This month, we begin a series covering a particularly relevant topic in veterinary law, yet one that is widely overlooked both by lawyers when they are counseling veterinarians and veterinarians as they seek out legal advice.
Last month we discussed the pressure tactics parents, uncles, aunts and friends of young people can use on us as veterinary practitioners to arrange for their favorite youngster to come into our clinics and "observe."
In the first part of this series, we identified a number of problem areas that
surround the employment relationship when a practice hires (perhaps a better
word would be "enlists") a part-time or relief veterinarian.
The initial two articles in this series on associate employment contracts dealt
primarily with legal details of the contract; contract periods, renewal provisions
and other esoteric elements that are commonly ignored when a new associate is
considering a job offer.
Veterinarians who are preparing to enter into partnerships are usually
thinking one main thought, "We are going to make such great money and
I can't wait to be able to share the workload."
AVMA
