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Physician Contract Glossary · Contract Structure

Employment Contract

An employment contract is the agreement that makes you a W-2 employee of a practice or hospital, with the employer controlling how you work.

An employment contract makes you a W-2 employee. The employer withholds taxes, usually provides benefits, often covers malpractice, and in return controls your schedule, your duties, and the terms of your work. It is the most common structure for a first attending job. Everything else in this glossary, compensation, termination, restrictive covenants, lives inside this document, which is why reading the whole thing matters more than reading the salary line.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

This is the document the senior people in your program signed without reading. Read every clause, because the employer drafted it to protect the employer, and the terms are negotiable until you sign.

Related terms

Stop being recruited. Start choosing.

You are about to sign something the senior people in your program signed without reading.

They had no guide either. You do. Start with the option that costs you nothing: see every practice that is actually out there before anyone hands you a contract.

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