How Much Time Off Should a Dental Associate Get? | Dentist Days Off

What is a reasonable amount of time off for a dental associate? Most places refer to it as PTO or paid time off. And then that encompasses several things. For almost any kind of time off, you have four factors. One is just personal time off vacation, two would be sick days, three would be holidays, and the fourth would be continuing education. And once we lump all of those into one, we can determine whether it’s reasonable. First, let’s take personal days off. Most of the time, a dentist or associate dentist will get somewhere between 10 to 15 time off vacation days. If you are a newer dental associate out of training, I’ve seen them go down to five. It’s too low. It’s not enough time.

What Does Your Employment Agreement Say About Compensation?

Now, you always have to judge what type of compensation model you’re on versus the time off. For instance, if you’re just on a straight-based salary or in the dental industry, they’ll do a daily rate a lot of time. Then if you’re not working, you’re not making money if it’s a daily rate. You’ll still get paid for the time off if it’s a straight-based salary. If you’re on a productivity compensation model, the less you work, the less money you’ll make. So, even though they may offer you 25 days off, taking that more time off doesn’t make sense if your compensation decreases—just one thing to keep in mind. Somewhere between 10 to 15 days of vacation time is standard. 

How Much Time Off for Sick Days, Continuing Education, and Holidays?

As far as sick days go, this is the only thing that’s state-dependent. Some states have laws that require a certain number of days off if they are a full-time employee. For others, it’s more open and open to the employer. Usually, three days, sometimes 5 is a reasonable amount for sick days. CE, once again, somewhere between 3 to 5 days for continuing education. They should also provide you with a sum that goes towards that. Usually, somewhere between 2,000 to 4,000, so another three to five days for continuing education and then holidays. Many dental offices, somewhere between 6 to 7 federal holidays. Let’s add it all up. 

You get ten days of vacation time and seven federal holidays, so it’s 17. You get 3 CE, that’s 20, and then you get another 3 for sick days. That’s 23. I would say that’s a little on the low side. It would be best if you were aiming for the total amount between 28 to 32 days of whole time off. So, when you add up all those things, it should be somewhere there. If you’re getting a job offer that’s significantly less than that, maybe like a total time off of 10 days or 15, it’s deficient. Is there negotiating? Indeed, there’s usually negotiating during vacation time, sick days, holidays, and CEs. Maybe the CE, you can add a day or two, but the vacation part is kind of where you want to consider.

Pure Paid Time Off

Some places use pure PTO, meaning everything goes into one box, and any time off you take, it takes it out of that. What I mean by that is, let’s say the employer allows you to accrue eight hours of time off every pay period. Well, anytime you’re out, no matter what, they take time off that you’ve accrued. So, it doesn’t matter what the breakdown is between the four sections. It’s just, okay, you get 25 days off, you can do whatever you want with them. I think that might be more likely for some of the larger corporate-owned practices. Finding a private dentist-owned practice that uses a pure PTO system is rare. They usually break it down into sections.

Red Flags to Look Out For in Employment Contract of Dentists

What are some red flags if they’re offering very little time off? Well, one, they may not understand the market, and it’s probably your job to educate them. Two, they’re completely unwilling to negotiate when they offer you an unreasonable and low amount of time off. They’re entirely reluctant to negotiate. It might be a red flag that they will be challenging to work with, or maybe they don’t appreciate a work-life balance.

I would look long and hard if someone is taking a hard stance about not giving you more time off hours and the reason behind that. So, that’s kind of, I guess, a breakdown of an average amount of time off for a dentist and dental associate. If you own your practice or are a partner, it’s really up to you how much time off you want. But as a dental associate, somewhere between 20 to 32 days of total time off would be your goal.

Other Blogs of Interest

• What is Claims Made Insurance for a Dentist?
• Does a Dentist Have to Repay a Bonus if they Terminate the Contract?
• Is a 2-Year Non-Compete Too Long for a Dentist?

What is a Draw in a Dental Associate and Dentist Contract?

What is a draw in a dental contract? More importantly, a draw should associate with a productivity-based contract. For instance, some dentists, especially dental associates who are relatively new, would get a daily rate or maybe a base salary. But at some point, the compensation will likely switch from an income guarantee into a productivity model involving net-collections percentage. Net collections mean that you will get paid a percentage of whatever the practice collects from your specific services. As far as a dentist’s average rate, I would say anywhere between the high twenties up in the low forties is probably a good standard range.

How Is Draw Calculated in a Dentist’s Contract?

