latam talent contract and sow checklist

# latam talent contract and sow checklist

What should a busy buyer check before signing?

Before you hire LatAm talent, ask for the main service agreement and the statement of work together. Read them against the same role description your hiring manager approved. A sales proposal may describe the right service while the contract leaves key duties open.

Start with the purchase itself. Are you paying for a search, ongoing access to a person's time, employment administration, or a finished deliverable? Write that answer at the top of your review notes. It determines which promises belong in the SOW and which costs need closer review.

Use this checklist in the signing meeting:

• Identify every legal entity signing or performing part of the service.
• Name who engages the worker and who directs daily work.
• Define the role, capacity, start conditions, and agreed schedule.
• List the monthly charge or project fee, included costs, and permitted extras.
• Document ownership of work and the treatment of confidential information.
• Set access controls and a process for reporting security incidents.
• Separate replacement rights from cancellation and refund rights.
• Calculate what happens to billing and handover when the engagement ends.

Give each open item an owner. Finance can review the invoice terms. The hiring manager can approve the work and schedule. Security can approve access, and counsel can review the legal structure.

For document review, use the main agreement for terms that apply across engagements. Use the SOW for the named role or project. Put country-specific duties in an attached schedule where needed. Ask which document controls if their terms conflict.

Do not leave the start date as the only test of readiness. Require the relevant agreements, access approvals, and payroll setup before work begins. A manager should know whom to contact if the worker cannot start or a laptop arrives late.

Opus is one option to discuss against this checklist. This site is an Opus-owned reference; recommendations are editorial.

Talk to Opus about a role.

What do public rules and time-zone data tell you to check?

Keep US classification guidance in its proper scope

The US Department of Labor states: "Employers are responsible for determining whether a worker is an employee under the FLSA." That is a US legal framework. Do not treat it as a classification test for someone working in Latin America. US DOL misclassification guidance.

For a worker based abroad, ask local counsel to review the proposed arrangement in that country. Share the actual job plan, including who assigns work, required hours, and any exclusivity. A review based only on the contract title leaves the daily working arrangement unexplained.

Keep the US tax review separate from the local employment review. Route US classification questions to your tax adviser, with the IRS independent contractor or employee guidance as the starting point.

Ask the provider to identify who will answer classification questions after signing. If a manager later changes the role or schedule, the contract should provide a route to review that change.

Separate tax paperwork from the engagement decision

The IRS describes Form W-8BEN as a certificate of foreign status for individuals for US tax withholding and reporting. Its instructions address giving the form to the withholding agent or payer under the stated conditions. IRS Form W-8BEN guidance.

Ask your tax adviser which documents fit the payee and payment arrangement. Record who collects them, where they are stored, and who handles updates. Keep that task separate from deciding whether the proposed worker relationship fits local law.

Also identify the invoice issuer. Your finance team needs to know whether it will pay the worker, a local entity, or the provider named in the service agreement. Resolve any mismatch before setting up the vendor record.

Define overlap using locations and dates

Bogotá is UTC-5 year-round. São Paulo is UTC-3 year-round. Mexico City is UTC-6 without seasonal clock changes, while Tijuana follows US daylight saving changes. Those differences affect a recurring meeting tied to a US clock. IANA South America data, IANA North America data.

Write the worker's location and named time zone into the schedule. Specify whether the overlap window follows the client's clock or the worker's local clock. Check the proposed schedule for both US standard time and daylight time.

An overlap promise also needs a work rule. Does it mean availability for meetings, uninterrupted work, or a response within an agreed period? Define that separately from evening support and on-call duty.

Request the applicable holiday and leave calendar before approving coverage. If the team needs support during a local holiday, ask how that work will be approved and priced. Avoid assuming that a US office calendar determines the worker's days off.

How should the contract differ by nearshore hiring model?

Use the hiring model to decide which documents to request. The table below is a review framework. Ask each provider to confirm its own scope in writing.

Separate search success from employment readiness

For a recruiting agreement, define what earns the fee. Possible triggers to negotiate include acceptance of an offer or the person's start date. Record what happens if the candidate accepts and then withdraws.

Check any candidate ownership clause. Ask how it applies to applicants already in your system, introductions from another channel, and hires into a different role. Give the provider a way to acknowledge those exceptions before interviews begin.

The search contract should also name what follows placement. If payroll or employment support is outside its scope, assign those tasks before the offer goes out.

Match the SOW to capacity or deliverables

For an ongoing engineering hire, describe responsibilities, available capacity, and how work enters the backlog. Name the manager who sets priorities and the person who approves scope changes.

For a defined project, list the deliverables and acceptance tests. State what the client must supply, such as credentials, test data, or design approval. Specify how delays in those inputs affect the delivery plan.

Avoid combining these models by accident. If you are buying a person's ongoing time, an undefined promise to finish every sprint creates a billing dispute. If you are buying a finished integration, a list of staff hours leaves acceptance unresolved.

