Red Flags in a Dentist Employment Contract | Dental Employment Agreement Concerns

Dental associate contract red flags. There are obviously dozens of red flags in a contract. However, there are a handful that are necessary to take a solid look at and we’ll kind of go over those. The first thing would be no without cause termination. In any dental associate employment contract, there’s going to be a section called term, which just means how long the contract is, and then termination, how the contract can be terminated. Contracts can be terminated in several ways. The term could just end, and it’s not renewed, it could be terminated by mutual agreement, it could be terminated for cause. If one of the parties breaches the contract, doesn’t fix the breach, the other party generally has the option to immediately terminate the contract. And then the last and most important way is without cause termination.

This just simply means that either party can terminate the agreement at any time with a certain amount of notice to the other. Normally, somewhere between 30 to 90 days. The reason why this is important, and I find this especially important for dental associates for whatever reason. Without the ability to terminate the contract at any time, let’s just say the dental associate has a two-year contract and they cannot terminate without cause, you’re essentially stuck there for two years unless the other party breaches the contract.

Dental Associate Employment Agreement Red Flags

There are plenty of scenarios where if a dentist associate is on net collections, volume, compensation, the owner will generally, I’d say, overestimate what the associate will make. And so, they can get into a job if they’re not paid a daily rate or a salary, it’s more of just eat what you kill and get a percentage of whatever is collected and the volume simply isn’t there and you’re not making nearly as much as you expected.

You still would have to play out the rest of those two years. And that is a situation no one wants to be in. So, first thing, absolutely makes certain there’s without cause termination at any time. Sometimes, the employer will try to say, you can’t give notice in the first year or you can’t give notice in the first six months or whatever. No, anytime, if you start, you give notice, you do your, whatever the notice period is, move on. Absolutely necessary. Two, compensation. If you are a dentist and you are being paid on either net collections, encounters, some kind of volume metric and you are not 100% certain that the volume is there for you, you need to be very careful about taking that job.

Dental Associate Contract Compensation

A daily rate or a base salary, especially in the first year or two insulates the dental associate from just getting completely screwed by an employer that is, I guess, unwilling to make income guarantee and then is bringing in a dentist, but in that circumstance, only pay them based upon a volume metric. Just like in the example I just gave, if a dentist starts and their compensation is based purely on production and the production is completely out of their hands, they’re not doing the marketing, it is on the employer to drive the business, it’s a problem. What amount draw they receive should also be a consideration.

So, for anyone who’s new, maybe just out of training or you’re relatively new, it’s important to have guaranteed salary or daily rate. And then once you’re there and maybe you’ve been there a year or two, and you see that the volume is there, maybe potentially you can make more under collections model, well then, talk to the owner about switching. But at the very beginning, I find most places that try to lure dental associates in with big numbers. It almost never shakes out that way. Another big red flag is the non-compete. This is one thing that varies from state to state. Each state kind of has its own view on what’s a reasonable non-compete.

Employment Contract for Dentists and Non-Competes

Non-competes are enforceable, and almost every state, California, New Mexico, and Massachusetts are three of the few states where they’re completely unenforceable.

But for most states, it must be a reasonable length, usually about 12 months, sometimes they’ll try to do two years and then some kind of reasonable geographic restrictions. Usually somewhere between 5 to 15 miles. If you have a five-year, 50-mile non-compete, that’s crazy! You don’t want to sign something like that. You want it to be no more than a year, and then no more than, I would prefer 10 miles from your primary practice location. Many of these big corporate dental offices have multiple locations in the area and will state it’s 10 miles or whatever the geographic restriction is from every place they own even if the dental associate didn’t provide care or work in that location. No, you can’t agree with that. It needs to state that it will only apply to the locations where the dentist provided care and even then, try to limit it to no more than two locations. In big cities, obviously, corporate dental conglomerates continue to gobble up some of the dentist owned practices.

And so, if someone is 10 locations in a city and it’s 10 miles from 10 locations, you’re going to be knocked out of your city. So, what’s in the non-compete is certainly important. And then last and I’ll just touch on this briefly, the benefits. If a dental associate is an employee, the employer should pay for your license, DEA registration, and continuing education. If you’re moving from out of state, reasonable moving expenses, and reimbursement are normal things that an employer should pay for. So, think about that as well.

