Employment Agreement Pack

Every optometry practice that has even one employee needs to have a written employment contract. It protects both the Employer and the Employee and is probably the single most important employment-related document there is. Whether the employee is an associate doctor, or a member of your non-professional staff, the failure to have a properly written employment agreement is one of the most common problems in most optometry offices, and perhaps the single most common reason employer's are sued by employees. Among the essential provisions of the model employment agreements are:

• At Will employment -- employees can quit or be fired at any time, for any reason

• Standards of Practice and Compliance with Laws -- ensure wage/hour laws are complied with

• Confidentiality -- employees cannot disclose patient or practice information

• Records -- patient records belong to the office and cannot be used by the employee for any reason

• Non-compete and Non-soliciation provisions

• Computer Use, Social Media and Internet policies

• Policy on Sexual Harassment

• Arbitration of Disputes and Class Action Waiver provisions

Underscoring just how important a written employment contract can be to an employer, the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Epic Systems v. Lewis (May 21, 2018) provides that employment agreement can include enforceable arbitration provisions and class-action waivers. These are essential protections for employers that you can save, quite literally, tens of thousands of dollars in litigation costs. It is foolish for any employer to have employees and NOT have a properly written agreement that provides for arbitration of disputes and waiver of class actions.

The Employment Agreement Pack is a set of three attorney-drafted are for employers to use with their professional (doctor) and non-professional staff, whether they are hired as employees or as independent contractors. These model documents, which would cost most employers thousands of dollars to have prepared for them, are ready to be used with almost no modification - essentially just adding in the employee/contractee compensation and benefits. Each also includes two essential office policies, an internet/computer/social media policy, and a policy against harassment.

Employment Agreements

At the heart of The Practice Purchase Pack are its two model Employment Agreements, one for employed/associate doctors, and the other for other non-doctor staff members. Each aggreement establishes the employee as an "at will" employee that can be fired at any time for any reason. Each protects your office data, trade secrets, and sets standards so that your employees understand what is expected of them.  Each provides all all disputes will be settled through arbitration, and each prohibits class actions against the employer. Simply enter in the name of your practice (corporation or individual), the name of the employee, the date, and the compensation and the agreement is ready for signing.
 

 Here is a Sample from the Employment Agreement

Independent Contractor Agreement

In addition to the two employment agreements, because it is fairly common practice (though a BAD practice) for optometrists to retain part-time associates as independent contractors (IC), the Employment Agreement Pack also includes a comprehensive Independent Contractor Agreement for use with associate doctors. Though similar to an employment agreement, IC agreements have essential differences that will go a long way toward protecting you if a claim is made that the associate is actually an employee and not an independent contractor. It would be hard to emphasize enough how important it is that associate doctors hired as an independent contractor have a properly worded and written IC agreement. However, note that even a good IC contract may not protect you because, in many cases, associate doctors will be deemed employees by the courts and by governmental agencies.
 

Here is a Sample from the Independent Contractor agreement.

Cost and Use

Legal fees for drafting these types of agreements will typically cost several thousand dollars! The Employment Agreement Pack, however, makes these attorney-drafted forms, which you can use over and over, available to you for only $298.00.* The Employment Agreement Pack includes all of the files discussed above, in Microsoft Word (DOC) format, ready to be used with minimal modifications, or you can choose to use them in consultation with your own attorney to substantially reduce the costs you'd typically be charged for an attorney to "reinvent the wheel."

* Plus an additional 2.9% credit card processing fee (shown by PayPal as "tax").