QUESTION
Physician termination, for FOLLOWING the Medical- Ethical and Safety Guidlines in an Addiction Clinic
Asked on Sep 24th, 2013 on Employment Contracts - Virginia
More details to this question:
My husband is a Medical Psychiatrist and was the medical director of an addiction center. Without any prior notice/ explanation he has terminated. Seems like the corporate was not happy with that he followes the guidelines meticulously in increasing the narcotic medicines per patients' request. In a way this jeopardize the corporate's business goals. (However in theory they have been the one who provided the clinicians like my husband, with the medical guidelines to follow) The medical corporate denied to return his calls for any explanation. There has not been any legal or ethical miss step from his side. He has a contract with them where either party should terminate the work relation with a 30 days notice in advance. What are the appropriates steps and the order to take them at this point?
1 ANSWER
Virginia is an “employment at will” state, which means you can be fired at any time for any non-illegal reason. If you have an employment contract—one that specifies how long you will work and how much you will be paid—the terms of the contract control the reasons you can be fired. If your husband’s contract said the corporation could terminate the contract at any time, for any reason, with 30 days’ notice, he has two potential approaches. First, he is arguably entitled to 30 days’ pay, unless the agreement says otherwise for some reason. Many such agreements have “cause” provisions in them that allow the employer to fire the employee immediately and without pay for certain misconduct. Second, if the corporation terminated the contract for an illegal reason, he may have a discrimination claim. Those reasons are, generally, race, gender, religion, ethnicity, national origin, age (over 40), disability, refusal to break the law, or complaining about discrimination for any of those reasons. Finally, if he were being fired for reporting violations of health regulations, or for refusing to falsify records, he might have a "Bowman" claim for wrongful termination (named for the Virginia Supreme Court case that recognized the claim).
Answered on Oct 01st, 2013 at 8:10 AM