Medical Doctor Employees Provided Special Provision Not Granted to Other Employees

Texas doctors were given a “perk” that the rest of Texas employees were not provided by the Texas Legislature in section 15.50 Texas Business & Commerce Code. The section modifies the regulation of covenants not to compete, which typically are contracts providing that an employee cannot compete with his employer when the employee leaves employment. The amended regulation gave doctors a “plum” by providing that any agreements limiting their practice must provide for a buy out of the covenant by the doctor, so that the doctor could free himself from it for a reasonable price if he so chose to do so. The law also made it mandatory to include this provision and the 14th Court of Appeals in Texas recently ruled in Laskiplus of Texas, Inc. v. Mattioli, M.D.;that the failure to have the provision invalidates the entire agreement. Obviously, the medical association had a better lobby with the Legislature than the rest of us common folk. But, don’t they always, as evidenced by their own malpractice law that grants them special protections in lawsuits when they are accused of medical malpractice.