What is the normal way to handle payments after you stop working at office that paid you on collections once a month? My boss told me he is only going to pay me on collections till the last day I worked. There is close to 40k in collections that have not come in yet on work that I have done. Also, how do offices usually handle lab fees that you paid on cases that you will not deliver?
Background:
I graduated a year ago and had been working at a medicaid heavy practice for the last year. The owner had always been a little shady. He would take quite a while to respond to emails or calls about financial things and would skirt issues that I would bring up to him. I know I should have left immediately instead of staying on for almost a year, but being knee deep in loans [and pretty naive out of school], it is difficult to be jobless for any length of time. When I started, he was paying 25% collections and did not offer a daily minimum because he claimed he did not give it to any of his associates (I later found out all the other associates did have daily minimums). My original contract (and the only one I ever signed) was for 25% collections. A few months later, I asked for an increase, as I was by then the highest producing doctor and I was also working 36 hours a week (with no benefits). He agreed to increasing it to 30% collections, and a $450 minimum. We did not sign a new contract for this, but he did start paying me the 30% as agreed. By this point, I was producing/collecting beyond what the daily minimum would have been so it did not apply (but was calculated on the pay stubs anyway for comparison). After months of finding small mistakes in my pay stubs and having to wait weeks for the owners responses/corrections, I gave my required 60 day notice to my boss telling him that unless he increased the percentage, I would not be renewing my original contract after the 60 days. He came to talk to me in person and we agreed verbally to continue on a month to month basis after the 60 days (no contract). I agreed to work the same schedule and he stated he would pay me the same way (verbally). This last month was the first month that I did NOT collect more than the minimum. I have never been paid the minimum in the past since I always collected more. This was ALSO the first month after my official initial contract ended, and the first month I was on "month-to-month". When I received my pay stub, there was a calculation showing that the daily minimum value was about $3000 more than the 30% collections for the month. While they did calculate it, they instead paid me on the 30% collections (so 3k less). When I approached him about this, he told me that on a month to month, he would no longer honor the daily minimum. He never told me he was going to change that during our verbal exchange before. Because it was 3k less than what I expected, I told him that if there was no change in pay, then I could no longer work as I have loan payments and bills that cannot be fulfilled with 3k less than the minimum. I told him that if he could propose some option that made it possible for me to make enough to survive, I would stay on but otherwise I would have to find a job that could cover my monthly payments. He was not happy and told me not to come back the next day. I emailed him asking how my last paycheck would be calculated. He told me it would just be collections up till the last day I worked. I have paid lab fees on many cases I have not delivered yet. Also, when I first started working last year, I was really concerned because I was being paid so little in comparison to my production. He told me back then that collections would catch up and I would eventually be paid all of my collections as they came in, even after I stopped working. He told me to expect 97-99% of production. In the last year I have produced about 370k and he has collected 330k to date. His collections rate is 97-99%, but obviously it takes time. Because they require payment in advance of all procedures, I do believe they get close to 97% collections by the end of the year.
What is the normal procedure for someone who is paid on collections after they stop working? Should I be paid all the collections of the work I have done? Or is there some typical wait period before it is calculated? It does not seem right to be paid so much less than what will be collected on my work, but I am not sure what is standard and he has stopped responding to my emails for clarification. I am looking into an employment lawyer but I wanted to see how other dentists typically handle this situation.
Background:
I graduated a year ago and had been working at a medicaid heavy practice for the last year. The owner had always been a little shady. He would take quite a while to respond to emails or calls about financial things and would skirt issues that I would bring up to him. I know I should have left immediately instead of staying on for almost a year, but being knee deep in loans [and pretty naive out of school], it is difficult to be jobless for any length of time. When I started, he was paying 25% collections and did not offer a daily minimum because he claimed he did not give it to any of his associates (I later found out all the other associates did have daily minimums). My original contract (and the only one I ever signed) was for 25% collections. A few months later, I asked for an increase, as I was by then the highest producing doctor and I was also working 36 hours a week (with no benefits). He agreed to increasing it to 30% collections, and a $450 minimum. We did not sign a new contract for this, but he did start paying me the 30% as agreed. By this point, I was producing/collecting beyond what the daily minimum would have been so it did not apply (but was calculated on the pay stubs anyway for comparison). After months of finding small mistakes in my pay stubs and having to wait weeks for the owners responses/corrections, I gave my required 60 day notice to my boss telling him that unless he increased the percentage, I would not be renewing my original contract after the 60 days. He came to talk to me in person and we agreed verbally to continue on a month to month basis after the 60 days (no contract). I agreed to work the same schedule and he stated he would pay me the same way (verbally). This last month was the first month that I did NOT collect more than the minimum. I have never been paid the minimum in the past since I always collected more. This was ALSO the first month after my official initial contract ended, and the first month I was on "month-to-month". When I received my pay stub, there was a calculation showing that the daily minimum value was about $3000 more than the 30% collections for the month. While they did calculate it, they instead paid me on the 30% collections (so 3k less). When I approached him about this, he told me that on a month to month, he would no longer honor the daily minimum. He never told me he was going to change that during our verbal exchange before. Because it was 3k less than what I expected, I told him that if there was no change in pay, then I could no longer work as I have loan payments and bills that cannot be fulfilled with 3k less than the minimum. I told him that if he could propose some option that made it possible for me to make enough to survive, I would stay on but otherwise I would have to find a job that could cover my monthly payments. He was not happy and told me not to come back the next day. I emailed him asking how my last paycheck would be calculated. He told me it would just be collections up till the last day I worked. I have paid lab fees on many cases I have not delivered yet. Also, when I first started working last year, I was really concerned because I was being paid so little in comparison to my production. He told me back then that collections would catch up and I would eventually be paid all of my collections as they came in, even after I stopped working. He told me to expect 97-99% of production. In the last year I have produced about 370k and he has collected 330k to date. His collections rate is 97-99%, but obviously it takes time. Because they require payment in advance of all procedures, I do believe they get close to 97% collections by the end of the year.
What is the normal procedure for someone who is paid on collections after they stop working? Should I be paid all the collections of the work I have done? Or is there some typical wait period before it is calculated? It does not seem right to be paid so much less than what will be collected on my work, but I am not sure what is standard and he has stopped responding to my emails for clarification. I am looking into an employment lawyer but I wanted to see how other dentists typically handle this situation.
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