What to Know About an Independent Contractor Agreement

As an independent contractor, also known as a freelancer, the type of career you’re pursuing is constantly evolving. It’s easy to get lost in the contracts you have, and this can be troublesome. Here comes an independent contractor agreement—an ironclad document that outlines the details of work and other necessary information on compensation, deliverables, and other terms of the agreement.

What Does It Do?

An independent contractor agreement is the agreement between you (the freelancer) and the company. It helps protect the business interests, helps protect against liability issues, and protects assets and proprietary information. Should any of the parties involved take an issue to court, the signed agreement may show the judge what the expectations were.

This contract can help ensure you get paid. Moreover, having a contract for your clients will make you look professional and willing to commit to the job.

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What Should It Contain?

As mentioned, an independent contractor agreement should contain all the necessary details about the work that must be done, the payment details, and many more.

• Terms: Ideally, the terms are on the first part of the contract that states the names and locations of the parties involved. It should also contain the dates and description of the project or tasks that need to be done.
• Deliverables: This contains a detailed description of the responsibilities of both parties’ responsibilities and the expectations. The information here must be short but concise.
• Payment: This section lists the amount you’ll receive as compensation and when you should receive payment.
• Confidentiality: It’s only natural for clients or companies to ensure their work processes are protected, hence the need for the clause. The same thing applies to freelancers who want to protect their intellectual property.
• Termination: This section should define the acceptable terms and conditions. For freelancers, they can add a clause that specifies how they want to be notified, while the company may need to add a clause that obliges the independent contractor to compensatory payments should there be delays or certain expectations are not met.

Do You Need It?

An independent contractor agreement is a must if you are a freelancer with one or multiple clients or a business owner who hires freelancers for short-term service. So, to answer that question, YES—whether you’re the freelancer or the company, you need an independent contractor agreement.

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The Gig Economy Continues to Rise

With so many shifts happening in today’s modern workforce, such as the gig economy, hiring or being an independent contractor is a huge thing. Being able to protect your intellectual property, processes, and many more is crucial, and you can do so by having a contractor agreement.

Use these guidelines to help ensure your agreement contains all the necessary information and will secure you as a freelancer or a company.

The Wrap

As more companies are branching out to and hiring freelancers, there needs to be proper documentation and agreements in place to protect both parties. Fortunately, there are many platforms for drafting trustworthy contracts for content creators you can find online today, and all you have to do is sign up!

Creators Legal is the first and only legal platform build just for Content Creators. Get simple, straightforward, and trustworthy creator contracts in a fast, easy-to-use platform. With a powerful guided Form Builder, a secure e-signature system, and your own personalized dashboard to store and organize all your contracts, you can get yourself protected in minutes without the need for expensive entertainment lawyers!

Want to learn more? Check out CreatorsLegal.com, where you can get single use contracts or monthly and annual subscriptions on all contracts for creators! Try us now!