What should go into a contract termination letter from a nurse practitioner? First, when somebody wants to leave a job, for whatever reason, there’s going to be something in the contract that states how they can terminate the contract. Briefly, usually, it’s one of four ways. Either the initial term just ends, so if you have a two or three-year contract, it doesn’t automatically renew and it ends, you can move on. You don’t need a letter in that circumstance. You can do it by mutual agreement and in that circumstance, you wouldn’t need to provide a termination letter. If one of the parties terminates the contract for cause, let’s say one party is in breach of contract, the other states, you need to fix the breach or I’m going to terminate the contract immediately.
That would have to be a written letter. However, that’s more of just a notice they’re in breach. That’s not necessarily a termination letter. The most common scenario when a nurse practitioner would need a termination letter would be if they’re utilizing the without cause termination provision in their contract. Without cause termination simply means either party can terminate the agreement at any time with a certain amount of notice to the other. Normally in healthcare, it’s between 30 to 90 days. In a circumstance where an NP said, I don’t want to work with this employer anymore. Then you look in the without cause termination section in your contract and determine how much time is left. If it’s 90-day notice, then 90 days prior to your leaving, write them a letter.
And then in the letter, it just needs to simply say, per the agreement, I am terminating the contract with 90 days’ notice, my last day of work will be X date. Thank you for the opportunity. That’s it. I find many healthcare providers find that they want the termination letter to be airing of grievances. Just listing all the things that are wrong, here’s all the reasons why I’m leaving, here’s all the things that you screwed up on, all the things I’m unhappy with. There is no benefit if you are leaving an employer, to go into any of that, it doesn’t matter and it doesn’t help you. Maybe it can shed some light on some of the problems that the employer has, but that’s not a problem. That’s not your job. If you don’t want to work there anymore, just give notice and leave. And for a couple of reasons, one, even if you’re very unhappy, it still doesn’t make sense to burn bridges when you don’t have to. Other blogs of interest include:
And then what about a scenario where maybe at the time that you left the job was undesirable, but something happens, a manager quits and a new one is hired that has a better relationship with or the compensation changes or the venue changes. I mean, there are many things that can happen in a business where things can change quickly. And if you just send some flame thrower of a termination letter, and completely burn the bridge of the employer, even if some of the things that were wrong when you decide to leave have been changed, you may not have the opportunity to go back there simply because you burn the bridge on the way out. So, although I know it feels good emotionally to say, you stink, and therefore I’m leaving, there’s honestly no benefit to the nurse practitioner in doing that.
So, keep it short and sweet. Per the agreement, whatever without cause section termination that is, you give the exact number of days, this is the date that will be your last day. Appreciate the opportunity and that’s it. That’s all you must do. You don’t have to make some big justification, just without cause, that’s all you need legally. You don’t have to provide any reason why. It’s just, I’m terminating the contract, and that’s it. So, those are my thoughts on that. I kind of hear it time to time again about people wanting to put together a two-page letter of termination. And honestly, it just doesn’t make a lot of sense in my opinion.
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