Negotiating Employment Agreements with a Practice

How to Negotiate a Dental Associate Contract? I will give some tips and tricks on how to get a better contract. First, there is a difference between negotiating a contract with somebody just coming out of training versus someone who’s been established in a community for a while. You simply have more leverage if you are in any community and either your practice is being brought out by a corporate practice or another group wants you to join them, and you have an established patient base. Let’s first talk about those coming out of training. What do you need to do to put yourself in the best position to negotiate a contract? Well, you need to know what’s important.

For most dentists, the most important things are obviously compensation, is it a base salary? Is it a daily rate? Is it net collection? How do you terminate the contract? Are you able to get out of it with a certain amount of notice or the benefits, do they pay for your license, DEA registration, credentialing, any kind of continuing education, and then are there signing bonuses, and relocation assistance? Do you have to pay them back if you leave within a certain amount of time? And then probably the two highest priorities are who pays for malpractice insurance, who must pay for tail insurance after the contract terminates, if it’s claims made policy, and then lastly, the non-compete. For some people, this is the absolute, most important thing in the contract. If they’re tied to a community, kids in school, family, they absolutely can’t leave, then you need a reasonable non-compete that’s not going to make you must move completely out of the area.

Alright, those are the things that are most important to most dental associates. Now, you’re coming on training, you have a job offer, they’re giving you a certain amount. How do you know what’s reasonable and what’s not? Well, the best place to find out that information is to talk to your classmates. What are the offers they’re getting? How much are they getting? How are they structured? Where is the job offers coming from? That’s the best and most, I would say, accurate means of finding out what the going rate is at that time. The compensation is going to vary wildly. As I said before, is it a base salary? Is at a daily rate. Is there some kind of net collection involved? Is it a hybrid? Could it be half base, half net collections?

Many times, compensation for a job may look great, but then the benefits are bad or they’re not paying for your tail insurance or the non-compete is terrible. So, you can’t just take compensation as the number one factor in determining what is a good opportunity, but it certainly is important. Knowing whether a non-compete is fair or not is something you probably must talk to a professional about. For the most part, anywhere between one to two years, and then maybe 5 to 15 miles from your primary practice location would be considered reasonable. If you’re in a non-compete that’s more than two years or it knocks out like multiple counties or maybe they’ve attached the non-compete radius to, let’s say, it’s a corporate practice in a big city and they have 10 locations.

Non Compete Language in Contracts

And they’re saying, well, you can’t work within 10 miles of every location we own. That’s not a reasonable non-compete. The actual negotiation will depend on two things. One, do they give you an offer letter, or do they just give you the employment agreement? If they give you an offer letter, they’re going to expect that those terms are going to be negotiated in advance and then incorporated into the employment agreement. And then, they’re going to give you the employment agreement. I find sometimes it’s difficult to come to terms with the main parts of an offer letter without seeing the full employment agreement. I mean, if I had a perfect scenario, there would be no offer letter. They would just give the employment agreement. Then you’d have kind of a full understanding of what the job entails and what the expectations are for both parties.

You could agree to a salary, you could agree to the length of the term, that there is a non-compete, that the things they’ll pay for, but when you see the specific language in the contract, it could greatly change the way you look at the value of the contract. Just because you’ve signed an offer letter doesn’t mean that you can’t renegotiate those terms if you provide proper context to the employer. Alright, I was okay with making $110,000 a year and base salary, not knowing that the non-compete effectively knocks me out of the entire state. If you want me to sign this contract with that non-compete, then I need 130,000 or something like that. There are many ways of going back and forth. Some employers will just simply say, this is a take-it or leave-it. I would be wary of signing a contract with an organization that’s unwilling to make any changes at all in the contract.

It usually means they’re difficult to work with down the road or a very rigid and kind of unprofessional environment. So, if you find that someone just says, take it or leave it, I would leave it and move on and try to find a better opportunity. I’m just telling you, if they take the mindset that they’re not going to change anything in the contract, like nothing at all, no change at signing bonus, relocation assistance, benefits, anything like that, it is a bad sign moving forward. And then one more thing to think about and absolutely should be top of mind when you’re signing a contract or negotiating the terms of an agreement: every employment contract should have what’s called without cause termination. Either party should have the ability to terminate the agreement at any time with a certain amount of notice to the other party.

