A job offer comes as three documents: a short letter with the amount, a multi-page contract, and a regulation that the contract refers to. Everyone reads the amount. Few read the clause on non-compete, the repayment of the signing bonus, arbitration, and that "the bonus is discretionary," yet these clauses determine what will happen if you want to leave in a year or if the company wants to part ways with you. This guide shows how to read a job offer and employment contract with the help of AI, just like a lawyer working for you: eight prompts in one conversation, each in a copyable box, with citation rules and a checklist of things to verify in the response. It works for contracts in the USA and, with a note, for employment contracts in Poland.
Last verification: September 6, 2026. Informational and educational material – not legal advice. Labor law in the USA varies by state, and in many cases, the content of the specific contract is decisive; for clauses on non-compete, arbitration, intellectual property, and immigration matters, consult a lawyer licensed in your state.
In Brief
- The amount is not the offer. The offer is the total compensation (base salary, conditional bonus, stock with a vesting schedule, signing bonus with repayment), benefits with their costs, and clauses that apply when something goes wrong. Prompt 1 counts the first, prompt 2 reads the third.
- In the USA, the default rule is "at-will" employment: in most states, an employer can terminate the employment relationship at any time for any reason except an illegal one, with exceptions developed by courts (NCSL overview). The contract can change this to your advantage or reinforce it.
- The most expensive clauses are the shortest: non-compete, repayment of training or relocation costs, assignment of intellectual property, arbitration with a waiver of class action, "discretionary bonus." Prompt 3 translates each into what it means in practice and assesses whether it is typical for the state and industry.
- For the Polish diaspora, immigration is an issue: who pays for the visa, what the contract promises regarding the Green Card, what happens to status after termination. Prompt 4 reads the contract with this in mind and writes questions for an immigration lawyer.
- Negotiate before signing, not after. Prompt 6 creates a list of demands from the easiest to obtain and writes a message to the recruiter.
- A sheet at the end records the dates you need to keep track of: end of the stock vesting period, bonus payout deadline, end of the non-compete period, repayment deadline for the signing bonus.
Why an Employment Contract is a Good Task for AI
An employment contract is long, written in legal language, and read once, hurriedly, between two conversations with a recruiter. A language model can read it in a minute, translate each clause into a sentence "what it means when...", compare it with what is typical, and create a list of questions. This is work that a lawyer won't do for free, and a recruiter won't do at all.
The model will not do three things. It does not know the law of your state today: laws on non-compete, compensation, leave, and arbitration vary by state and change every year; therefore, each prompt requires it to cite a source with a date, and for high-stakes clauses, it refers to a lawyer. It does not see the regulations unless you paste them; the contract often says "according to company policy," and the policy is in a separate document. And it does not know how much you are worth in the market; it can gather data, but you know what your alternatives are.
The proper role of AI – explains, compares, calculates, and writes questions. It leaves decision-making, negotiation, and legal assessment to you and the lawyer.
Before You Paste the First Prompt
Tool, Search, and Files
Enable search from the “+” menu under the text box (instructions), where you can also add the PDF with the contract and regulations (documentation). It handles long documents and citing point numbers well.
Web search (OpenAI help) and file attachment with a paperclip (file help). For market comparison in step 1, you can use Deep Research mode.
Deep Research mode (Google description) is useful for checking state law in step 3. You paste subsequent prompts in the same conversation, in the same window.
One Calibration Question
Before we begin: please provide today’s date. The job is in the state of [STATE]. Write whether "at-will" employment applies in this state, which state agency accepts claims for unpaid wages, and whether the state has its own regulations limiting non-compete clauses. For each answer, link to an official source with a date. If you cannot confirm something, write "I did not find it."
If there is no date, and the sources are law firm blogs instead of state websites, the model is not searching or is searching superficially. Reply: "Search the web and provide state agency websites before we proceed."