Let’s say. For example, the practice would bring in $50,000 to the dentist’s attributed services monthly. Then if it were a 30% net-collections rate, they would multiply the $50,000 times 30%. Then that’s what the physician would take home whenever it was paid out. Now, a draw flattens out the amount. So, there’s not as much variance from month to month. And so, what will happen is that the dentist, or dental associate, will then reach an agreement with whoever the owner is. 

And instead of just saying, 15 days after the end of each month, I get paid, whatever it is, they would come up with a base amount. Let’s say it’s $8,000, and they’ll agree that no matter what happens, I will get paid $8,000 a month. And then, at the end of the month, or usually done quarterly, there will be a reconciliation. Then the owner will take what I was paid out versus what I collected based on my services. And then whatever the difference, that amount is multiplied by 30%.

How Is a Regular Draw for a Dentist Defined?

Let’s say your draw is 8,000 a month. And then you brought in 32,000 in the month. Then it would just be 32,000 minus 8,000. So, you have 24,000 multiplied by whatever the percentage was. If it were a third, then you would get another 8,000. You’d have a total of 16,000 for the month. Maybe there’s a month when the dental associate went on vacation and didn’t work for two weeks. That also happens where you could have a negative balance carried forward. You only brought in 7,000 a month, and they paid out 8,000. Then most of the time, the contracts would state that that negative $1,000 would then carry over into the next month. 

And then the dentist would have to cover the difference between the two. That’s how a regular draw for a dentist is defined. Now, I guess the other way of describing it would be if there’s just an owner of the practice. Instead of having a base salary, you take an owner draw of whatever the profits were. But I find that discussing what’s a draw in a dental contract, the first part where the dentist has a percentage of net-collections, and then to even it out. They take that draw each month.

Can You Break a Dentist Contract?

Can You Break a Dentist Contract? And the short answer is yes. However, if breaking the contract means breaching the contract and you’re not adhering to the terms of the agreement. You are likely opening yourself up to liability for litigation or arbitration. Your employer can come and ask for damages related to recruitment costs to replace you, credentialing fees, administrative fees, and the list goes on from there. You are so, breaching your job employment contract. If you’re going to break it, it is not a great idea, and we never suggest that to our clients. A much better way to end your contract is in the termination clause, that’s typically in many dental employment contracts. Underneath the termination clause, there are typically three ways that you would adequately terminate the agreement.

The first way is if you were to agree mutually. Hence, you and your employer agree to go your separate ways and terminate the job employment agreement. However, this is rare, and we don’t usually see this happen. The second way is for-cause termination. This clause is weighted towards the employer. In this type of clause in a contract, there would be an enumerated list of sorts of offenses that would occur, and they could terminate the agreement with the dentist immediately. Some examples of things on that list are if you lose your license to practice dentistry or lose a DEA license. You are not credible with insurance companies: Medicaid, Medicare, and the list. And then, without-cause is the third and most common way of terminating a contract.

Contract Notice Periods

Most contracts state that an agreement can be terminated by either party for no cause, given a specific amount of notice to the other party. And typically, that’s between 60 to 90 days. So, you give your notice 60 to 90 days, then the contract is terminated, and you can go your separate ways. Another important thing is that if you decide to terminate your agreement, you want to do it exactly how it’s written and give proper notice. There’s usually a notice clause within the contract stating if the termination letter needs to be hand-delivered, mailed, or in many cases, emailed, but that’s rare. That’s how you properly terminate a contract. And then the next thing I want to address is that you also need to read your contract to know what requirements you have once the termination process has started.

Will You Have to Pay Back Benefits?

Specifically, suppose that the company gives you a signing bonus and relocation expenses. In that case, you’ll need to know if you must pay those back because some contracts have a certain amount of time. And if you terminate the contract within that period, you must pay that back. So, that’s something you want to consider. And then the last thing you want to think about when terminating a contract is malpractice, specifically tail insurance coverage. After leaving the employer, there would likely be a lapse in malpractice insurance. Typically, tail insurance covers it. Many job employment contracts specify who is responsible for providing or covering the cost of tail insurance, the employer or the employee. You will want to look at that in your contract and will likely be detailed in that process. In summary, can you break the dental associate’s agreement contract? The answer is yes.

But you don’t want to breach it. You wish to terminate it properly by looking at the agreement you signed and doing it exactly how it’s written. And then, you also want to know any consequences that would likely incur, meaning paying back any of your signing bonuses. Also, I forgot that you want to look at the restrictive covenants in your agreement. That’s non-compete clauses. How long is that for, what area is covered, and you want to ensure you’re not violating that. You also want to ensure that you’re not soliciting employees or patients, which is likely outlined in your agreement. Again, it’s always important to look at your actual dental employment agreement because it would probably have all these instances outlined in the employment contract on how to proceed.