Usually, somewhere between 30 to 90 days. If your contract does not have without cause termination, meaning, you must fulfill the entire initial term of the agreement somewhere between one to three years, normally, it is an enormous red flag. You absolutely should not sign that contract for this reason. If they have excluded without cause termination, which is essentially standard across all healthcare professions, it usually means they’ve had a ton of turnover or they’ve had some very dissatisfied dentists that have wanted to leave. So, they’ve removed that ability and made sure that they must stay there for a three-year period or a two-year period or whatever. If it’s not in the contract, that’s why it’s normally not in there because they’ve had a ton of turnover and the turnover is normally due to bad management. It’s either it’s a toxic work environment, or the compensation is not worth the amount of time or effort you’ve, you’ve had to put into it.

The Need for Without Cause in an Employment Agreement

Absolutely makes sense there’s always without cause termination and the employment agreement. Don’t feel bad about asking for things. If you’re negotiating the terms of employment, most smart employers expect there’s going to be some back and forth. Ask for a little more salary, a little more bonus, and a little less non-compete radius. Like incremental things that you can get changed in the agreement can make kind of a big change in the value of an opportunity. So, don’t feel bad. Now, obviously, if they’re offering a hundred and you ask for 300 or some crazy amount, they’re going to just think that you have no idea what’s going on. They’ll probably move on. When you ask for something, it needs to be reasonable. How do you find out what’s reasonable or not? Once again, talk to your classmates, talk to any mentors, talk to attorneys who understand what they’re doing, and deal with these contracts every day. That’s where you need to get in. But if you go in and ask for these ridiculous changes to an agreement, most places will either just pull the offer just to say, no, we’re not doing any of that. So, that’s how you negotiate a dental associate contract.

Other Blogs of Interest

• In a Dental Practice, is 10 Miles a Reasonable Non Compete for a Dentist?
• Can You Break a Dentist Contract? | Dental Associate Contracts

How a Dentist Should Negotiate a Contract |  Negotiating Dental Agreement

How should you negotiate the dental associate contracts? I will give some tips and tricks to get a better dental associate employment contract. First, there’s a difference between negotiating a contract with somebody fresh from training versus an established one in a community. You have more leverage if you are in any community and a corporate practice or another group is bringing out your practice and wants you to join them. You have an established patient base. Let’s first talk about those coming out of training. What do you need to do to put yourself in the best position to negotiate a contract? Well, you need to know what’s important.

Negotiating an Employment Contract for a Dentist

For most dentists, the most important things are compensation. Is it a base salary? Is it a daily rate? Is it a net collection? How do you terminate the contract? Can you get out of it with a certain amount of notice or benefits? Do they pay for your license, DEA registration, credentialing, and continuing education, and are there signing bonuses and relocation assistance? Do you have to pay them back if you leave within a certain time? And then probably the two highest priorities are who pays for malpractice insurance. Then, who must pay for tail insurance after the contract terminates if it’s a claims-made policy and the non-compete? It is some people’s absolute, most important thing in the contract. Suppose they’re married to a community, kids in school, family. In that case, they absolutely can’t leave, then you need a reasonable non-compete that’s not going to make your move completely out of the area.

Alright, those are the most important things to dental associates. Now, you’re coming to training. You have a job offer. They’re giving you a certain amount. How do you know what’s reasonable and what’s not? Well, talking to your classmates is the best way to find that information. What are the offers they’re getting? How much are they getting? How are they structured? Where are the job offers to come from? That’s the best and most, I would say, accurate means of finding out what the going rate is at that time. The compensation is going to vary wildly. As I said before, is it a base salary? It is a daily rate. Is there some net collection involved? Is it a hybrid? Could it be half base, half net-collections?

Considerations Beyond Compensation Offer

Many times, compensation for a job may look great. Still, the benefits are bad, they’re not paying for your tail insurance, or the non-compete is terrible. So, you can’t just take compensation as the number one factor in determining a good opportunity, but it is certainly important. Knowing whether a non-compete is fair or not is something you probably must talk to a professional about. For the most part, anywhere between one to two years, and then maybe 5 to 15 miles from your primary practice location, would be considered reasonable. Suppose you’re in a non-compete that’s more than two years, or it knocks out like multiple counties, or maybe they’ve attached the non-compete radius.

When Does Actual Negotiation Take Place?

Let’s say it’s a corporate practice in a big city with 10 locations. And they’re saying, well, you can’t work within 10 miles of every location we own. That’s not a reasonable non-compete. The actual negotiation will depend on two things. One, do they give you an offer letter, or do they give you the employment agreement? If they give you an offer letter, they expect those terms to be negotiated in advance and incorporated into the employment agreement. And then, they’re going to give you the employment agreement. I find it difficult to come to terms with the main parts of an offer letter without seeing the full employment agreement. If I had a perfect scenario, there would be no offer letter. They would give the employment agreement. Then you’d fully understand what the job entails and the expectations for both parties.