Where the Model Should Search
| What You Need | USA | Poland |
|---|---|---|
| Overtime and Exempt Status | Department of Labor on Overtime (one and a half times above 40 hours a week for employees covered by the law) | Labor Code; PIP: forms of employment and employee rights |
| Parental and Health Leave | FMLA (up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave with job protection for covered employers) plus state regulations | Labor Code, ZUS |
| Retirement Plan and Vesting of Employer Contributions | Department of Labor on Retirement Plans | PPK: statutory rules |
| Health Insurance After Departure | COBRA | NFZ: insurance after employment ends |
| Discrimination and Retaliation | EEOC; rights to collective action: NLRB | PIP, labor court |
| Stocks and Options | SEC on Employee Stock Options, IRS on Taxation of Options | Regulations of programs; tax advisor |
| Repayment of Training Costs | CFPB on Employee Indebtedness | Training qualification agreement in the Labor Code |
| Immigration | USCIS: H-1B, USCIS: Green Card through Employment, Form I-9, E-Verify | guide on legalizing work in Poland |
| Termination of Contract | NCSL on "at-will" employment | biznes.gov.pl on termination by the employer |
Brackets in Prompts
The boxes contain brackets: [STATE], [POSITION], [AMOUNT], [STATUS]. Replace them once. Each box has a header with information on where to paste it and a “Copy Prompt” button. Before attaching documents, redact your Social Security number, date of birth, and address; the last name and company name can remain but are not required.
Framework: Eight Steps in One Conversation
- Employee Context
State, immigration status, current conditions, alternatives, priorities, whether a lawyer will review the contract.
- Total Compensation
Base salary, conditional bonus, stock with a vesting schedule, signing bonus with repayment, benefits with costs. Comparison with the market with a source.
- Contract Map
Each clause in one line: what it says, what it means, where it is in the document, what is missing.
- Risk Clauses
Non-compete, repayments, intellectual property, arbitration, discretionary bonus: what they mean in practice, whether they are typical, what state law matters here.
- Immigration
Who pays for the visa, what was promised regarding the Green Card, what happens to status after termination, remote work from abroad.
- Pre-mortem
The model assumes that in 18 months you regret it and looks for reasons in the text of the contract.
- Negotiation
List of demands from the easiest, alternatives, wording of changes, message to the recruiter.
- Sheet
Agreed terms, dates for the calendar, what to keep in writing, thresholds for reactions.
Why in this order. Compensation before clauses, because without numbers, you don’t know how much the repayment clause is worth. The map before risk assessment, because the model must first read the whole, and only then assess fragments. Immigration separately, because it is different law and a different lawyer. Pre-mortem after everything, because only then does it have something to draw from. Negotiation after pre-mortem, because red flags are your arguments.
Prompt 0 – Employee Context
This step determines which clauses are important to you. Someone on a work visa looks at termination differently than a citizen; someone with a competing offer in hand negotiates differently than someone who has been searching for three months. The model cannot guess this.
We are starting to analyze the job offer and contract. Before you assess anything, remember my context and apply it throughout the conversation:
– Position: [POSITION], level: [e.g., senior, manager], industry: [industry]. Job in the state of [STATE], mode: [office / hybrid / remote from another state].
– Immigration status: [citizen / Green Card / work visa, which / in the process of changing status]. If on a visa: who sponsors it today and until when it is valid.
– Current conditions: base [AMOUNT], bonus [AMOUNT and terms], stocks [value and how many are still unvested], benefits I lose upon leaving.
– Alternatives: [another offer / staying with the current employer / none]. How urgently I need this job: [scale 1 to 5].
– Priorities in order: [e.g., stability, compensation, remote work, Green Card sponsorship, development].
– Things I will not accept: [e.g., non-compete longer than a year, no remote work].
– Will a lawyer review the contract before signing: [yes / no]. I file taxes in: [state / country].
Confirm in three sentences how you understand this context. Do not assess the offer yet.
Check in the response: whether the model has already started assessing the amount. If so, reply: "Do not assess yet. Wait for the next prompt."
Prompt 1 – Total Compensation
The base salary is the only certain number in the offer. The bonus has conditions and the word "discretionary," stocks have a vesting schedule and a threshold before which you receive nothing, the signing bonus has a repayment clause, and benefits have costs on your side that vary between companies by hundreds of dollars a month. This prompt turns the offer into one table of annual amounts with the probability that you will see them.
