General non-compete question (nursing home/private practice)

[CaptainCool]

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Hey, I know the real answer is "get a lawyer" but I was wondering if I could run this by you guys first to put my mind at ease.

Basically I'm down in Georgia and have my main job in private practice as well as a part time/side job with a nursing home group (gotta pay off those loans). A hospital across town wants to hire me, it's located far away from my private practice location so no issue there BUT there's a nursing home that my side gig goes to down the street which would put me in violation of their non compete.

Do you think the nursing home practice would have a valid non-compete claim to stop me from working as a hospital employeed podiatrist? My understanding is non competes are to protect the former practice from a doctor stealing business or patients- in this case I would have zero overlap with their patients since I wouldn't be doing any nursing home work.

Just wondering what your thought are, thanks in advance

 

[dtrack22]

Take the hospital job. Dare them to enforce the non compete. They won’t.

This is old, but was in Georgia and your situation would be very similar and honestly even more unreasonable than the noncompete the medical group in the article was trying to enforce. Obviously talk with a real lawyer...

Georgia Court of Appeals’ Nixes Physician Non-Compete Because It Covered Territory in Which Referral Sources Were Located but Where Physician Had Not Worked

 

[CaptainCool]

Take the hospital job. Dare them to enforce the non compete. They won’t.

This is old, but was in Georgia and your situation would be very similar and honestly even more unreasonable than the noncompete the medical group in the article was trying to enforce. Obviously talk with a real lawyer...

Georgia Court of Appeals’ Nixes Physician Non-Compete Because It Covered Territory in Which Referral Sources Were Located but Where Physician Had Not Worked

Thanks Dtrack

 

[619]

That's right, take the hospital Job. The nursing homes have a bigger battle on their plate to deal with like "cough" "cough" Covid-19.

Assuming you were going to work for a competing nursing home and somehow you cut nails so damm good that the patients in the previous nursing homes are switching to the new nursing homes just to see you. Then there might be a case of non-compete. Your scenario is nothing close to this.

Congrats on the new hospital Job!!! Glad to see the economy is improving and hiring is back on again.

 

[ldsrmdude]

As mentioned above, there really isn’t overlap so there really shouldn’t be much of an issue for them to enforce the non-compete, but it might depend on the exact wording of your non-compete. My private practice non-compete was worded much more stringently than my hospital non-compete. Basically my hospital contract says I can’t join a multi-specialty group or hospital group in my area, but I could start my own practice or join a single-specialty practice. My private practice was basically I couldn’t work within a certain area period.

I would also let the incoming job know because they may not want to cause issues with a local nursing home and they may not want to be party with you violating your non-compete.

I certainly don’t know enough to comment on enforceability. If your non-compete would in theory prohibit you from working for the hospital, I would be concerned that you would be threatened with legal action even if you ultimately prevailed. At that point it would be up to you whether the hospital job is worth the headache of a potential lawsuit. Would they try to enforce it? Dunno, maybe not. Could they? Sure.

I’m not a lawyer obviously but you should talk with one who deals with this sort of thing before going forward.

 

[king22]

I will preface this by saying (as everyone else has) that I'm not a lawyer. My wife, however, is. This is what she had said on the matter when I brought the question to her a few years back (when I was going over my own contract)- Enforcement of non-compete clauses vary from state to state but in most cases these clauses are practically unenforceable. Your "right to earn a living" supersedes your previous employers desire for market share.

 

[dtrack22]

Enforcement of non-compete clauses vary from state to state but in most cases these clauses are practically unenforceable. Your "right to earn a living" supersedes your previous employers desire for market share.

I am not a lawyer but the other thing I’ve seen/read in a few rulings in a few different states is that non-competes against physicians can also be hard to enforce (or are ruled in favor of the physician when challenged), because said enforcement often times means decreasing access to healthcare for members of a community. A hospital or group who wants to enforce a non compete are doing so to the detriment of public health and safety. Therefore, doc gets to keep practicing wherever he/she wants and the court will just say something like, you can’t actively solicit your previous patients, but you can open up across the street if you want and nobody can stop them from coming to see you

Of course that argument might carry more weight when it’s a hospital trying to prevent a cardiologist from practicing in town compared to a podiatrist...