You could agree to a salary, you could agree to the length of the term, and there is a non-compete. What are the things they’ll pay for? When you see the specific language in the contract, it could greatly change how you look at the value of the contract. Just because you’ve signed an offer letter doesn’t mean you can’t renegotiate those terms if you provide proper context to the employer. Alright, I was okay with making $110,000 a year and base salary, not knowing that the non-compete effectively knocked me out of the entire state. If you want me to sign this contract with that non-compete, I need 130,000. There are many ways of going back and forth. 

Reluctance to Revision of Contract as a Huge Red Flag

Some employers will simply say, this is a take-it or leave-it. I would be wary of signing a contract with an organization unwilling to make any changes in the contract. It usually means they’re difficult to work with down the road or in a very rigid and unprofessional environment. So, if you find that someone says, take it or leave it, I would leave it and move on and try to find a better opportunity. I’m just telling you, if they take the mindset that they’re not going to change anything in the contract, like nothing at all. No change at signing bonus, relocation assistance, benefits, or anything. It is a bad sign moving forward. 
One more thing to think about and absolutely should be top of mind when signing a contract or negotiating the terms of an agreement is the without-cause termination. Either party should be able to terminate the agreement at any time with a certain amount of notice to the other party.

Red Flags in a Dental Practice Employment Contract

Usually, somewhere between 30 to 90 days. Suppose your contract does not have without-cause termination. That means you must fulfill the entire initial term of the agreement somewhere between one to three years. Typically, it is an enormous red flag. You absolutely should not sign that contract for this reason. Suppose they have excluded without-cause termination, which is standard across all healthcare professions. In that case, it usually means they’ve had a ton of turnover or some very dissatisfied dentists wanting to leave. So, they’ve removed that ability and ensured they must stay there for three or more years. If it’s not in the contract, it’s typically not there because they’ve had a ton of turnover. The turnover is usually due to bad management. It’s either it’s a toxic work environment, or the compensation is not worth the amount of time or effort you’ve, you’ve had to put into it.

It makes sense there’s always without-cause termination and the employment agreement. Don’t feel bad about asking for things. If you’re negotiating the terms of employment, most smart employers expect there will be some back and forth. Ask for a little more salary, a little more bonus, and a little less non-compete radius. Incremental things that you can change in the agreement can significantly change the value of an opportunity. So, don’t feel bad. Now, if they’re offering a hundred and you ask for 300 or some crazy amount, they’ll think you have no idea what’s happening. They’ll probably move on. When you ask for something, it needs to be reasonable.

How to Effectively Determine What Is Reasonable

How do you find out what’s reasonable or not? Once again, talk to your classmates. Talk to any mentors, talk to attorneys who understand what they’re doing, and deal with these contracts every day. That’s where you need to get in. But if you go in and ask for these ridiculous changes to an agreement, most places will pull the offer to say, no, we’re not doing any of that. So, that’s how you negotiate a dental associate contract.

How to Negotiate a Dental Associate Salary? | Dental Clinics

How should you negotiate an associate salary? I will provide tips and tricks as far as how to get the best dental practice compensation. The first thing to discuss is how often employers pay dental associates via salary versus another compensation model. There are usually four common types of compensation structures.

Common Types of Compensation Model

The first would be a base salary. You just get paid a set a month. You work whatever the agreed-upon hours are. And that’s it. The second would be a hybrid-based salary with the net-collections model. The net collection would be any money that the practice brings in based upon your personally performed services. And so, the associate would get a smaller monthly salary. Then they get a percentage of net-collections, whatever the practice brings in monthly or quarterly. The third way is pure net-collections. It means the associate only gets paid based on what they bring in. That’s risky. And then the last is a daily rate. Many dental associates will get a daily rate, working either half-day, full-day, or whatever. And that’s how much they earn, the essentials of negotiating a dental salary.

Tips for Negotiating Better Compensation

I won’t focus entirely on salary since there are other avenues the dentist needs to think about. Let’s discuss salary. First, you need to know what your worth is. You need to know the going rate in the area you’re looking in. The experience you provide, if you’re in a specialty. And what kind of normal computation for that?