You are a career advisor working for me. I am attaching the offer letter and a description of benefits. Break down the compensation into parts and compare it with the market.
RULES
– Quote numbers from documents with the name of the point. What is not in the documents, mark as "not provided" and add a question for the recruiter. Do not fill in from assumptions.
– Market data only from sources with a date and specifying what group they pertain to (position, level, region). Mark [U] official data, [F] company or industry data, [P] user declaration portals.
– Everything on an annual scale, gross, in dollars.
DELIVER
1. Table of components for year one and year two: base; target bonus and conditions for its payout (based on company, team, my performance; "discretionary" or "guaranteed"; when paid; what if I leave before payout); stocks or options (type, number, value at today’s price, vesting schedule, initial threshold, what happens to unvested upon leaving and upon company acquisition); signing bonus and repayment conditions; relocation and repayment conditions. For each component, your probability assessment of payout and one sentence explaining why.
2. Benefits with costs on my side: health insurance (monthly premium for my family situation, deductible, annual limit), employer contribution to the retirement plan and how long it takes to vest, paid leave (days, accrual, whether it expires, whether paid upon leaving), sick leave, paid parental leave, others. Annual amounts.
3. Status regarding overtime: whether the position is exempt from overtime and on what basis. Source: Department of Labor.
4. Total net compensation with risk: base plus components weighted by probability, minus my benefit costs. Next to it: the same for my current job from context. Annual difference.
5. Market: ranges for this position, level, and region from three different types of sources, with a date. Where the offer falls within the ranges. If the state requires ranges to be provided in the announcement, check the announcement and compare.
6. Ten questions for the recruiter, whose answers are numbers or yes/no, from the most important.
7. COMPENSATION BRIEFING: five sentences of facts.
Check in the response:
- The vesting schedule for stocks from the document, not "typical four-year with a one-year threshold." If the document does not provide it, that is a question for the recruiter, not an assumption.
- The right to employer contribution to the retirement plan is often only acquired after several years; your own contributions are always yours (Department of Labor). The model must provide the period from the document.
- Market ranges from user declaration portals are estimates; the model must mark them [P] and not mix with official data.
- Taxation of stocks and options depends on their type (IRS on employee options); the model can note the difference, but leave the calculation to a tax advisor.
Prompt 2 – Contract Map
Attach the contract, the offer letter, and any document to which the contract refers: employee regulations, confidentiality and intellectual property agreements, bonus regulations, stock plan, arbitration agreement. Without them, the map has gaps, and the most important clauses are usually in the attachments.
Same conversation. I am attaching the contract and documents to which it refers. Build a map of all provisions. Work only on the content of the documents.
RULES
– Each row has a point number and a quote of the key sentence. Without a quote, the row does not exist.
– Do not assess yet. Describe what the document says and what it means in simple language when X happens.
– References to documents I did not attach should be listed separately as missing.
DELIVER
1. Table of provisions. Columns: subject, point number, quote, what it means in practice, what happens if I leave voluntarily, if I am terminated without cause, if I am terminated for cause, if the company is acquired. Subjects to find: type of employment and termination possibility; probation period; notice and severance; compensation and rules for changes; bonus; stocks; signing bonus and relocation with repayment; training cost repayment; non-compete; non-solicitation of clients and employees; confidentiality; intellectual property and inventions prior to employment; arbitration and waiver of class action; non-criticism of the employer; outside work; workplace and remote work; change of position or duties; background checks and testing; health insurance after departure; return of equipment; governing law and court; entire agreement clause; possibility of changing regulations by the employer.
2. What is missing: subjects from the list that are not in any document. For each: whether the absence works to my advantage or not, and one sentence why.
3. Contradictions: points that say something different than the offer letter or another attachment. Quote both.
4. References to documents I do not have: name and point that refers. This is a list to ask the recruiter for.
5. Three sentences that are the longest or most convoluted in the document, rewritten in simple language.
Check in the response: open three random rows and compare the quote with the document. If the model "found" a clause that is not there, the rest of the map is uncertain. If the column "what happens if I am terminated without cause" is empty for stocks and bonuses, that is important information: the document is silent, and this needs to be added in negotiation.
