0:01

A particular concern for every employee in the employment

0:03

relationship is how are they gonna be compensated

0:06

for the services they provide?

0:08

And the employment agreement itself should be very specific

0:11

and very detailed about how the compensation is determined.

0:15

This would include whether

0:16

or not there's a fixed base salary

0:19

and the period of time in which the employee will be paid

0:23

his or her base salary.

0:24

It should also address any bonus opportunities

0:26

that are available to the physician

0:28

during the term of employment.

0:30

This could include productivity based bonuses,

0:33

it could be quality based bonuses.

0:35

There are any number of different bonuses

0:36

that could be come up with including just subjective,

0:39

overall good citizenship bonuses.

0:41

But it's very important for the employee to understand his

0:45

or her compensation model

0:47

and have that compensation model be very specifically

0:50

defined in the employment agreement.

0:52

Other considerations that we consider are whether

0:55

or not the compensation is adjusted on an annual basis

0:58

or fixed during the initial

1:00

and any renewal periods of the employment term, whether

1:04

or not bonuses are prorated, if the employment ends prior

1:07

to the end of the term, the actual measurement period

1:10

for any bonus or compensation.

1:12

And this would include whether

1:13

or not, you know, the employee has

1:16

to remain employed throughout the whole entire payment

1:19

period for bonuses.

1:20

It's not uncommon to see a provision that says you have

1:24

to remain employed at the time that the bonus is paid

1:28

in order to receive the funds, as opposed

1:30

to thinking about things on a calendar year basis

1:33

where you stay January to December,

1:36

you feel like you've earned the bonus,

1:38

but then you terminated on the first day of January

1:40

to go find another opportunity.

1:42

You may find out that your employment agreement provides

1:44

that you have to be employed on the date

1:47

that the practice actually pays the bonus

1:50

in order to get the money.

1:51

So it's important for you to understand that you may have

1:54

to actually be employed for a longer period of time in order

1:57

to receive the compensation

1:59

that you feel like you're entitled to.

2:01

The employment agreement may create a model where the salary

2:05

or the bonuses are paid as in advance.

2:08

And if it is treated as an advance, you need to make sure

2:11

that you understand the circumstances in which you will have

2:14

to pay back any money that's been advanced to you, whether

2:17

or not the practice is going to charge you interest

2:20

for any back payments,

2:22

or whether they're gonna establish a method

2:24

by which they'll reduce future advances so

2:26

that they can recover, uh,

2:28

any overdrawn amounts under the employment agreement.

2:31

It's also very critical to understand what,

2:34

if any compensation is gonna be paid on the expiration

2:37

of the termination of your employment agreement,

2:39

depending upon the compensation model.

2:42

Uh, it's very important to make sure

2:43

that this is very clearly defined

2:45

and you need to make sure that the

2:47

actual payment terms are clearly outlined, uh,

2:51

and follow your actually compensation model.

2:53

If you're paid, for example, on a collections basis,

2:56

you know, collections lag the time that the

2:58

Service is actually performed, that can lack 30,

3:01

60, or 90 days.

3:03

So you want to make sure that if your employment

3:05

and termination ends, that you're gonna have a stream

3:08

of money that's being paid to you over 30

3:10

or 60, 90 days following that termination event to make sure

3:14

that you actually get paid for the services you perform

3:16

prior to the termination

3:18

or expiration of your employment relationship.