Work

The written appointment letter the Code on Wages requires an employer to give every worker — permanent, fixed-term, contract or gig. It states the role and how the engagement is classified, the wages and how they are made up, the working hours, the leave, and the notice period either side must give. Shorter and more widely used than a full employment agreement, which is a negotiated contract for a senior hire.

A brand-and-creator agreement for sponsored content: the deliverables and the dates, the fee or the barter, approvals, and exclusivity. Usage rights are the commercial heart of it — paying for a post does not buy the content outright, and running it as a paid advertisement from the creator's own handle (whitelisting, Spark Ads) is a separate grant from the right to post it organically. ASCI disclosure is triggered by a material connection, gifted product included, whether or not money changes hands.

The full bilateral employment contract between an Employer and Employee: compensation and its structure, duties, working hours, leave, statutory benefits, confidentiality, IP, restraints where lawful, and termination. The right instrument when terms are negotiated and the relationship needs a complete contract — from a household hiring domestic staff to a senior executive hire. For the short statutory letter the Code on Wages requires for every worker, use the Appointment Letter; for a pre-joining offer, the Offer Letter. Routing the borderline cases: a paid intern working under the establishment's direction and control — set hours, assigned work, supervision — is employment on the Internship preset; a trainee hired on a regular salary with ordinary duties is the Fixed-Term Employment Contract; a freelancer delivering defined work products without supervision is not employment — use the Service Agreement. A purely academic or unpaid placement without employer-style control may not create an employment relationship at all. Governed by the Indian Contract Act, 1872, applicable Shops & Establishments Acts, and the Labour Codes.

The statement an employer issues on separation, itemising what is payable — final salary, notice pay, leave encashment, gratuity, reimbursements — and what is deducted, with the net amount and how it is paid. Signed by both: the employee acknowledges receipt. The optional release closes the claims this settlement covers and expressly leaves statutory entitlements untouched. Issued by the employer. Where the employer has NOT paid and the former employee is demanding salary, dues, or withheld documents, that is the employee's own notice — the Unpaid Salary and Dues Notice.

A promise to keep information confidential — mutual, where both sides disclose, or one-way where only one does. It sets out what counts as confidential, how long the duty survives the agreement, and what must be returned or destroyed at the end. Note that the exclusions are wide: marking something confidential does not make it so, and nothing here reaches what is already public, what the recipient worked out independently, or what a court compels them to disclose.

An offer of employment made to a candidate, setting out the role, the compensation, anything the offer depends on, and how long it stands. Conditional and provisional: the appointment letter that follows acceptance is what records the agreed terms, and is the document the Code on Wages requires.

The written constitution of a general partnership under the Indian Partnership Act, 1932 — and the reason to have one is the Act itself: without a deed, partners share profits equally REGARDLESS of who contributed what capital (Section 13(b)), no partner earns interest on capital (Section 13(c)), and no partner is paid for running the business (Section 13(a)). The deed exists to replace those defaults with what the partners actually agreed: the firm's name, business and principal place; every partner's capital and profit share in one Schedule of Partners that totals its own percentages as a self-check; banking, books and the accounting year; drawings; an optional working partner's remuneration expressly authorised by the deed; what happens when a partner joins, retires, dies or becomes insolvent (the firm continues, dues settled on accounts to the date); and dissolution with the Section 48 winding-up order. Two partners are the named roles; a third or fourth joins through additional parties — preamble recital, schedule row, and signature block, no new roles needed. E-sign eligible: a partnership deed is not on the IT Act First Schedule exclusion list. The boundary matters: this creates an UNLIMITED-liability general partnership in which every partner is personally liable for the firm's debts and each partner's acts in the ordinary course bind the others. It is not an LLP (Limited Liability Partnership Act 2008) and not a company founders' or shareholders' agreement — the catalogue has no type for those yet, and this deed must not be dressed up as one. Someone who works in the business for pay without sharing profits and losses as an owner is staff, not a partner — use the Employment Agreement; an outside collaborator paid per project, with no mutual agency, is a Service Agreement engagement.

The letter an employer issues when someone leaves: it certifies the dates and designation of the employment, confirms the employee stands relieved and that dues are settled, and — where the employer chooses — records what they were responsible for and how they conducted themselves. Issued as a combined relieving cum experience certificate, which is how these are most often given in India. Signed by the employer alone.

An agreement for a freelancer, consultant or agency to do work for a client: the scope, the fee and how it is billed, the timeline, and who owns what is produced. The assignment clause is the load-bearing one — a contractor is not an employee, so they remain the first owner of what they create, and copyright reaches the client only through a written assignment naming the rights, the term and the territory (s. 19, Copyright Act 1957). Routing the borderline cases: an event vendor — photographer, caterer, decorator, planner — hired for a wedding or function is this agreement (Event Services preset); but where the deliverables are sponsored posts or content published on the provider's own channels for a brand, that is a brand collaboration — use the Creator Collaboration Agreement. Where the person works under the hirer's direction and control on a salary — fixed hours, exclusive service, employer-style supervision — that is employment, not a services engagement: use the Employment Agreement (a paid intern under supervision belongs there too, on its Internship preset).

The notice an employer serves to put an allegation to an employee and ask for their explanation before any decision is taken. It states what is alleged and when, names the term or policy said to have been breached, and calls for an explanation within a period the employer allows. It asks — it does not announce a finding.

An employee's written demand for unpaid salary and full-and-final dues, and for the release of employment documents. It records the employment, itemises what is owed — salary, notice pay, leave encashment, bonus, reimbursements — and names any papers the employer is holding back, such as a relieving letter, experience certificate or Form 16. Served by the employee. The employer's own statement of what it is paying out on exit — with the employee acknowledging receipt — is the Full & Final Settlement.