Prompt 3 – Risk Clauses
Several clauses weigh more than the rest. A non-compete can block the next job for a year; repayment of training costs can turn leaving into debt (the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has conducted investigations into such practices: CFPB); assignment of intellectual property without excluding personal projects can cover your application written in the evenings; arbitration with a waiver of class action changes where and how you pursue claims. State law limits some of them, differently in different states, and this is where the model should search, cite, and refer to a lawyer.
Same conversation. From the map in prompt 2, take the clauses with the greatest weight and analyze each separately.
RULES
– State law for [STATE] cite from state agency websites or from the text of the statute, with a date. Law firm blogs only as a hint of where to search, marked.
– Do not provide legal advice. For each clause, write whether it is a topic for a lawyer, and what question to ask them.
– "Typical" means: encountered in most contracts at this level in this industry. If you have no basis to assess this, write "I don't know."
DELIVER, for each of the clauses: non-compete; non-solicitation; repayment of signing bonus, relocation, and training; intellectual property; arbitration; discretionary bonus; unilateral change of regulations; non-criticism; outside work; change of workplace:
1. Quote and point number.
2. What it means in practice in three scenarios: I leave voluntarily after 8 months, I am terminated without cause after 14 months, the company is acquired after 2 years. Amounts where calculable (repayments, lost stocks, bonus).
3. Whether it is typical, harsher, or milder than usual, with justification.
4. What state law [STATE] says: whether it limits such a clause, what conditions it must meet, whether it can be unenforceable. Source with a date.
5. Weight for me (high, medium, low) in light of the context from prompt 0 and one sentence why.
6. Proposal for wording changes to request, and a minimal version that employers usually agree to.
At the end: ranking of these clauses from most dangerous and a list of three questions for a labor lawyer.
Check in the response:
- Point 4 must have a link to a state page or the text of the statute with a date. Rules regarding non-compete clauses have changed in recent years in several states; an answer without a date is unreliable.
- Intellectual property: check if the document has a place to enter projects prior to employment. If so, fill them in before signing; if not, that is a point for negotiation.
- Arbitration: the model must describe what you lose and what you gain, without scaring. This is a topic for a lawyer if the weight is high.
- Repayment: calculate the repayment amount in the scenario "I leave after 8 months" from the document; if the model provided a different amount, the table needs correction.
Prompt 4 – Immigration
For someone on a work visa, the employment contract is also an immigration document: it states who pays for the application, whether the employer promises Green Card sponsorship, what happens to status after termination, and whether remote work from Poland is even possible. The model can read the contract with this in mind and compare it with information from USCIS (H-1B, Green Card through Employment); it does not replace an immigration lawyer, and the prompt requires it to state this clearly. Citizens and Green Card holders can skip this step.
Same conversation. My status: [STATUS]. Read the contract and attachments from an immigration perspective and compare with official information.
RULES
– Sources: USCIS, Department of Labor, Department of State. Forums and blogs only as hints, marked.
– Do not provide immigration advice. End each point with a question for an immigration lawyer if it matters.
DELIVER
1. What the contract says about visa sponsorship: who applies, who pays, what costs I may be required to repay, and whether such repayment is permissible for my type of visa according to official sources.
2. Green Card: whether there is a promise, in what form (commitment, "we will consider it," none), from when, at what stage of the process the employer can withdraw, and what the contract says about costs.
3. Termination and status: what happens to my status after the contract ends, how much time I have according to official sources, and whether the contract provides anything that shortens or extends this time (last day of work, notice period paid or not, cost of return).
4. Workplace: whether remote work from another state or from abroad is compliant with my status and the contract; what requires reporting.
5. Employment formalities: Form I-9 and possibly E-Verify; what documents to prepare, with a source.
6. Whether any clause from prompt 3 works differently for someone on a visa (e.g., non-compete when a quick change of employer is necessary). One sentence per clause.
7. Five questions for an immigration lawyer, from the most important.
Check in the response: deadlines in point 3 must have a USCIS source with a date; this is one of the numbers the model most often provides from memory. Point 1: rules on who can bear application costs depend on the type of visa and are regulated; the model must cite a source, not a generalization like "usually the employer."
