk before it becomes a problem.
The checklist is designed for employment agreements but can be adapted for independent contractor agreements with minor modifications β removing the at-will or notice-period fields and substituting contractor-specific items such as project scope, deliverable acceptance, and tax withholding responsibility. A dedicated contractor agreement checklist is more appropriate for high-volume contractor onboarding.
File the completed checklist alongside the signed employment agreement in the employee's HR record β either in your HRIS or a secure document management system. During audits, litigation, or M&A due diligence, the checklist serves as evidence that your organization applied a consistent review process to every hire.
Review the checklist at least annually or whenever a change in employment law affects your hiring jurisdictions. The non-compete jurisdiction ban check row, in particular, should reflect the current legal landscape β several US states have expanded non-compete restrictions in recent years.
The employment contract is the binding legal document that governs the working relationship. The checklist is a review tool used to verify the contract is complete and properly executed before filing. You need both: the contract creates the obligations; the checklist confirms nothing was missed.
An onboarding checklist covers the full first-week administrative process β equipment setup, benefits enrollment, system access, and orientation. This checklist focuses specifically on the employment agreement document itself β clause presence, execution timing, and filing. Both are used at hire but serve distinct purposes.
An HR audit checklist reviews the entire employment file and compliance posture across all HR functions. The employment agreements checklist is narrower β it is a single-document review tool applied contract by contract at the point of hire or during targeted file reviews.
An independent contractor agreement governs a non-employee engagement with different tax, IP, and benefits treatment. The employment agreements checklist is not designed for contractor reviews β it includes at-will, benefits, and statutory notice fields that do not apply to contractor arrangements. A separate contractor review form is more appropriate.
IP assignment and confidentiality scope are the highest-priority rows given that product code and customer data are the primary business assets.
Non-solicitation verification is critical because client relationships are the firm's primary asset and departing employees represent direct revenue risk.
Checklist must include confirmation that HIPAA confidentiality obligations are incorporated by reference and that professional licensing conditions are stated as employment prerequisites.
High turnover volume makes a fast, consistent checklist process essential β at-will designation and correct pay-frequency fields are the most commonly incomplete rows.
| Path | Best for | Cost | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Use the template | HR managers, small business owners, and founders self-reviewing standard domestic employment agreements | Free | 5β10 minutes per agreement |
| Template + professional review | Businesses auditing a backlog of employee files or onboarding in multiple jurisdictions | $100β$300 for an HR consultant spot-check | 1β2 hours for a file batch review |
| Custom drafted | Enterprises needing a jurisdiction-specific checklist integrated into an HRIS workflow or SOC 2 compliance program | $500β$2,000 for custom HR process design | 1β2 weeks |
This document is one of 3,000+ business & legal templates included in Business in a Box.
Access over 3,000+ business and legal templates for any business task, project or initiative.
Customize your ready-made business document template and save it in the cloud.
Share your files and folders with your team. Create a space of seamless collaboration.
"Fantastic value! I'm not sure how I'd do without it. It's worth its weight in gold and paid back for itself many times."
"I have been using Business in a Box for years. It has been the most useful source of templates I have encountered. I recommend it to anyone."
"It has been a life saver so many times I have lost count. Business in a Box has saved me so much time and as you know, time is money."
Stop downloading documents. Start operating with clarity. Business in a Box gives you the Business Operating System used by over 250,000 companies worldwide to structure, run, and grow their business.
Start freeΒ Β·Β No credit card required
