Q: Does an employment agreement (not contract) supersede at will employment

A: An employment agreement is a contract. Nonetheless, unless the agreement provides otherwise, all employment is considered at will. You are allowed to terminate your employment at any time and for any reason. That said a notice provision can bind you to give the required notice or potentially face damages for breach of that provision. However, as an intern it would be very hard to imagine that the company could establish non-speculative damages for early termination of an intern, whose work at the company must be primarily for the benefit of the intern, not the company.

And please note, an at will employee is not legally bound to give any notice of termination, but giving two weeks is a standard courtesy that should be extended to most employers to avoid burning bridges.

Good luck to you.

A: As a practical matter, an employer is rarely going to bother enforcing a contractual right to 60 days advance notice from an employee, unless the employee has special skills and knowledge or is a unique performer like Mariah Carey, who cannot easily be replaced. From a cost perspective, it is usually just easier to replace the employee.

It seems strange that you are an unpaid intern for 5 months and then you start getting paid. No expectation of a job is an element of the unpaid intern test. You may have wages. You should consult an employment attorney. Most provide free consultations.

A: You apparently think your "employment agreement" is not a contract. What do you think it is? You are an unpaid intern? The law says that anyone performing labor for an employer is an employee and entitled to minimum wage, unless you are working on some kind of volunteer basis or possibly for a public entity, like a court as an intern, or a school district as a student teacher. Your question also does not make sense as you said you signed this in July, 2021, and the 60 day clause ended when you began getting paid in November 2021. So you are now at will and you want to quit. So, before you quit, get all your time records from Day 1 and all your pay records from Day 1 because after you quit you can go to the Labor Commissioner and file a wage claim for unpaid wages for the days you worked without pay, and receive Liquidated Damages, interest and 30 days waiting time penalties. You also get $50 per pay period for not receiving proper paycheck stubs. Good luck.