Prompt 5 – Pre-mortem
You assume that in 18 months you regret signing, and you instruct the model to find reasons in the text of the contract. The technique comes from project management (Harvard Business Review article). In an employment contract, the most common reasons are: a bonus that was not paid because it was discretionary; stocks that you did not manage to vest; repayment of the signing bonus upon leaving; a non-compete that blocked the next offer; regulations changed unilaterally after six months.
Same conversation. Now you are playing against me. Assume I signed this contract and 18 months later I regret it: I lost money, freedom to choose the next job, or status. Write why.
RULES
– Do not soften. Not a single sentence starting with "on the other hand," "it is worth noting," "nevertheless."
– Each accusation based on a quote from the document or on a number from prompts 1 to 4. An accusation without evidence is discarded.
– No catastrophes. What is in the text today.
DELIVER
1. Five red flags. For each: weight, quote with point number, mechanism (how it turns into a loss), month when it will hurt, amount if calculable.
2. Scenario "the company lays off 10 percent of the staff in the 14th month": what I get (severance, insurance, stocks, bonus), what I give up (repayments), how much time I have to find a job according to the contract and according to immigration status. Table.
3. Scenario "I get a better offer in the 8th month": what it costs me to leave (repayments, lost stocks and bonus, non-compete), whether I can accept that offer in the same industry, in that state.
4. Scenario "the company is acquired in the 2nd year": what the contract says about accelerated vesting, change of position, termination after acquisition.
5. Silent cost: how much I lose annually on things that seem innocent: vacation that expires, employer contribution to the retirement plan acquired after years, health premium higher than with the current employer.
6. One condition after which this black thesis ceases to apply. Verifiable: change of a specific point in the contract or written confirmation of a specific thing.
7. Three questions you do not know the answers to that would change the picture. For each: whom to ask.
Check in the response: softening sentences despite the ban; reply "remove all softening sentences." Point 6 must indicate the point number of the contract, not "better atmosphere." In point 2, check whether the model took the insurance rules after leaving from the document, and the continuation rules from the Department of Labor on COBRA.
Prompt 6 – Negotiation
Negotiation happens before signing and in writing. Not everything is up for grabs: base salary and signing bonus are more often negotiable than the bonus; wording of the repayment clause is more often negotiable than its removal; exclusion of personal projects from the assignment of intellectual property is almost always negotiable if you ask. This prompt arranges demands from the easiest, selects alternatives, and writes a message.
Same conversation. Prepare me for negotiation. Do not provide a single "correct" amount.
DELIVER
1. List of demands in order from easiest to obtain. For each: what I am asking for, justification with a number or quote from prompts 1 to 5, alternative if they refuse (e.g., higher signing bonus instead of base; shorter repayment period instead of removal of the clause; proportional repayment instead of full), and what I do if they refuse the alternatives too.
2. Three levels for the base: minimum, target, ambitious, with justification from the ranges in prompt 1 and my context. Separately: what besides the base has the greatest value for me at the least cost to the company (start date, title, remote work, written salary review after 6 months, guaranteed bonus in the first year).
3. Changes in wording of clauses from prompt 3: for each, a proposal of text to insert, in full and minimal versions. Indicate which of them should be seen by a lawyer before sending.
4. What not to address, because in my situation it is too costly in relation (one sentence per point).
5. Message to the recruiter: short, specific, polite, with the three most important points and a request for written confirmation. Without ultimatums. Version in English and Polish.
6. What must be in writing before signing: a list of oral agreements that should go into the contract or the offer letter, and one sentence why oral is not enough (entire agreement clause from the map).
Check in the response: whether the order in point 1 results from your context (urgency, alternatives), not from a general guide. Whether the message in point 5 does not contain amounts you do not want to reveal yet. If the contract has an entire agreement clause, every promise from the recruiter outside the text does not exist; the model must clearly state this in point 6.
Prompt 7 – Sheet
Close these steps in one sheet that I will paste into notes and the calendar.
