Business Contracts Contract. Payments to employees in multiple currencies.

[Genofit]

Jurisdiction

Wyoming

Hello. I need to pay non-US employees from different US LLC business accounts in different currencies (USD and EUR). I have such text in the employment agreement

"Company will pay Employee, and Employee agrees to accept from Company, in full payment for his services, compensation at the rate of 1000 USD per month, payable on a monthly basis, less required federal and state deductions".

Can I just change it to "... rate of 1000 USD or foreign currency equivalent..." or how to better write such a thing?

 

[Zigner]

You will need to comply with the law wherever they are working.

 

[Tax Counsel]

I think you need to have a contract lawyer in the country/state whose law will apply to the contract and where any conflicts would be resolved advise you regarding which terms you need/should have and exactly how those terms should be written.

If you don't have provisions in the contract specifying which law applies and in which jurisdiction any disputes will be heard, you probably should add provisions for that that.

There is also the question of exchange rate risk. The values of other currencies against the dollar keep changing constantly. You'd want to specify as clearly as possible when and how that exchange rate for the pay will be determined, ideally set up to limit your exposure to exchange risk as much as possible.

Also the phrase "federal and state deductions" is vague, especially in a contract that is cross border. If the other country uses a federal system, then which one does the contract refer to? If the other country requires various deductions from an employee's pay for taxes or other things that does not appear to be addressed in your contract. You may be able to cover it by stating "less deductions from pay as required by U.S., European Union and [insert the reference to the law of the nation where the employee conducts the work] law". You don't need to have a written contract with employees in the U.S. and generally it is advisable from the standpoint of the employer not to have a detailed written employment agreement with the employer. Such a contract might be required by the law of the country in which the employee works, however, and in that case your contract will need to address all of the issues that the law of the other country requires.

Note that for a contract to be enforceable in the U.S. each side must provide something to the other (known in the law as consideration) to be enforceable. In general, having an employee agree to a new contract after the employee has been hired requires some consideration other than just promising that the employee will not lose his/her job.

There may be things you need to address to meet the laws othe employee's country that wouldn't matter for U.S. employees.

There is a lot more to this than you may realize particularly when dealing with employees working for you outside the U.S.

 

[army judge]

Hello. I need to pay non-US employees from different US LLC business accounts in different currencies (USD and EUR). I have such text in the employment agreement

"Company will pay Employee, and Employee agrees to accept from Company, in full payment for his services, compensation at the rate of 1000 USD per month, payable on a monthly basis, less required federal and state deductions".

Can I just change it to "... rate of 1000 USD or foreign currency equivalent..." or how to better write such a thing?

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