Employment contract of indefinite duration

 Some of the laws regulating employment contracts in the United states include: the National Labor Relations Act, the employment at-will doctrine, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act 1994 (USERRA), the Equal Pay Act; and the Immigration Reform and Control Act.

Under employment agreements in the United States, an employer is allowed to have a policy of an employment at will or an employment of indefinite contract. Most employment relationships in the United States are presumed to be an employment at will. The policy of employment at will allows an employer to terminate an employment relationship without notice, for any reason, so long as doing so is not a violation of a protected class.

An employment of indefinite duration is a contract that does not have a set time or clearly defined date for termination or a foreseeable end to the employment. They are generally said to be valid for a reasonable amount of time. Although they are dependent on the nature of contract and the type of goods or services provided. An employment of indefinite duration is accompanied by a number of rights and obligations, most notably the right to reasonable notice upon termination.

They most times evolve from general business relationships between a supplier and buyer. They are employment contracts that cannot be readily estimated because parties are willing to work with each other over a long period of time. They are usually used for contracts involving delivery and shipping contracts, contracts for the regular supply of mechanical parts, contracts for the providing of industrial fuel, animal feed, or other exhaustible resources, employment contracts where the number of projects is not specified, or the terms for renewal are undetermined, Performance contracts, wherein the performer or actor is not given a set number of shows to complete.

An employment of indefinite duration does not necessarily need to be in writing, it could be oral. Although it is advised that an employment of indefinite duration be in writing to save an employee of being a victim of dismissal at will from the employer or being subject to the Statute of Fraud especially if such employment can't be completed within one ear of agreement, if it is meant to settle another partys debt or if it will subsisit beyond either of the party’s lifetime

An employment of indefinite contract, since it is mostly written should clearly define all terms and conditions of the employment relationship. It must contain vital elements such as the terms of employment, employee responsibilities, employee benefits, employment absence, dispute resolution, nondisclosure agreements, ownership agreements, assignment clauses, employment opportunity limitations and grounds for termination

In the 2015 case of Burford v. Accounting Practice Sales, Inc. (APS), the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that Accounting Practice Sales, Inc. (APS) could not terminate its contract of indefinite duration with William J. Burford at will. Both paries were under an employment agreement that Burford will market and facilitate the purchase and sale of accounting practices on APS' behalf in various territories. The employment contrac shall be renewed automatically every year for another one year period.

The agreement also Permitted Burford to terminate the contract at any time on thirty days notice and included a sentence expressly stating that "APS cannot terminate this agreement unless it is violated by Burford''.

APS terminated the contract with Burford, who then sued the company under a breach of contract claim. The US District Court for the Southern District of Illinois granted APS summary judgment against Burford's claim on the theory that their contract was of indefinite duration and was therefore terminable at will under Illinois law. Burford appealed the decision of the district court.

The Seventh Circuit however reversed the district court's decision granting APS summary judgment on the breach of contract claim and held that APS could not terminate the contract at will.

The Seventh Circuit based its desciosin on the fact that the employment agreement contained a statement that APS "cannot terminate this agreement unless it is violated by Burford." The court reasoned that the plain reading of this statement is that APS could terminate the agreement only if Burford breached it. By contrast, the agreement expressly permitted Burford to terminate at any time by providing notice to APS.

The Seventh Circuit noted that the outcome of this case would have been different and APS would have been able to terminate at will if the agreement instead contained a permissive and nonexclusive termination provision, such as "APS may terminate this agreement if it is violated by Burford."

The remedy for a breach of an employment of indefinite contract is mostly a monetary damages award to reimburse the non-breaching party for their losses. Although standard defenses may apply to breach of indefinite duration contracts.

The United States unlike other countries of the world does not provide for a Act to regulate employments of indefinite duration. The Republic of Ireland for instance, has a Protection Of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003. The Act by virtue of section 9(3) provides that a contract of indefinite duration will arise by operation of law if a contract is awarded in breach of sections 9(1) or 9(2) of the act.