There’s no great resource aggregating all the data for dental salaries across the country that I find accurate. So, talk to colleagues, mentors, and people you were training with. It’s usually the most precise way of determining the going rate. And occasionally, some dental associations can provide some data, but I wouldn’t entirely rely upon it. When you get an initial offer, let’s say it’s for 120,000. Most employers expect at least some kind of back and forth as far as settlement is concerned. So, don’t feel bad asking for more. 

Now, how much more depends, but you need to be reasonable. If 120 is the average for a, let’s say, you’re right out of training, you have no experience building up a practice. And you say, you know what, I don’t want 120, I want 240. Well, the employer will likely laugh it off.

And it will put you, or at least start you on the wrong foot. It needs to be reasonable if you’re asking for a larger amount. It needs to be as informed as you can be. One good way of doing it is if you’ve identified an area you want to practice. Reach out to multiple practices and try to get an average of what they offer you. And then, that way, you can determine if one place is lowballing you or not. 

Ancillary Benefits Mentioned in the Agreement

Beyond salary, you also need to consider all the ancillary benefits like health, vision, dental, life, disability, and retirement. But then, are there potential bonuses? Are they paying for your malpractice insurance and tail insurance? What are the restrictive covenants? When people base employment on the baseline number for salary and not anything else, I think that’s shortsighted. One work paying $20,000 less could be much better considering all the different bonuses and benefits. And maybe a lesser restrictive covenant. The non-compete, for instance, versus another one paying 20,000 more but doesn’t offer all those other good things. 

Another tip: when searching for your first workout of training, go into an environment you can learn from. There should be other experienced dentists around you in a professional environment. You need to interview and go out and look at the practice and see how they operate. Is there proper staffing? Are you going to be efficient? If they’re paying you for productivity, will they do everything necessary to make you as efficient as possible? Because if they don’t, your production will be less, and you’ll make less.

Dentist Daily Rate and Other Compensation Models

Now, as far as the other compensation models, a daily rate is pretty simple. I mean, it’s the same analysis of determining how much they will offer you if you have a base salary. Usually, it’s somewhere between eight hundred to a thousand per day, a thousand on the high side. Suppose it’s a compensation structure involving a base salary and net-collections. In that case, they’d depend upon how much base salary you’re getting. But typically, if it’s a hybrid, meaning base salary and collections, your collections will be somewhere between 15 to 25%. And then the last one would be pure net-collections. That’s usually somewhere between 35 to 45%. I think closer to 35 would be most likely as far as that goes. 

So, that’s a little breakdown of how you can negotiate an associate salary. It’s tough when you have no experience. You’re not bringing any patients into a practice. You must think of the best learning environment or build your skills. And then utilize that down the road to leverage the salary.

Is a Non-Compete Enforceable Against a Dentist? | Dentist Non-Competition Enforceability

Is a non-compete enforceable against a dentist? First, there are a handful of states in the United States where non-competes are completely unenforceable. However, you could count them on the one hand. It is very likely if you’re reading this blog, the state that you’re in does acknowledge reasonable and enforceable non-competes. So, I’m going to talk about the states where they are enforceable and what they would consider, whether it’s reasonable or enforceable. In your contract, there will be a section called restrictive covenants. And that section will have a non-solicitation clause, a non-disparagement clause, confidentiality provisions, and then a non-compete. And a non-compete stops you from working in your specialty for a period within a specific geographic area.

Does the Law Favor the Practice Over Dentists?

What would be considered reasonable for all those things? First, it will likely list what you can’t do. And for the most part, it will say the practice of dentistry. Suppose you have some multi-specialty practice, and you can do different things. Then, you’re only doing one of those things for the employer. I would make certain that the specialty restricted is the one you’re only doing for that employer. That way, you have other options after the contract ends to do other things. For instance, maybe you’re doing orthodontics for practice, and you could still do general dentistry. Maybe it’s a year-long non-compete, and you don’t want to move. You could at least do general dentistry for a year and then hop back to do orthodontics after the year ends. 

That’s a little bit into what is listed as a specialty in the non-compete. As far as how long, most non-competes for a dentist last between one and two years. If it’s longer, I think it would likely be unenforceable. You always want a shorter non-compete. If someone is offering you a non-compete that’s three years or five years, that’s completely unacceptable and very likely unenforceable.

