Legal Scrubs

Perhaps you are a physician in a group practice or employed by a hospital. Or maybe you are a dentist employed by dental group practice. Or you could be a chiropractor, an optometrist, or a psychologist working for a larger group of your peer professionals.

If so, then it's more likely than not that you have been asked to sign a "form" employment agreement. As an aside, I put "form" in quotation marks because there is really no such thing as a form employment agreement or any other kind of contract. You should never sign any contract without carefully reading it, making sure you understand it completely, and seek to negotiate and change any terms and provisions that you find objectionable. In other words, don't just sign anything that's put in front of you.

But getting back to the main point—if you have been asked to sign an employment agreement by your group practice, it is almost certain that one of the key terms in that employment agreement is what is commonly known as a "non-compete" provision.

What is a non-compete provision?

In simple terms, a non-compete provision is one that limits or restricts an employee from competing with his former employer after his employment relationship with the employer ends.

In practical terms, for a health care professional, such as a physician or a dentist, a non-compete puts a limit on that professional's ability to practice his or her profession for a certain period of time in a particular geographic area.

Legal Scrubs provides entrepreneurs, small businesses and health care professionals with a discussion of emerging business and tax issues.