Employment Law Issues In Health Care: This is Where the Action is!

Lucetta (“Luci”) Franco has enjoyed a 35-year career as an employment law litigator and counselor, representing employees in harassment and discrimination cases, and negotiating severance packages on their behalf. She has also advised employers about employment policies and created employee handbooks, negotiated severance packages on the employer’s behalf, and defended employers in wrongful termination cases.  She has worked in large firms, small firms, private practice and in the public sector as Wayne County Corporation Counsel.

Recently, Luci has taken a slight detour in her practice.  With the recent boom in health care, Luci decided to bring her employment law expertise to the health care market. She is now focused on advising doctors, hospitals and physician groups on how to protect themselves with proper employment policies and procedures. Luci’s interest in health care started in 2009 with an online course she took because she thought the information might be useful to her clients. At that time, she never anticipated her own career would move in that direction.

Franco notes, “just as health care is expected to be an exploding industry in the coming years, I believe that hospitals, health care insurers and physician practices will need guidance regarding their employment practices and representation in connection with the myriad of new health care laws that will impact their business. I think it will be the most ground-breaking area of law over the next several decades. I want to be where the action is!”

“Being where the action is” is familiar territory for Franco, who was counsel to an employee in a sex harassment case back in 1983, and found herself involved in another innovative and ground breaking area of law. She won the largest verdict in the country, at that time, in a sex harassment case.

One hot topic right now is non-compete agreements in a health care setting, according to Franco.  Many executive level employees are faced with negotiating employment contracts prior to hire, or are presented with a severance contract when they leave. These contracts usually contain non-compete, non-solicitation, and confidentiality agreement provisions. The tension arises because employers want to protect their patient base and the large expenses incurred while supporting the physician in the practice, yet the doctor may want to take the patient with them to their next practice. Franco points out that “the attorneys negotiating these agreements need to be mindful of the Michigan Antitrust Reform Act and ethical considerations, such as the right of patients to treat with a physician of their choice.”

“Employees will have to make some hard decisions about whether they want to work for a company that has presented them with onerous conditions that will significantly affect their ability to find another job or support a new practice, should they leave,” says Franco.  “Alternatively, employers will be fighting to hire and retain good employees in a competitive market, such as health care.  They need to think about protecting a business before a new employee comes aboard, not after one leaves.”

Points to ponder and share:

• Are you where the action is in your field?  Is now a good time to make a change?
• As an employee, have you faced threats of suit for breach of confidentiality or violation of non-solicitation provisions when you attempted to change jobs?
• Are you concerned as an employer about training good employees who eventually leave, taking their newly acquired knowledge and clients with them?