In order to bind an employee to a covenant not to compete, a Texas employer must comply with the state’s Covenant Not to Compete Act. Keith Clouse, a Dallas employment law attorney who regularly advises doctors, notes that special requirements apply if the covenant not to compete is to be enforced against a physician. A non-compete agreement with a doctor must:
• Not deny the doctor access to a list of patients he has seen or treated within one year of termination of the contract or employment;
• Provide access to medical records of the doctor’s patients (upon authorization by the patients) and copies of medical records for a reasonable fee;
• Provide that any access to a list of patients or to patients’ medical records after termination of the contract or agreement shall not require the list or records to be provided in a format different than the format in which such records are maintained unless the parties agree otherwise;
• Provide for a “buy out” of the covenant by the doctor at a reasonable price or, at the option of either party, as determined by an arbitrator; and
• State that the doctor will not be prohibited from providing continuing care and treatment to a specific patient during the course of an acute illness even after the contract or employment has been terminated.
To discuss a non-compete agreement with an employment lawyer, please contact the employment lawyers at Clouse Dunn Khoshbin LLP at [email protected].
