# Hire an employee

Choose the hiring location, review the applicable rules, and prepare the employment documents. Resources currently cover selected U.S., South African and Nigerian issues.

Canonical page: <https://openagreements.org/toolkits/hire-an-employee>

This toolkit links existing OpenAgreements resources and does not restate their legal content. Each linked resource states its own scope, sources and review date.

## Resources

- [Employment Templates](https://openagreements.org/templates#group-employment) — Template. Browse U.S. offer-letter and employee-agreement starting forms.
- [Employment Offer Letter](https://openagreements.org/templates/openagreements-employment-offer-letter) — Template. A U.S. starting form for the principal terms of employment.
- [Confidential Information and Invention Assignment Agreement](https://openagreements.org/templates/openagreements-confidentiality-invention-assignment-agreement) — Template. A U.S. starting form for confidentiality, invention ownership, and related obligations.
- [Invention Assignment Law](https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/invention-assignment) — Practice guide. The legal framework and jurisdiction-specific practice guides.
- [U.S. Invention Assignment Survey](https://openagreements.org/surveys/invention-assignment/us) — Law survey. Compare state restrictions, carve-outs, notices, and holdover limits.
- [Invention Assignment Reviewer Checklist](https://openagreements.org/checklists/invention-assignment) — Reviewer checklist. Review a draft agreement clause by clause.
- [Hiring in Nigeria](https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/hiring/hire-an-employee-nigeria) — Practice guide. Selected written-term and onboarding issues; pair with the Nigeria hiring checklist. No country employment template supplied.
- [Hiring in South Africa](https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/hiring/hire-an-employee-south-africa) — Practice guide. Selected written-term and onboarding issues; pair with the South Africa hiring checklist. No country employment template supplied.

## Jurisdiction-specific workflows

Each workflow below applies only to the jurisdiction named in its heading. The toolkit page shows it only after that jurisdiction is selected; it is not a general step.

### New York: Hire a New York employee

Applies only to New York. Page view: <https://openagreements.org/toolkits/hire-an-employee?jurisdiction=iso3166-2%3AUS-NY>

Settle the invention-assignment boundary and the New York wage gates before the offer issues, then prepare the offer letter and the employee IP agreement from one set of facts.

1. [Employee Invention Assignment in New York](https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/invention-assignment/us/new-york) — Fix the boundary between the employee’s own inventions and the company’s before the IP agreement is drafted.
2. [Wage and Hour Law in New York](https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/new-york) — Confirm the classification, notice, pay-frequency and deduction rules the hire has to satisfy from day one.
3. [CIIAA (Confidential Information and Invention Assignment Agreement) Reviewer Checklist](https://openagreements.org/checklists/invention-assignment/us) — Review the assignment clause against the carve-outs and notices the jurisdiction requires.
4. [Employment Offer Letter (New York)](https://openagreements.org/templates/openagreements-employment-offer-letter-new-york) — State the role, compensation and any equity as a proposal, on the New York form.
5. [Confidential Information and Invention Assignment Agreement (CIIAA)](https://openagreements.org/templates/openagreements-confidentiality-invention-assignment-agreement) — Assign inventions and protect confidential information, with the post-employment restraint clauses gated off where the engagement prohibits them.

### Nigeria: Plan a hire in Nigeria

Applies only to Nigeria. Page view: <https://openagreements.org/toolkits/hire-an-employee?jurisdiction=iso3166-1%3ANG>

Review selected written-term and onboarding issues, then record decisions and unresolved work in the checklist. This path supplies no Nigeria employment agreement and is not a complete hiring compliance review.

1. [Hire an employee in Nigeria](https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/hiring/hire-an-employee-nigeria) — Read the guide’s selected issues and scope before preparing the offer.
2. [Hiring Reviewer Checklist — Nigeria](https://openagreements.org/checklists/hiring/nigeria) — Record the written-term decisions, evidence and work still to be assigned.

### South Africa: Plan a hire in South Africa

Applies only to South Africa. Page view: <https://openagreements.org/toolkits/hire-an-employee?jurisdiction=iso3166-1%3AZA>

Review selected written-term and onboarding issues, then record decisions and unresolved work in the checklist. This path supplies no South Africa employment agreement and is not a complete hiring compliance review.

1. [Hire an employee in South Africa](https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/hiring/hire-an-employee-south-africa) — Read the guide’s selected issues and scope before preparing the offer.
2. [Hiring Reviewer Checklist — South Africa](https://openagreements.org/checklists/hiring/south-africa) — Record the written-term decisions, evidence and work still to be assigned.