– Agreed terms in five lines: base, bonus and terms, stocks and schedule, signing bonuses and repayment periods, benefits with costs.
– Dates for the calendar: end of the probation period, end of the repayment period for signing bonuses and relocation, stock vesting threshold and subsequent tranches, bonus payout deadline and date by which I must be employed to receive it, date of acquiring the right to employer contribution to the retirement plan, agreed salary review, end of visa validity and date from which to start the extension, end of the non-compete period counted from departure.
– Documents to keep: signed contract and attachments, offer letter, written confirmations of agreements, version of the regulations from the date of signing (the regulations may change), job description.
– Three conditions for leaving this offer before signing: event or missing document after which I do not sign.
– Thresholds for reactions after employment: at what change in regulations, duties, workplace, or bonus rules I return to this sheet and to the lawyer.
– One sentence: what I still do not know.
Without introduction and summary. Just points.
Check in the response: dates are dates, not "after a year." Save the sheet outside the chat and keep it together with a copy of the signed contract.
Appendix: Employment Contract in Poland
The framework is the same, the law is different: the Labor Code regulates types of contracts, probation periods, notice periods, leave, and non-compete clauses much more strictly than American law, and the National Labor Inspectorate publishes explanations for employees (PIP: forms of employment and employee rights). The greatest risk for someone returning from abroad is not the clause but the form: a civil law contract or B2B cooperation instead of an employment contract. If you work from Poland for a foreign company, see guide on remote work from Poland for a foreign company. For prompts 2, 3, and 5, add the block below.
The contract is in Poland. Additional rules:
– Sources: Labor Code (text of the statute with article number), explanations from the National Labor Inspectorate, ZUS. Blogs only as hints, marked.
– Form of employment: check whether the document is an employment contract, mandate contract, contract for specific work, or B2B cooperation, and list what I lose compared to an employment contract (leave, protection against termination, contributions, sick pay, overtime). If the work has the characteristics of an employment relationship (subordination, place and time set by the employer), state this directly with the article of the Labor Code.
– Type of employment contract and limits: probation period and its maximum length, fixed-term contract and statutory limits on the number and total time of such contracts, indefinite contract. With the article.
– Notice period depending on seniority, form of termination, obligation to state the reason, days off for job searching. With the article.
– Non-compete after termination: whether there is a separate agreement, for what period, what compensation, and whether it meets the statutory minimum. With the article.
– Training qualification agreement and repayment of training costs: conditions and maximum commitment period. With the article.
– Vacation leave (duration depending on seniority, including recognition of education and work abroad), parental leaves, remote work and its rules, monitoring.
– Compensation: whether it is not lower than the minimum, how overtime and bonuses are calculated, when payment occurs, how the bonus is determined (remuneration regulations).
– If returning from abroad: what to do with the recognition of work experience abroad for leave and termination, what documents decide this.
– Taxes and ZUS: note that tax residency and social security agreements may change the outcome; to be confirmed with an advisor.
Clauses That AI Most Often Misreads
| Clause | Typical Error | How to Check |
|---|---|---|
| "Target bonus of 15 percent" | Treated as certain; the document states "discretionary" and "must be employed on the payout date" | Quote conditions and payout date in the table from prompt 1 |
| Stocks | "Standard four-year schedule" instead of that from the plan; lack of information on what happens in an acquisition | Stock plan as an attachment; column "in case of acquisition" in the map |
| Signing bonus | Repayment "proportional" when the document says "in full" | Calculate the repayment amount in the scenario of leaving after 8 months |
| Non-compete | Assessment "unenforceable" based on general knowledge, without state law with a date | State page or text of the statute; question for a lawyer |
| Intellectual property | Omission of the lack of exclusion for projects prior to employment and personal projects | Look for an attachment with a list of inventions prior to employment |
| Arbitration | Summary "standard clause" without information on waiver of class action and costs | Quote the full point; topic for a lawyer |
| Regulations | Treated as part of the contract when the employer can change it unilaterally | Clause on changes in regulations in the map; keep the version from the date of signing |
| Retirement contribution | Counted as cash from day one when the right to it is acquired after years | Vesting period from the document of the plan |
| Status regarding overtime | "Office position, so exempt" | Department of Labor criteria and content of the contract |
| Immigration deadlines | Given from memory, without source and date | USCIS page with a date; immigration lawyer |
Security and Privacy
- Social Security number, passport number, date of birth, address or scans of identity documents; they are not needed for contract analysis. Redact them before attaching.
