I.Don’t.Know

September 25, 2008 · 3 comments

My doctor is supposed to come back on Monday from his medical leave.

I’m not entirely sure he is ready. He sounded a LOT more prepared and excited about coming back when I talked to him last week. Now he seems anxious about it and I honestly think it has more to do with his lack of paycheck than anything else. I totally understand, BUT, if he comes before he is really ready, it could end up even worse for all of us.

Even though we never ever discussed anything in regard to short or long term leaves (7 years ago when he was hired!), I thought it kind of went without saying that if I had to pay other doctors to cover his ass while he was out that there would be no way to pay him his usual salary. I mean, yes, as a benefit I cover his medical insurance (btw, can you say freaking absurdly expensive?!?!), but he pays for his own liability and professional insurance. So it stands to reason that mr. I’m-here-to-take-care-of-the-office-and-you could handle getting his own short term disability or AFLAC* or whatever.

Anyway, I feel a little pissed and a little annoyed that he’s upset with ME that I can’t afford to pay him while I’m paying OTHER DOCTORS BECAUSE HE CAN’T WORK!!!!!

Sigh.

I told him that I was sorry and that I could look into it to see if there was anything I could do…but that is stupid. No work+paying others =too bad, right?!

So my excitement at potentially getting my office back to normal has been dampened by the feeling I have that he is coming back because he wants the paycheck, not because he’s ready or excited about it.

Oh, and the reason he thinks he should at least get something in the way of pay is because a couple of the insurance companies that we bill to are billed under his name, not the office group name. Um, stretch much? He claims that is his contribution that he should be compensated for even though he was out of the office…

So I don’t know. I want to be thrilled, but I’m afraid that (a) he’s not really ready and (b) we are going to end up needing our fill-in doctors longer. Which, honestly? Is so not a big deal since they are pretty good. But I hate leaving things up in the air and unsettled, and I despise the fact that even though he always says it’s not about the money, that it is, in fact, always about the money. I mean, I don’t know (or care to even) his actual financial situation, but for someone who is so obsessed with watching his stocks and portfolio and forever making trades and changes and whatnot, I’d be pretty surprised if there wasn’t a nest-egg of some sort that he could use in these tough times.

Am I wrong?  Should I come up with some sort of money for him? As the employer am I responsible for making sure that if people can’t work that they get paid??

I. Don’t. Know.

* The AFLAC people came by a couple months ago.  I told them that the employees all had their own insurance and they should speak to them individually.  The guy was persistent, but I insisted that since I wasn’t going to pay for it that he didn’t need to chat with me.  Miss signs from above much, D?:roll:

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

flutter September 25, 2008 at 11:09 pm

DUDE SO not your responsibility.

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Tabatha September 26, 2008 at 1:55 pm

I dont know the situation, BUT, I think taking THAT LONG off, it is HIS responsibility to come up with some income. NOT YOURS! Specially since you had to hire other doctors. I mean, I could understand if you were a HUGE place with multiple doctors and maybe giving him a LITTLE something, but, you had to fill in for HIM. So, his pay is out of the question.. That is my opinion! Good luck with it all…

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Shine September 26, 2008 at 10:36 pm

Where I’ve worked in the past, leave was ALWAYS unpaid unless you had disability insurance. Whether you purchased that through the company or on your own that was your choice, but you are under no obligation to pay for his leave. Can’t blame him for asking, I would too, but he’s a grown up and it’s up to him to take care of his family. He pays extra for Medical right? It’s the same thing. You might feel bad about it, it may cause some tension, but hopefully he doesn’t hold it against you and everyone can just move on.

I seriously hope he IS ready to come back and like you said it’s not just for the money, because if he isn’t ready, issues could re-surface and where will you be? I guess just make that clear to him, that you want him to be ready, not only for his sake but for the sake of your business, so he has somewhere to come back to!!

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