Professional Agreement Violations

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Doittoit

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Montana
I am a Physician Assistant just a couple of moths past honoring a year of a three year Professional Agreement (contract). I believe my employers are in violation of my contract and looking for confirmation that I am likely correct and suggestions of recourse. This has been a struggle for several months so negotiation is no longer an option unless their perspective changes.


When recruited my offer stated that I would have access to the medical facilities at a flat rate of $25. I did not get my contract until I had already moved and this was not in my contract, however, as I said it was part of my offer and was part of the working environment over the past year. They medical facility has chosen to remove this benefit and it is my belief as it was part of the working conditions that I signed my contract under that it violates the working contract by substantially changing my compensation and working environment.


Part of my contract includes a $500 medical stipend that I have been receiving for the last year. The medical facility has come to realize this is in violation with federal law and instead has decided to increase my pay by $500. This $500 dollars though is now taxable and is not equivalent to the compensation that it was previously. I contend that they are obligated to raise the amount to compensate for the difference.


These violations aren't enough for me to want to pursue restitution, but I also want to formally notify my employers that I feel this breaks my contract (giving me the right to seek other employment without retribution) and that my continued employment isn't an acceptance of the changes.


Assuming I have a reasonable argument about them violating my contract, if I am to notify them I feel they are in breach of the contract, I want to make sure that they are still legally bound by all the conditions of the contract until the point I choose to leave and/or sue.


My goal is to protect my rights for what I was offered (even if I am not collecting it) in case their are further violation of the contract that eventually require me to quite and/or sue them.
 
Not hardly. To find out your options, you need to take the agreement to a licensed attorney in your area. I would not hold my breath. If the $25 was not in the contract, odds are they are not contractually obligated to continue it. Contracts may not violate other laws so if the only way to legally pay you the $500 is to do it the way they are, that isn't a violation. No one is required to continue violating the law in order to fulfill the terms of a contract.

It is also not true that one breach means the entire contract is void or that the other party may violate some part of the contract too.
 
I agree that they don't have to violate the law to fulfill the contract, but the change shouldn't reduce the amount I am being effectively compensated. It isn't my fault that that they offered to pay me that way; as they are a business surly it is their responsibility to know what is legal when compensating their employees. The offer was that I was going to have $500 dollars to pay my insurance, now I have $400. They have the ability to change how they pay me and still make it equivalent without breaking the law.

"It is also not true that one breach means the entire contract is void or that the other party may violate some part of the contract too."

I realize this, but the second part is not really the point. If I am not being compensated to the agreed upon amount surly I have a right to quite without being liable for my portion of the contract.
 
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Actually, you don't. It is extremely questionable whether they would have to gross up your wages to account for taxes. Typically not, but it is vaguely possible though unlikely, that the contract specifies something to this effect. This is why you need to take it to a lawyer to review.

What I can tell you in not true is that a "violation" such as you describe means you can quit consequence free. As for the consequences for quitting, that will also depend upon the wording of your contract.
 
I realize this, but the second part is not really the point. If I am not being compensated to the agreed upon amount surly I have a right to quite without being liable for my portion of the contract.

No, you don't have the right to quit without consequences.

You have the right to seek to enforce the items in the contract that you think they are breaching.

I also suggest that you consult an attorney. The few hundred you pay him now will be a fraction of what you pay him when you get sued after quitting.
 
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