Model Employment Agreements

Every optometry practice that has even one employee needs to have and use written employment contracts. 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:

• States Employee is At-Will -- 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 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 use a properly written agreement that provides for arbitration of disputes and waiver of class actions.

EXPERT TIP: Have a written "at-will" employment agreement with every employee in the office, especially non-doctor employees, and be sure it contains a properly drafted arbitration agreement with class action waivers. Be sure it also provides for employees being required to take their statutory breaks and to accurately report all overtime. 

Employment Agreements

At the heart of the Model Employment Agreement pack are its agreements for employed/associate doctors and for other non-doctor staff members. Each at-will agreement establishes the employee as an "at will" employee that can be fired at any time for any reason. Each fixed-term agreement establishes a term (i.e., one year) for employment and creates liquidated damages for early termination by the associate doctor. Each agreement 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.

Independent Contractor Agreement

In addition to the two employment agreements, because it is fairly common practice (though a BAD practice, please read this article about independent contracting in optometry) 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.

The Model Employment Agreements is a set of attorney-drafted model agreements 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 essential office policies, an internet/computer/social media policy, and a policy against harassment. Here are the various model documents you will get when you purchase the Employment Agreement Pack:

• Optometrist Employment Agreement (At Will - Non-California)
• Optometrist Employment Agreement (At Will - California)
• Optometrist Employment Agreement (Fixed Term - Non-California)
• Optometrist Employment Agreement (Fixed Term - California)
• Optometrist Employment Agreement (Part-time Fill-in)

• Optometrist Independent Contractor Agreement

• Staff Employment Agreement (At Will - Exempt)
• Staff Employment Agreement (At Will - Not Exempt)

Cost, Use, and Ordering

The total cost for the full set of Model Employment Agreements is $398.* 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 a small fraction of that cost. 

The Employment Agreement Pack includes all the files discussed above, in Microsoft Word 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 3% for credit card processing fees, shown by PayPal as "tax."