Employee Laid Off

RHH · January 2009

We have an employee who is a physical therapist (PT) and he was laid off due to lack of volume (patients). The doctor who refers patients to this clinic did not like the PT so he was not referring patients to him. Now the director of the clinic wants to hire another PT that the doctor has recommended - and it happens to be a female. If she is hired the doctor will start referring patients to her. The doctor is not employed by the client nor does he own the clinic - he just refers patients to the clinic. I would like to have some thoughts on this.

sonny · January 2009

How old is the laid off male? Do you know how old the female is?

joannie · January 2009

In addition to age, is he in any protected class?

Dutch2 · January 2009

When an employee is informed that they are being "laid off" due to slow business, etc. this allows them to presume (rightly or wrongly) that they will be brought back on board when the economy picks up. Therefore, I would suspect that this former employee that was laid off might attempt to raise a stink when they find out that someone else has been hired to do the same job they were doing just a few weeks earlier.
This may have seemed like an easy way to get rid of someone, but ...

NaeNae55 · January 2009

Is the laid off employee the only employee who does PT? Are the referrels to the clinic or to the therapist? I assume the therapist is paid by the hour. Is he paid by encounter instead? How many other doctors send referrels to you? Who was this doctor sending patients to when he wasn't sending referrels to you? Was it someone local (and is there a lot of local competition) or did the patients have to go out of their way for treatment? Finally, why did the doctor not like this employee? Was it his methods, personalitly, or something that might be considered discrimination?

This is a very complicated situation. You might need to consult an attorney, especially if you answered yes to the last part of the last question.

Nae

POTATO · January 2009

If I am misunderstanding your post, please pardon my response...

Have you had complaints from patients about your current PT and if so have you documented them? Has your reviews with the employee included conversations regarding these complaints or the complaints from the doctor? Is the doctor specific about the reasons he won't refer patients or is it just that he doesn't like your employee?

I am also confused about the fact that the doctor does NOT own the clinic but is allowed to determine which of YOUR employees he will refer his patients to. I would think that the doctor would refer his patients to your clinic NOT to specific PT's? The other part that troubles me is that this doctor doesn't like your current employee but has a "friend" he wants YOU to employ...it just seems fishy to me.

jennifer jo · February 2009

Is there only one Dr. making referrals? I agree with the poster who questioned the Dr.'s level of involvement and decision making authority. I also agree with Nae regarding the attorney.

davids · February 2009

I agree with POTATO. Do you have specific information regarding the complaints (who, what, where, etc.)? Did you investigate and find the complaints valid? Did you address the issues with the PT and give him an opportunity to improve? Without more information, you don't know whether the complaints were valid or not. It was really not fair to the employee, or patients who may have liked him, to have laid him off because of unsubstantiated complaints. If you did investigate and substantiated the complaints, the employee should have been told the reason for his termination.

Can you give the doctor's referrals to other PTs and have the laid off PT handle other patients?

sonny · February 2009

I think we ran RHH off with all our questions. .

jennifer jo · February 2009

You are probably right Sonny...oops!

Employee Laid Off

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