How to Get Out of a Dental Associate Contract?

How to get out of a dental associate contract? You will sign one of two contracts when you are a dental associate. It’s either a dental employment contractor or an independent contractor agreement. Ultimately, it’s the same way of terminating the dental employment contract agreement. Still, I’m going to talk specifically about dental employment contracts because those are, I’d say, the standard type of dental associate agreement to sign. 

Are Contractual Provisions For Length and Termination Present?

When the contract is signed, there will be language in the contract that states its term. So, how long it lasts and then termination means how either party can terminate the agreement. As far as the term is concerned, usually, it will be one of two things.

There is a fixed term with automatic renewals. It could be like a one-year term, which automatically renews for one year unless terminated. More often, there have been evergreen contracts where no term is listed. It just states the contract continues until someone ends it. One is not better than the other. It’s ultimately the same result. After you find out what the term is, go to the section about termination. The ways to terminate a contract are one, by mutual agreement. If both parties feel like it’s not working out, they don’t need or require a certain amount of notice. They say, alright, this doesn’t work out. We’re both going to wash our hands of this and move on.

With Cause Termination

Two, if there was a fixed term, let’s say it was one year, and there was no language about automatic renewal. If the one-year term expires and neither party decides to renew, it might terminate the contract. That’s it. Cause-termination is another type of termination. Suppose one party is in breach of contract. In that case, there’ll be language that states the party who thinks that the other party is in breach has to give them written formal notice that says, you’re in breach of contract due to this. And then, typically, there would be a language called a cure period. And the cure gives the party breaching the contract a period to fix whatever the problems are. Usually, it’s somewhere between 15 to 30 days. 

In this scenario, let’s say the dental office is not paying a bonus they said they would, or it’s not timely. Whatever the issue, the dental associate should send them a letter saying, “We agreed that you would pay me this amount of bonus, but you haven’t paid this.” You are in breach of contract, you have 15 days to fix the breach, or I have the option of terminating the contract immediately. That’s one way to get out of the contract.

Without Cause Termination

The last and most frequent way is through without-cause termination. Every contract agreement a dental associate employee sign needs to have without-cause termination. And that means either party can terminate the agreement at any time with a certain amount of notice. Why is this important? I find this, especially in the dental industry. The volume/if compensation tied to collections can be puffed up before the dentist starts. So, they might get into a situation where they’re being paid purely on production. The volume isn’t there, or they’re making nothing. And then they’re stuck in a contract if there’s no without-cause termination language.

So, what you want is somewhere between 30 to 90 days for without-cause termination notice. The way that would work is just like if someone is in breach. The dentist will then state in the written employment agreement that I’m terminating the agreement, per without-cause termination. That is the most typical method of terminating a dental associate agreement. My last day at work will be X date. I must appreciate the opportunity. The same goes for them as well. If maybe they don’t think it’s working out with the dentist, they can give them notice. Then they can make the dentist work out whatever the notice period is, or sometimes they can tell them, look, go home, or we don’t need you anymore.

How Many Days Are There in the Notice Period?

However, they still must pay you for that notice period. So, if you had a 30-day notice, the dental office states were terminating the agreement. It would be best if you didn’t come to work tomorrow. They still would have to pay the dentist for those 30 days. Now, the tricky part comes in. If you’re not on base salary, you’re not getting a daily rate, or you’re only getting paid on production. If you’re not productive, you’re not going to get paid. Then there needs to be a discussion before signing the contract and getting language in there. So that the dentist isn’t essentially working for free or not getting paid all for that notice period. There’s a notice period, at least in the healthcare field, generally for continuity of care. They don’t want a dentist or healthcare provider not to show up one day and say I’m leaving.

And then there’s a bunch of patients on schedules, people who need work done, and there’s no one to provide that. They can put the patients in a tough spot if there’s just no notice and their provider leaves. It is not the dental associate’s problem. However, if they give enough information, these are the patients of the practice, not the dental associate. And so, when the dental associate terminates the job employment agreement, once they leave. They have no obligations as far as the patients go or worry about referring them or transitioning somebody else. That’s the employer’s problem. So, to get out of a contract, the term can end. You can mutually agree to terminate it, terminate it for-cause termination. If the other party doesn’t fix a breach or give without-cause termination in a letter, finish your time and move on.