As a veterinarian, your employees are your practice’s greatest asset. Without a strong team around you, your practice is unlikely to thrive. Therefore, to ensure the protection of you, your practice, your employees, and your customers, you must ensure that you have a comprehensive and legally sound hiring and onboarding process. In this article, we discuss the best legal practices for hiring and onboarding veterinary staff.
Comply with Employment Laws
All businesses with employees must ensure compliance with relevant employment laws—and veterinary practices are no exception. However, employment law is complicated. With countless state and federal employment laws that apply to veterinary practices, ensuring compliance can be difficult—if not impossible—for non-attorneys. Therefore, to ensure compliance with all federal and state hiring requirements, it is imperative that you work with an experienced veterinary business law attorney. A knowledgeable attorney will help you establish a legally sound hiring process that will afford maximum protection to you and your employees.
Create Fair and Clear Employment Contracts
Next, when hiring new employees for your veterinary practice, it’s imperative that you draft clear and fair employment contracts. However, to be legally enforceable, each contract must comply with all applicable federal and state laws. Therefore, it is advisable to seek the assistance of an experienced veterinary business law attorney for all contractual matters. Although every contract is different, some common veterinary contract provisions include:
Term: The term is the time period during which the contract is effective.
Duties: Veterinary employment contracts should clearly outline the requirements of the position.
Schedule and compensation: Veterinary employment contracts should also detail the number of required work hours in a given time frame and the position’s compensation and benefits.
Termination: Finally, veterinary employment contracts should outline the ways in which the employment contract may be terminated. In addition, each agreement should indicate whether there is a time frame for notice if the employee or employer decides to end the professional relationship.
Implement Employment Policies and Procedures
Without a set of employment policies and procedures in place, your employees will be left to guess as to how to meet your professional expectations. Not only can this hurt the overall effectiveness of your practice, but it can lead to legal disputes down the road. Therefore, as a veterinary practice owner, it is imperative that you implement clear employment policies and procedures for your veterinary practice. When it comes to drafting policies and procedures for your employees, the more clarity you can provide about what you expect of them, the better.
Contact an Experienced Veterinary Business Law Attorney
At Mahan Law, our experienced veterinary business law attorneys are here to help you address the legal needs of your veterinary practice. Regardless of your specific needs or circumstances, our experienced veterinary team has the knowledge and experience to take the steps necessary to protect your practice. Please contact us to arrange an initial consultation with an experienced veterinary business law attorney.