- Data of other people from company documents, e.g., names in the bonus regulations.
- Confidential materials from the current employer if comparing offers; describing conditions in your own words is sufficient.
Check the model training settings in your account: Claude (Anthropic article), ChatGPT (OpenAI data settings). If the offer came without a conversation, requires a "hardware" fee or bank details before signing, read the guide on fake job offers first. Information on discrimination and retaliation in employment is provided by EEOC; about the right to discuss working conditions with other employees, which a confidentiality clause cannot take away from you, NLRB.
Common Mistakes
- Reading the offer letter instead of the contract. The letter has the amount, the contract has the conditions. Attachments have the worst conditions.
- Oral promises. The entire agreement clause nullifies everything the recruiter said that is not in the text.
- Treating bonuses and stocks as cash. Bonuses have conditions, stocks have a schedule and threshold.
- Signing the assignment of intellectual property without a list of your own projects. The attachment is there to be filled out.
- Evaluating non-compete clauses "at a glance." This is state law with a date and a lawyer, not general knowledge.
- Not asking what happens to the visa after termination. For someone on a visa, this is the most important clause, and it is usually not in the contract.
- Negotiating after signing. After signing, only a request remains.
- Pasting identity documents into the chat. The contract yes, identity no.
This framework organizes reading the contract and prepares questions. It does not replace a labor lawyer or immigration lawyer. The model may misread a clause or provide outdated state law and will do so with certainty. For high-stakes clauses and for visas, you make decisions after consulting a lawyer licensed in your state.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can AI tell if a clause is legal?
It can find the state statute and quote it, and it can say whether a clause is typical. Whether it is enforceable in your situation is up to a lawyer; prompt 3 is meant to help you come to them with specific questions, not with the entire contract.
Does the framework work for an offer without a contract, just a letter?
Yes, but then the most important is point 4 of prompt 2: the list of documents to which the letter refers, and a request for them before signing. Employee regulations and confidentiality agreements are usually available upon request.
Can I use this for a mandate contract or B2B?
In the USA, for an independent contractor agreement, most prompts work, but the law changes (no overtime, no benefits, different tax liability). In Poland, the addendum requires the model to first check whether such a form is even permissible for this work.
How long does the entire framework take?
About an hour with reading responses. Step 2 with long attachments takes a few minutes of the model's work. Step 6 is best done a day after the others, calmly.
What if the recruiter says, "the contract is standard and no one changes it"?
Prompt 6 has a minimal version for each change. The most commonly obtainable are: exclusion of personal projects from the assignment, proportional instead of full repayment, written confirmation of oral agreements. Whether to ask is up to you, knowing your alternatives.
Does this work for a contract in Poland for someone returning from the USA?
Yes, with the addendum at the end. Key are the form of the contract, recognition of work experience abroad for leave and termination, and tax residency and social security, which we describe in separate guides.
Fact-Check Summary
- Definitely true: in the USA, employees covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act receive at least one and a half times their regular pay for overtime over 40 hours a week; FMLA provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave with job protection from covered employers; your own contributions to a retirement plan are always yours, and the right to employer contributions is acquired according to the plan's rules; COBRA allows temporarily maintaining health insurance after job loss; "at-will" employment is the default rule in most states with exceptions developed by courts. All with links in the text.
- Probably true: language models summarize clauses more gently than they sound and provide "typical" conditions instead of those from the document; state laws on non-compete clauses have changed in recent years in several states, so the date of the source matters.
- What is uncertain: enforceability of a specific clause in a specific state; deadlines and immigration rules on the day of your contract; the amount of market ranges from portals. You confirm with a lawyer and in official sources.
- Common myth: "the contract is standard, no one negotiates it." The wording of repayment and intellectual property clauses is often changed upon request more than it seems.
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