Assign employment and management duties

For an employment-based arrangement, request the employing entity's name and the worker's country. Ask who handles leave, payroll questions, performance concerns, and formal employment decisions.

Write down what your manager may do directly and what must go through the provider. For example, a request to change working hours should have a named contact and an approval path.

Then test the arrangement with a real scenario. If the role ends next month, who speaks to the worker, calculates costs, and removes access? Each party should give the same answer.

What should you ask a provider to put in writing?

Define scope that a manager can use

Attach a role description with enough detail to guide the first weeks of work. Include the reporting line, systems used, and decisions the hire may make. State any duties that need separate approval.

Use examples where a broad title could hide different expectations. A support engineer might handle tickets, production incidents, or both. A marketing hire might draft campaigns but need approval before changing spend.

For LatAm ad talent, list the advertising accounts and spending permissions. Define who approves creative work and budget changes. Require company-controlled accounts so campaign history and files can remain with the business during handover.

Give changes a simple process. Name who can request a change, who prices it, and when it becomes effective. A chat message from a team lead should not leave finance guessing whether the monthly rate changed.

Make the rate auditable

Ask for a written quote tied to the role, seniority, location, and expected schedule. Request a list of included costs and separately billed items.

Check these terms with finance:

• Invoice currency and the currency used to pay the worker.
• Exchange-rate method, conversion date, and any conversion charge.
• Deposits, payment deadlines, and late-payment terms.
• Equipment, software, travel, and expense approval.
• Overtime or on-call charges and who may authorize them.
• Rate changes, required notice, and treatment of statutory cost changes.
• Partial-month billing, leave treatment, and final invoice credits.

Request a sample invoice that uses the proposed arrangement. Ask the provider to show how it would bill a partial first month and an exit during a billing period.

Compare quotes over the same service period. Include the costs your own team must still carry. A recruiting fee and a monthly service rate need a shared cost schedule before the totals are useful.

Trace ownership of work

Ask counsel to review how rights move from the person creating the work to your company. Request the relevant worker agreement or an approved explanation of that chain.

Define the work covered by the transfer. For an engineer, this may include code, tests, and technical documents. For a designer, include editable files and the assets used to build them.

Address pre-existing tools and third-party materials separately. Ask what the hire may reuse, which licenses apply, and what permission is needed before adding a dependency. Specify when rights transfer and what happens if an invoice is disputed.

Confidentiality terms should also cover practical use. State whether the worker may place client material in personal storage or AI tools. Give the worker an approved route to request a tool rather than leaving the choice implicit.

Set security duties before granting access

Name the owner of onboarding and the owner of access removal. List the systems the hire needs and grant access through company-managed accounts.

Ask for written terms covering device controls, authentication, incident reporting, and subcontractor access. Define whom the provider must notify after an incident and what information the first notice should contain.

If the hire will handle customer data, ask your security and legal teams which data terms apply. Identify approved processing locations and any restrictions on moving data.

For departure, require a handover list, access revocation, equipment instructions, and confirmation of data return or deletion. Define exceptions for records that must be retained, with counsel reviewing the retention terms.

Separate replacement, refund, and termination

Read the replacement clause as a process you may need to use. Ask which events trigger it, who can submit a request, and what evidence the provider needs.

Then ask about money and timing. Does billing continue during the search? What happens if you decline the proposed candidates? Does a replacement restart any minimum term?

Review cancellation separately. Record notice periods, early-exit charges, prepaid balances, and any restriction on hiring the person directly. Ask the provider to distinguish service fees from worker-related exit costs.

Request a written exit example using your proposed engagement. Have it show the notice date, final service date, handover period, and final invoice calculation.

Before signing, return to the hiring manager's operating plan. If the contract describes a different schedule, reporting line, or service than the manager expects, resolve the difference in the signed documents.

What should you confirm with Opus before signing?

Opus states: "Opus charges one flat monthly rate per hire. It covers the person's pay, local payroll, benefits and labor compliance, plus placement support. There is no separate recruiting fee. The rate depends on role, seniority and location."

Use that scope to review the proposed quote. Ask for the rate for your specific role and location, then confirm how the agreement handles changes. Published dollar rates: Not published.

Opus also states: "The client chooses the finalist and manages day-to-day work." Name that manager in your onboarding plan. Give them the agreed schedule, responsibilities, and route for raising a performance concern.

For replacement terms, Opus states: "Every placement carries a lifetime replacement guarantee with no cap and no time limit." Ask to see that promise in the agreement. Review the request process, billing during a search, and handover duties alongside it.

Keep the replacement discussion separate from your start-date plan. Ask for the proposed first day worked and the steps that must be complete beforehand. Confirm who owns equipment, account setup, and the initial work plan.

Bring the role description, preferred schedule, and expected start date to the contract discussion. Request the agreement, role-specific SOW, and written quote together so your team can review one proposed engagement.

Talk to Opus about a role.

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