Anyone ever heard of a contract like this?

[Anonymous]

The lawyer who read my contract before I signed didn't tell me this and I didn't catch it when I read the contract either. I'm a physician and my contract says basically if I want to make any changes to the contract including terminating it I have to give notice by October in order for it to be effective the following July. In other words if I decided now that I wanted to leave now I wouldn't be able to leave until next July. 14 months from now. My new lawyer that I had read the contract said it's not likely to be enforceable but that doesn't mean they wouldn't try to sue me. I'm leaving and giving them 30 days notice (per my lawyers advice) early this week. I can't really afford any legal battle but this job is horrible, the people I work for are bullies and I just can't stay any longer. Has anyone ever seen a contract like this and is there any way this could be enforced? if it matters this is in Maryland.

[Anonymous]

1. No one can make you work.
2. The questions damages.
3. Does the contract state what the damages are?
4. Will you be very hard to replace?

[Anonymous]

It's not an enforceable contract.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not an enforceable contract.

Doesn't mean they won't try by suing OP.

[Anonymous]

The only saving grace is that if things go sideways, it sounds like you have a decent legal malpractice case against your original lawyer. An unusual and particularly harsh provision like that should have, at a minimum, been pointed out and explained to OP.

[Anonymous]

Another physician here. Never heard of such a thing before although most Physician contracts I've seen or sign require 3 months notice. 30 days is very short for physicians since finding, hiring and credentialing a new physician takes longer than most jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. No one can make you work.
2. The questions damages.
3. Does the contract state what the damages are?
4. Will you be very hard to replace?

OP here. The damages issue is what my current lawyer said as well. Damages could be whatever they have to pay someone to replace me over what they pay me I guess. The contract doesn't specify damages. The other thing my lawyer mentioned was that the owner of the practice only works 1 day a week so technically he could replace me rather than having to hire someone else so it would be hard to really ask for damages but I'm not sure how accurate that is. In any other practice I wouldn't be hard to replace. This is a competitive area for doctors and there are more doctors than there are jobs in my field so it shouldn't be difficult but this practice is horrible and has that reputation so they might have a difficult time finding someone new. I made the mistake of not asking around before I accepted the job. I was moving from out of state so I didn't really know enough people to ask.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another physician here. Never heard of such a thing before although most Physician contracts I've seen or sign require 3 months notice. 30 days is very short for physicians since finding, hiring and credentialing a new physician takes longer than most jobs.

OP here. I agree 30 days is short for most physician jobs (although I've seen contracts only specifying 30 days notice) and if I'd been treated better in my time there I'd be more inclined to give more notice but they've treated me horribly. Threatened to replace me if I didn't work whenever they told me to (I work part time and they think that means I can work anytime they tell me to), taking back vacation time I had requested months earlier with almost no notice, the list goes on and on really and I've had enough. My new position wants me to start right away.

[Anonymous]

Physician employment goes on a cycle... it's hard to find a replacement off cycle. I think "reasonable" will depend on lots of factors, and if the employer can't find a qualified candidate then there may be recourse.

Why didn't you (or your lawyer??) read your contract more carefully??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Physician employment goes on a cycle... it's hard to find a replacement off cycle. I think "reasonable" will depend on lots of factors, and if the employer can't find a qualified candidate then there may be recourse.

Why didn't you (or your lawyer??) read your contract more carefully??

The question of scrutinizing the contract is of minimal importance now relative to the other issues OP currently faces. OP will likely not make the same mistake in the future, & is far as OP's previous lawyer is concerned, "why" lawyer failed to read OP's contract will have even less importance if OP brought a legal malpractice suit against lawyer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Physician employment goes on a cycle... it's hard to find a replacement off cycle. I think "reasonable" will depend on lots of factors, and if the employer can't find a qualified candidate then there may be recourse.

Why didn't you (or your lawyer??) read your contract more carefully??

The question of scrutinizing the contract is of minimal importance now relative to the other issues OP currently faces. OP will likely not make the same mistake in the future, & is far as OP's previous lawyer is concerned, "why" lawyer failed to read OP's contract will have even less importance if OP brought a legal malpractice suit against lawyer.

OP here and yes that is true. To answer the first person, the employer has been looking to replace someone else in the practice for 2 years and hasn't found a candidate because the practice has a terrible reputation not because of the cycle. If they want to hire a resident then I guess they are off cycle but doctors look for jobs all year long and in my experience there isn't really a cycle if you really want to hire someone. I say this as someone who has moved and changed jobs 3 times and I've found that in this area there is always someone looking for a job.