Can this contract possibly be legal?

paigeRN1962 · Sep 17, 2006

Absolutely, there are red flags all the way around and although I want to quit, I am a single mother with 3 mouths to feed and cannot leave without finding a new job first. It took me almost 3 months to get this job due to blacklisting by a former nurse manager. I have over 2 decades of experience and it shouldn't have been so hard to find a job....but that is another story.

This doctor's office I have written about has another physician who recently came on board and under the circumstances he will probably not be staying unless there are some changes made. I am going to ask him for a letter of recommendation.

There are so many concerns... the whole place scares me....the bottom line is that the pre-existing nurse is not happy at all to have 2 new nurses hired who expect protocol to be followed and accountability. She has already stirred up so much drama that after my co-worker and I compared notes, we figured out that she was trying to coerce each of us into resigning by pitting us against the other, lying and defaming the doctors behind their backs. Both doctors are now aware that she is poisoning the practice and one of them wants her gone----am not sure about the other. They both are concerned about the toxic environment and how it may affect patients and other employees. I was told I was hired to raise the standards of the office to a professional level along with the other RN who was hired with me. If we're not going to be allowed to do this, I am out of there.

I am going to see an attorney and tell the office manager (who has been there only 3 months herself) that I will sign the contract after I get legal advice (am buying myself some time to find another job). I also plan to record any meetings between myself and management in case things get ugly before I leave.

Regarding the ADA, counting the 2 doctors, we do have 10 employees and there are plans to hire more nurses by the end of the year so asking me to sign away my rights does leave me with a bad taste in my mouth. I don't think an employment agreement which violates federal law is enforceable but I think the immediate and bigger issue is the lack of narcotic counts, discrepancies and absence of standing orders or any kind of orders. Medical assistants are making medical and nursing judgments/decisions without getting the MD's verbal OK. Blank signed prescription pads are used daily for the doc's convenience for scheduled drugs and antibiotics. Am I just naive or is this kind of thing typical in a doctor's office that does outpatient surgery? For someone who seems paranoid enough to want me to sign an agreement with a non-compete clause, confidentiality agreement, life insurance agreement,etc.....he seems pretty cavalier about letting his medical assistant make medical and nursing decisions which could land him in court or worse. He is a young (in practice only 3 years) hot-shot plastic surgeon who has a big head and a growing practice and thinks he is smarter than the rest of us and his patients and isn't going to get sued. All patients must sign a contract agreeing to binding arbitration if they sue for malpractice or he doesn't take them on as patients. I've heard several surgeons I've worked with in the OR talk about this being the way medicine is going----weed out potential "problem patients" by making them sign contracts like this.

Anyone else seeing this trend?

IMustBeCrazy · Sep 17, 2006

I'd look into travel nursing (local contract) as a stop gap until you find something else. There are short term solutions. Good luck!

txspadequeenRN, BSN, RN · Sep 17, 2006

I dont remember having to sign a contract ever to work anywhere. I would shred that junk and go see the person that put it on your desk.

GatorRN · Sep 17, 2006

This whole situation sounds very scary to me. Let me get this straight. This employer expects you to sign a blank contract that was not mentioned upon hiring, that includes a life insurance clause. Your references were not checked, along with no drug screening required. There is no verifyable system in place for the narc distribution, which appears to be off. There is never a narc count done. You have MS's writing out scripts w/o docs authorization on blank SIGNED pads, and basically practicing medicine without a license. And, by the sounds of it, the employer is not regulated by anyone. :eek: I would RUN not walk to the nearest exit as fast as I possible could!!

This is a nursing license investigation/lawsuit waiting to happen, if ya ask me. :uhoh21: I would hate to think that as an RN you could be held liable for what these MS's are doing. I would request a letter of recommendation from that other physician, and put out your feelers for another job as fast as humanly possible!! I'd be looking over my shoulder for a hit man too!! Unbelievable!!

augigi, CNS · Sep 17, 2006

I'd also report the current nurse to the state BON there if she is participating in this type of care. You need to get out of there and protect yourself professionally. You can always get temporary work, as someone else suggested. It's just not worth it.

scribblerpnp · Sep 17, 2006

I've worked in physician's offices before ( small with less than 6 employees, counting the Doc's) and would definately say the signed prescription pads is a No-No. However, it is very common for MA's (who had been in the office for some time) to do "phone triage" and give medical advice over the phone. This is dependent on the MA. We were lucky in that our MA never gave advice to anyone unless she had true knowledge of what was going on, Anything out of the ordinary or new to her was ran by the RN, doc or nurse practitioner. I too signed an empolyee contract, but it was fair, completely filled out and did not include the issues you are worried about, so I'm no help there.

Please let us know what the end result is with this fiasco. I need some closure so I won't worry about you!

PANurseRN1 · Sep 17, 2006

OMG. They haven't happened to have nurses who died under suspicious circumstances, have they? I'd be afraid to sign that contract...someone might whack me, LOL!

Seriously, don't sign it. Find another job, now, That place is playing fast and loose with the law.

elcue · Sep 21, 2006

This is all unbelievable! I am tempted to ask if you are running an idea for a new TV show by us for potential audience reactions!!! only kidding

Honestly, this is all really surreal, and you should consider that if any legal issues should arise while you are biding your time until you find another job, you will be caught up in all of it.

