Photo Credit: Galeanu Mihai
Dr. MedLaw addresses clinicians’ questions regarding medical law, starting with guidance on navigating the complexities of a salary structure shift.
Clinician: I joined my cardiology group with a salary and a productivity-based bonus. I was hired to allow them to open a satellite center, and I accepted a lower salary than I normally would have because the bonus I would receive as the primary doctor at the new site would compensate for that. After more than two years, a developer bought and razed the building where the office was housed. My employer kept me on for the main office at the base salary, and the productivity bonus applies for the eight months remaining on my current contract. I think they must pay me an average of what I was steadily earning since I only agreed to the salary they offered based on the promise of work at the second site.
Dr. MedLaw: When you signed up with this group, you agreed your compensation would derive from two sources: a base salary and a bonus system, with the second aspect being expected but not certain. None of this has changed, so, as a baseline matter, the contract remains enforceable as is. The fundamental underpinning of the contract—that the site must exist—has changed.
What you want to assert, therefore, is an equitable claim, outside the contract’s wording, that only promised you a base salary and a chance for a bonus rather than guaranteeing a total amount based on fairness because you relied on what you were told. The legal principle you want to invoke is promissory estoppel. You were promised a total compensation level, making accepting a lower salary worthwhile.
Further, the group can also claim “force majeure“. That refers to a situation in which a contract cannot be fulfilled as written for reasons that the party could not reasonably foresee and cannot control and it excuses the party from performance.
This was an unfortunate outcome, but you can take it as a learning experience. If you enter into another contract with speculative terms, add a protective clause that guarantees a minimum payment for the contract’s term.
Watch for Dr. MedLaw‘s next column, in which she responds to a clinician seeking information regarding medical employment breach of contract.
