choosing a full time employer while in the national guard

[deleted480308]

I've been looking into what employment models are more beneficial to national guard members. obviously the small group or PP is basically out. I know federal employment had some pretty beneficial poolicies (linked below) but their pay is lower. are the large hospital groups/employer companies also pretty good with guard members? is the difference in pay worth the "protection" of being a federal employee because in every field I've been interested in, the difference in pay is large.


http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-administration/fact-sheets/military-leave/

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Members don't see this ad.

 

[ferning]

I dont think legally employers can at least terminate if not hire for serving in the armed forces, or guard

 

[colbgw02]

I dont think legally employers can at least terminate if not hire for serving in the armed forces, or guard

While technically true, the OP's concerns are very valid. Employers can fire someone without cause as long as they provide the contractually stipulated lead time, and good luck proving that the person was fired because of his/her military service. Also, short of firing someone, there are all sorts of ways to make a person's work environment very uncomfortable. I know that I will be declining my reserve commission, in part, because I a) do not want to get called up only to find myself unemployed after coming home and b) don't care to limit my job search to positions that are military friendly.

OP, the only people I've known to make this work either were federal employees or got very "lucky". The luck part was that their jobs had enough vacation to absorb the 2 weeks a year active time and they were never called up for an extended period. I know in my specialty and branch (Army), government service is really the only player in this particular game. Apart from that, I think you'd probably be looking at a multistate, multispecialty hospital group, like Kaiser Permanente, which may be too large to escape notice if they adopted anti-military policies, but that may not be an option for you depending on geographic and pay concerns.

 

[Gastrapathy]

As a partner in a medical practice, you are not an employee.

 

[colbgw02]

As a partner in a medical practice, you are not an employee.

Which is exactly why I talked about ways someone's work space can be made very uncomfortable short of termination.

 

[Gastrapathy]

Yeah, that was meant to support your point. There is zero protection under the law for a business owner.

 

[deleted480308]

Am i correct in assuming that even large partnerships rarely take on a national guard member?

 

[colbgw02]

Yeah, that was meant to support your point. There is zero protection under the law for a business owner.

My bad. I thought you were seizing upon my talk about contracts, which obviously a partner wouldn't have.

 

[DeadCactus]

Can't have a meaningful conversation about this without talking specialty. A plug and play specialty that is frequently one of many physicians in a group (hospitalist, emergency physician, anesthesiologist, etc) is different from a practice driven specialty that generally works with a small set of partners (ie surgical subspecialties).

 

[deleted480308]

Can't have a meaningful conversation about this without talking specialty. A plug and play specialty that is frequently one of many physicians in a group (hospitalist, emergency physician, anesthesiologist, etc) is different from a practice driven specialty that generally works with a small set of partners (ie surgical subspecialties).

I'm heavily leaning emergency medicine. I also have an interest in urology but am aware that I'm not a top 10% style academic performer now that I'm competing with med students instead of undergrad folks, I also have concerns about picking a specialty (like the very surgically based urology) that could get me dramatically harmed in terms finding work or keeping my skills up if this 90day on the ground deployment policy suddenly changes to a year or more and I get stuck doing battalion surgeon (is that the term you all use for the non-clinical position) for a year or more.

*tlr....i'm almost 90% going em

 

[notdeadyet]

Am i correct in assuming that even large partnerships rarely take on a national guard member?

No.

 

[notdeadyet]

I also have concerns about picking a specialty (like the very surgically based urology) that could get me dramatically harmed in terms finding work or keeping my skills up if this 90day on the ground deployment policy suddenly changes to a year or more and I get stuck doing battalion surgeon

If you're choosing your specialty to suit the Guard, rather than the other way around, you REALLY should not be joining.

 

[deleted480308]

If you're choosing your specialty to suit the Guard, rather than the other way around, you REALLY should not be joining.

I actually want to do this and was leaning EM prior to really getting close to signing. Urology is one of those things that I find very interesting but am not getting too excited about this far before comlex because it may not be in the realm of reality for me to consider, and that's before the non-trad in me even thinks about two additional years of residency over EM

I just like to investigate all the realities of specialty choice in relation to the guard

 

[deleted480308]

No.

That's good to hear, i wouldn't blame groups for not wanting to deal with it but that's good news

 

[j4pac]

I actually want to do this and was leaning EM prior to really getting close to signing. Urology is one of those things that I find very interesting but am not getting too excited about this far before comlex because it may not be in the realm of reality for me to consider, and that's before the non-trad in me even thinks about two additional years of residency over EM

I just like to investigate all the realities of specialty choice in relation to the guard

EM is much more realistic than Urology for a DO. You can do Urology as a DO but you better be a gunner or have an in.

 

[deleted480308]

EM is much more realistic than Urology for a DO. You can do Urology as a DO but you better be a gunner or have an in.

Academically, I'm not...but I really like EM so I don't think I'm settling. They are both very interesting fields

 

[notdeadyet]

That's good to hear, i wouldn't blame groups for not wanting to deal with it but that's good news

Yeah, as a gross generalization, the larger the group, the less impact your Guard service will have. Deployment is the Big Ugly, but also keep in mind that you have two weeks of AT every year that you have no voice in the scheduling of. Also, the "one weekend per month" thing can be a bit of an understatement, depending on your unit and function.

 

[DeadCactus]

Wandering out of my lane as I'm still a resident and have not yet had to find a job as an attending in the Guard. I don't think it will be difficult finding an EM job willing to work around your Guard commitments if you're flexible. Urology will be more difficult especially for someone early in their career, deployment will be much more painful for both your wallet and your practice as a surgeon. That being said, there are people in all specialties in the reserve components who make it work...