

From wage and hour laws to anti-discrimination, workplace
safety and more, having an understanding of employment laws can help protect
both you and your employees. Employment
laws are designed to offer protections for both employees and employers.
When it comes to hiring employees
for your dental practice, there are a few things to keep in mind, such as
anti-discrimination laws.
Discrimination can take shape in a number of forms,
including:
-
Age
-
Sex
-
Gender
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Race
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Religion
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Parental status (i.e. pregnant)
In addition to offering employees the protection of law
regarding certain matters, the laws are also intended to benefit employers as
well. Employment laws can help reduce
operational ambiguities by establishing clear cut legal expectations. Further, most states offer employers the
protections of being able to hire and fire at-will.
Now, let’s talk about how you can legally hire staff
for your dental practice.
When determining the need for staff members for your
practice, you’ll want to define the parameters for an ideal candidate including
their qualifications, characteristics, etc. When defining these parameters,
you’ll need to be extra cautious in the definition to avoid any discriminatory
wording.
What is the scope of work?
What role do you need the potential staff member to fill? The job posting should accurately represent
the job duties of the position, what the physical and environmental
requirements are, the expected schedule of the position, as well as any
additional requirements that you have for the role such as education, years of
experience, certifications, and so on.
When it comes to advertising for your open position, there
are some special considerations you’ll want to keep in mind. For instance, if you’re planning to advertise
on Facebook (or social media), you should know that Facebook employs
measures in which employers must identify the ad as employment related which
restricts the audience so that they can’t intentionally or unintentionally
discriminate.
It’s important to use objective standards to decide who you
move on to the next step of the interview process with. We generally recommend
completing a phone interview first because it’s an easy, less time-consuming
way to weed out any candidates that are not a good fit for the practice.
During the interview process, it is important not to ask
questions that could be seen as discriminatory and only ask questions that are
specifically related to the job and its daily functions. Examples of questions
that could be seen as discriminatory are “Do you have children?”, “How old are
you?”, and “Are you religious?”
In order to be compliant you’d need to change these
questions to “Are you able to meet the attendance requirements of this
position?”, “Are you over the age of 18?” or “Are you available on weekends?”
Some states have established that employers may not ask job
applicants about their previous salary history, including compensation and
benefits provided. This means that the typical question that you’d find on a
standard employment application “What is your current salary?” may no longer be
legal. Be sure that if you are in a state that prohibits this that you are only
obtaining this information because the employee is voluntarily providing it.
It’s important to keep in mind that an offer letter is not a contract of employment and it should clearly state that employment with your practice is at-will, as well as the details of their employment such as their schedule, who they report to, what their wages will be, their employment classification, as well as any benefits that they may be eligible for as an employee. If they are an employee that will be earning wages based on a commission, then a commission agreement should be in place which is a legal document that needs to be drafted by legal counsel. All of these details should also be documented in your employment manual.
Human resources and employment laws can be frustrating to
grasp - especially when you’re just starting your own practice. Which is why Dental B-School is here to
support you. We offer courses on the legal,
HR and insurance side of owning your practice, in addition to offering some
free
resources. To learn more about
Dental B-School and how we can help you grow your practice, get in touch today
by sending us a secure
message via our website. After all, “Starting
a practice can be scary. We’ve got the tools you need to make it happen.”
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Wouldn't it be a good idea to create a course?