The insurance thing is crazy - it must be intended for partners only. If not, I can't imagine any hourly employee would ever agree to it. Doesn't it make you think he considers his employees to be his property if he thinks he's entitled to profit from their demise? Can you really workfor someone with those values?

The Rx pad and narc count issues are not to be taken lightly. That's flirtling with BIG trouble.

A single mom can't risk getting mixed up in this craziness. Run, Girlfriend. An RN can find work, even if temp agency work, on a day's notice these days. And good luck. Please let us know what happens next.

TinyNurse, RN · Sep 21, 2006

wow!

I would cross out and write in what you want/were told.

I would also cross out the facility being the beneficiary, and name your own.

I would not sign the contract until it is fixed to your liking.

This is from one single mom to the next...........

wow, once again, I didn't think a contract could be wrote regarding employment after you had already started in the position.

The only work contracts i've signed are travel nurse contracts, but still this contract does not seem legit. I'd do the above, and in the meantime seek employment elsewhere. It is very weird that the "contract" wasn't mentioned in the interview nor the hiring process.

Best of luck to you girl!

twotrees2 · Oct 5, 2006

First a few background facts: I just finished my second week working in a private physician's office as a staff nurse. It is an office based surgery center and has recently added another RN and surgeon. I am still in orientation however no mention was made of signing a "contract" when the offer of employment was made. I took a significant pay-cut to take this position however the idea of no call, holidays or weekends was too good to turn down for this single mom.
After I came back from lunch today, a 12-page contract was sitting on my desk with a post-it note on it telling me to sign it. Here's where it gets interesting:
1. the contract had none of the blanks filled in (rate of pay, start date, etc)
2. the contract states there will be a 90-day probationary period, however I was told by the office manager when I accepted the job offer and rate of pay, that it would be only 60 days and then have a re-evaluation. She made it sound that my pay would be adjusted at the end of that time frame
3. the second page of the contract states that, "the employee is a valued and integral part of the employer and the loss of her services to the employer would cause sever(sic) hardship and economic loss to the employer.............employee agrees to permit employer to insure his/her life under policy of life insurance........name the EMPLOYER (!!!) as sole beneficiary.........submit to all necessary physical or examinations to effect such policies of insurance."
I am a nurse and as such, there is no loss of revenue to my employer in the event of my untimely death and no justification for him to insure my life and be the policy's sole beneficiary. He could simply place an ad in the classifieds and replace me with another nurse. Is it just me or is this bizarre? The other employees who signed this are in their 20's, uneducated and I have to wonder if they even read what they were signing. Who in their right mind would ask someone to sign a contract like this? Especially when all the blanks are not filled in by the employer? I understand signing "at-will employment agreements", "non-competition clauses", "confidentiality agreements" and the usual legalese..........but this other stuff doesn't seem legal and I have a feeling if I don't sign it, I will be terminated. I didn't think I could be made to take a health exam after I already accepted an offer of employment and started working.
Where would I find information regarding employment law for something like this? Wouldn't this also violate HIPAA? revealing my medical information would be a condition of continuing my employment due to this employer's demand to take out a life insurance plolicy on me and make himself the sole beneficiary?

i do not know the legal status of taking out a life ins policy but by what i do know anyone can take a life ins on anyone - if they pay for it they own it and such are the beneficiaries ( though i am sure the person must have knowledge of said policy ) - i do know "work physicals" over the yrs have gone from simply going in and making sure your breathing at thier expense to the job i am in now i even had to list EVERY med i took and every problem ( thought for sure id never be hired being half dead lol) as well as mandatory surprise drug testing at thier will whenever they have a whim. things sure have changed over the last 25 yrs since i started working.

twotrees2 · Oct 5, 2006

I think there is a simple explanation for this. It is common practice for small businesses and practices to take out something called "key-person life insurance." (I was/am in insurance agent before becoming a student again). This is to help insulate the practice against the devastating financial consequences of an important partner's death. You can bet that 99% of all physican practices with more than one physician have this insurance. Think of a practice with 2-5 physicians or surgeons. They build a highly specialized and EXPENSIVE practice. One dies. It could cripple the practice without insurance.
I think this little office is using the same contract they got somewhere for physician partners and using it with all staff. Lazy? An oversight? I don't know. Perhaps they didn't want to pay their practice consultant or attorney for several different contract forms and they are using a global contract for all employees. I doubt it's nefarious.
You obviously do need clarification on the probationary period, review and salary, etc. I would NEVER sign a contract with blanks. But I think this is just a common employment contract which is usually used for practice partners.
Here's a link about key person insurance:
http://www.allbusiness.com/human-resources/benefits-insurance-key-person-life/1249-1.html

my contract had a few blanks and as i was wanting per diem and the used a global contract i crossed out stuff NOT appropriate ( ie working weekends holidays etc) and added stuff that should have been there ( ie THEY were to come to me with hours and i would choose - THEy would NOT choose my hours for me) and made my administrator date and initial the changes prior to me signing it. alwasy make sure all your stuff is filled in.