Geographic Limitation on Employment Contract

Regarding the geographic limitation, that’s kind of for the. I guess the negotiation usually turns to, so as these corporate dental practices continue to gobble up these dentist-owned practices, they continue to multiply. In a city, they may have multiple locations. In a big city, there are dozens of locations.
If the non-compete states you can’t work within, let’s say, 10 miles of every location of the employer. They have 10 locations in your city. It could effectively knock you out of practice in that city, which I don’t believe would be considered reasonable and would likely be unenforceable. You want to make certain how many locations the non-compete attaches to. It’s only the locations you’re working at and then no more than two locations. Suppose it was just 10 to 15 miles from your primary practice location. That would be reasonable and enforceable as well. Let’s say you signed a non-compete, and then you think, alright, they’re not going after me, I’m just going to break it anyway. And then, you establish practice within the geographically limited area. What can happen?

How to Enforce a Non-Compete Under an Employment Agreement?

Well, they can sue you. Suppose your contract has an arbitration clause. Then, they could go to arbitration over it. They could go to court and obtain a temporary restraining order or an injunction, which would stop them from working. They could sue you for, one, breaching the contract, and two, the damages associated with you establishing a practice within that area. So, I would not suggest signing an agreement with a non-compete and expecting to ignore it. I think that’s a shortsighted way of thinking about contract law and a terrible strategy. I’m surprised how many dentists I speak to say, ” Oh, I spoke to a colleague, ” and they say non-competes are unenforceable. Unless you’re in the state where they are, I will not sign anything just saying, well, I’ll sign it, but I expect they can’t enforce it down the road.
So, yes, non-competes are very likely enforceable against a dentist if considered reasonable. And for some people, let’s say they have grown up in a city and want to move back. Maybe they’re living there and have kids in school. They just absolutely cannot move, or there’s family there. For whatever reason, having a very demanding non-compete can make a great job potentially terrible if you have to move from the city to practice for whatever the limited period is. That’s something you want to negotiate and take a hard look at. It can be a deal-breaker for some people.

Dental Employment Agreements Non Solicit Enforceability

Non-solicitation clauses versus non-compete clauses. What’s the difference? What’s the same? And what is typical in a dental employment agreement? Let’s start with non-solicitation clauses. Non-solicitation clauses promise not to solicit patients, employees, or third-party contractors for a specific period after your employment terminates with your dental practice. It looks like you get terminated, or you terminate your employment with the practice and leave. A non-solicitation clause states that for a period, typically one to two years. There’s a prohibition from reaching back out to the practice employees. Or patients you had provided services for while you were an employee. Solicitation, sometimes, is defined in the agreement. It may prohibit directly soliciting or indirectly soliciting.

If you see a language like that, it’s important to see within the employment agreement if it’s defined. If it’s not, it’s customary that you should reach back out to that prospective employer and ask them to define those terms for you. And to me, directly soliciting means reaching out to entice and encourage those employees or patients to come with you. Now, if you’re leaving the practice and a patient or an employee asks, where are you going? You can tell them. That’s not a solicitation. Solicitation is when you are the one who initiates the contact, you’re reaching out. You’re trying to poach those employees and those patients. That’s when you would violate a non-solicitation clause.

General Advertising 

Let’s talk about general advertisements concerning a non-solicitation clause. Sometimes, this is directly outlined in the employment agreement. And it’s always best that you start there first. Look at the clause itself.

But if it just says you cannot solicit, normally, general advertising is not considered a solicitation. So, that’s the billboard, social media commercials, things like that, not a solicitation. You would only be in danger of violating a non-solicitation clause when you reach out directly to those patients and employees. What this looks like is maybe you are sending patient lists. You’re getting their addresses. You’re sending letters directly to them, or you’re seeking them out directly. Things like that would be a solicitation.

Consequences of Violating a Non-Solicitation in an Employment Agreement

What are the consequences of a non-solicitation clause? Sometimes there are liquidated damages. You may have to pay tens of thousands of dollars if you’re found in violation. And then, normally, I would say there is equitable relief. And what that looks like is if the practice feels like you violate a non-solicitation clause, they can bring it before a judge.

And what they would do is they would declare an injunction. They may sign something like a restraining order simply stating that you cannot solicit those patients. That’s typically what a non-solicitation clause looks like. They’re standard. Now, let’s look at and talk about what is a non-compete clause. A non-compete clause is like a non-solicitation clause because it’s a promise not to do something. You’re promising not to compete with practice. Also, a non-compete clause is typically for the same period as the non-solicitation clause. So anywhere between six months to two years. The non-compete clause is also going to have a restricted area. It could be miles, it could be city blocks, it could be counties, or it could be municipalities. It just depends on what state you’re in, and are you in rural or are you in the city?