Adam Frankel
General Counsel · Technology & AI
15+ years as General Counsel to technology, cloud & AI companies
Employment Agreement (Full-Time, Indefinite) (British Columbia) by OLL
Open Legal LibraryUpdated 18 Aug 2026
This template establishes a full-time, indefinite employment relationship for an individual working in British Columbia. It defines the Employee's role, compensation, and benefits while setting out termination notice requirements specifically aligned with the BC Employment Standards Act.
EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT [FULL-TIME, INDEFINITE TERM]
This template is for the direct, indefinite-term, full-time employment of an individual in British Columbia. It is employer-side: drafted to be offered by the Employer. It is not suitable for an independent contractor engagement (use independent-contractor-services), a fixed-term role (use employment-fixed-term), or a role with reduced or variable scheduled hours (use employment-part-time). Not suitable for use in Quebec.
Drafting notes appear in italics and are to be deleted before execution. Square brackets mark information to be filled in. Delete any inapplicable optional clauses and renumber before execution.
Do NOT reuse the Ontario version of this template's reasoning. Ontario's termination-clause case law (in particular the rule that a single ESA-offside provision voids an entire termination scheme) is Ontario-specific. British Columbia courts have not adopted that approach wholesale, and BC's own case law on how strictly a termination clause is construed against the drafting employer, and how a defective provision is treated, is a distinct and separately developing body of law. Section 13 below is drafted against the BC Employment Standards Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 113 (the "ESA") directly, not by relabelling the Ontario clause.
⚠️ Termination-clause enforceability is uncertain and moving. Section 13 is drafted to track the current statutory floor under the BC ESA rather than hard-coding notice figures, and to state that floor expressly. What is genuinely unsettled, and NOT resolved by this template, is how strictly a BC court will construe an ambiguous or partially deficient termination clause against the Employer, and whether a single deficient provision anywhere in the clause will be read as tainting the whole scheme the way Ontario courts have held. I have not identified a specific BC appellate authority in the citation registry that I am confident enough in to state a settled rule here, and CONVENTIONS.md requires flagging that uncertainty rather than picking a side. Have section 13 checked against the current leading BC authority before each significant use — this is not a template that can be trusted because it was reviewed once.
⚠️ Existing employees need fresh consideration. If this Agreement (or a new or more restrictive termination clause within it) is being introduced to someone who is already employed — as opposed to being offered at the point of hire — Canadian courts generally require the Employer to give the employee something of genuine value in exchange (for example a signing bonus, a promotion, or a meaningful increase in compensation). An existing employee asked to sign this Agreement for nothing in return risks the whole Agreement, not only the termination clause, being unenforceable against them. Take advice before rolling this Agreement out to existing staff.
THIS AGREEMENT is made as of [Date].
BETWEEN:
[Employer Legal Name], [a corporation incorporated under the laws of [Province / Canada] / a sole proprietorship / a partnership] having its principal place of business at [Employer Address]
(the "Employer")
— and —
[Employee Legal Name] of [Employee Address]
(the "Employee")
This is a preview. The full template is free on GitLaw.
About this template
What is this template?
This is a direct employment contract for an indefinite role and is not a fixed-term agreement or an independent contractor contract. It contains a specific BC-compliant termination clause that expressly references the R.S.B.C. 1996 c. 113 statutory floor. The document includes a moral rights waiver and a Schedule A for summarizing key commercial terms.
When should you use it?
Use this document when hiring a permanent employee based in British Columbia to ensure compliance with provincial standards. Use a services agreement instead if the individual is an independent contractor or the employment-fixed-term template for temporary roles.
What's inside
| Clause | Name | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Term and Probationary Period | Establishes an indefinite start date and a probationary period of [Number] days where the Employer may terminate at its discretion. |
| 3 | Hours of Work | Sets standard hours at [Number] per week and specifies whether the Employee is eligible for overtime under the ESA. |
| 9 | Confidentiality | Obliges the Employee to maintain secrecy of non-public business information both during and after the period of employment. |
| 10 | Intellectual Property | Assigns all copyright in Work Product to the Employer and requires a waiver of moral rights by the Employee. |
| 11 | Non-Solicitation | Restricts the Employee from soliciting staff or customers for [Number] months following the termination of employment. |
| 13.1 | Termination by the Employer Without Cause | Offers a choice between statutory minimum notice under the ESA or a specified enhanced contractual notice period. |
Who it's for
- a British Columbia employer hiring a full-time individual for an indefinite term
- an employer seeking to limit termination entitlements to the BC ESA statutory floor
- a BC business requiring intellectual property assignments and moral rights waivers from staff
- a company introducing restrictive covenants to a new hire in British Columbia
How long it runs and how it's signed
How long
Runs until someone ends it
Stated duration
indefinite basis
Notice to end it
[Number] weeks' written notice for resignation
Survives the end
Confidentiality, Intellectual Property, Non-Solicitation, General
Signed by
Employer Legal Name, Employee Legal Name
Witness
Not required
Notarisation
Not required
Also needed
delivered electronically; executed in counterparts
Law it's drafted under
Governed by
Employment Standards Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 113
Canada note
This version is drafted for Canada. Provinces differ on employment standards and Quebec applies civil law rather than common law. Tell GitLaw which province applies and it adjusts the draft.
Categories
Jurisdiction
Canada
British Columbia (Canada)
Document info
GitLaw document. Document created on Mon Aug 17th, 2026. Last updated on Tue Aug 18th, 2026.
This document is public
Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (Attribution).
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