Elements of a Contract

 
Suppose that the Fabulous Hotel hires you as head chef under a two-year employment contract. After two years, another hotel wants to hire you. However, in the original employment contract you signed with the Fabulous Hotel, the following paragraph appears:
“The below-signed agrees not to work as a chef for another hotel in the same metropolitan area for a period of two years after leaving our employ.”
Describe and analyze the five elements of a contract that must exist for this agreement to be enforceable.
Explain why this contract is governed by common law or the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC).
Examine at least two circumstances in which this non-compete agreement would be unenforceable.
Submit a four- to five-page paper (not including title and reference pages). Your paper must be formatted according to APA style as outlined in the approved APA style guide and must cite three scholarly sources in addition to the textbook
Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment. 

As you get ready to write and submit your Week 3 paper, I wanted to provide a few helpful hints on this paper.
Don’t add facts.
I have had students create elaborate background information on the chef, to the point where the background information takes over the paper.
When students add facts, they then create more legal issues that should be addressed and it causes the paper to become more muddled.
It is a simple scenario.  Keep it that way!  It will make writing your paper much easier.
This is not a creative writing paper.  It is an academic, research paper.
Write in third person, not first person.
You write in third person for academic, research papers.
Although the scenario says ‘you are the chef,’ you still need to address this in a more straightforward and objective manner. 
Examples:  The chef signed the contract… The chef was offered another job…. The chef was the offeree and the hotel was the offeror…
Address all the components that have to be addressed in the paper.  As the assignment for Week 3 requires:
Describe and analyze the five elements of a contract that must exist for this agreement to be enforceable.  What are the five elements the book discusses? Detail those elements and then apply them to the paper’s scenario.
Explain why this contract is governed by common law or the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC).  When is a contract governed by common law?  By the UCC?  Provide details on these and then address what this contract falls under and the reasons why.
Examine at least two circumstances in which this non-compete agreement would be unenforceable.   What makes a noncompetition clause unenforceable?  Be careful:  what makes a contract illegal and what makes a noncompetition clause unenforceable are different factors.  Pay attention to that in your textbook. Look under the heading that states Overly Broad Noncompetition Contracts.
Use your textbook as one of your main sources.  Support with other sources.
There are so many sources that are out there that deal with contracts, and some are just not that accurate.  When a student does not use the textbook as one of the main sources, they can easily overlook important course concepts.
Other components to complete include:
Make sure your paper is 4-5 pages long (excluding title, abstract and references page) and you have a minimum of 3 references in addition to your textbook.
Make sure you proofread and that you have properly given credit to quotes and paraphrases.
Make sure you have not relied too heavily on quotes and that you have discussed and analyzed quotes that are used within your paper.