AMR Suspends Medics For Working For Competitor

[mikeymedic1984]

http://articles.courant.com/2012-09-15/business/hc-amr-paramedics-suspended-20120915_1_ambulance-service-amr-paramedics-life-support-services

I know this has been around as a topic since AMR's existence, but really ? Are we working with top secret nuclear codes here ? Is this fair ? Is it legal ? Is there anyone at the competitor who does not know which contracts AMR has in their area ? I wonder if they have any problems hiring medics who work for another 911 municipal service ? What secrets could the average EMT divulge that would hurt AMR ? Someone from AMR please help me understand ?

[scubanurse]

Legality all depends on if their contracts have a non-compete agreement or clause. I know a lot of companies have those in there and so yes it would be legal...

[akflightmedic]

As a business owner, I employ non competes as well...no you are not dealing with nuclear secrets but each employee has value and intimate knowledge of how "the inside" works.

If you are a good employee, which most are...you will try to improve whatever service you are working for. You may see how I conduct business regarding scheduling, inventory, whatever...something totally benign to you the non vested individual. To me, the owner concerned with profit, those tid bits of knowledge are valuable. I could have an employee improve my processes and help me with cost savings all by sharing knowledge from another employer which they thought was inconsequential.

If I am competing with someone, I do not want them to have any advantage...period.

Contracts...sure my competitor may know who I service contractually, but they may not know HOW. Again, a loyal employee may inadvertently reveal sensitive information which could cost me a lot. Or take it to the extreme, a disgruntled employee may try to obtain info on how the contracts work and share that info to harm me.

There is a lot of value in knowing when a contract expires, satisfaction of client with said contract, payment terms, fees, etc...there is so much that you are completely oblivious to because business is not your business...being an EMS provider is your business.

I could go on and on about so many small details but I think you get the gist.

So yes, they should not work for a competitor if they have indeed signed a non compete and yes it is absolutely fair and justified.

[mikeymedic1984]

Do you not have signed contracts for a period of years ? If one emt could wreck your contract, did you really ever have a good relationship with your facility ?

[rock_shoes]

Non-compete agreements can also be taken too far. My primary employer is the provincial ambulance service. At times I take industrial work. Depending on how things are written, if I had signed a non-compete contract, my primary employer could fire me for that. The private company I work for is in no way competing with my primary employer. How would that be a fair or reasonable expectation?

My advice is always know exactly what you're signing.

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Tapatalk 2

[island emt]

We are talking about the EVIL EMPIRE here.

They will do whatever they wish and if the bean counters decide they aren't making enough profit just walk away, contract or not. They tend to want to keep the "HELP" under their thumb and don't really care about the well being of the employees.

Lincoln freed the slave in 1864 unless they work for the empire.

[akflightmedic]

Do you not have signed contracts for a period of years ? If one emt could wreck your contract, did you really ever have a good relationship with your facility ?

Every contract has an "Out Clause" regardless of duration agreed.

I did not say ONE EMT could wreck it, I outlined ways an employee could negatively impact a service while trying to positively influence another just by being a good person with no evil intention.

Pay attention...the evil doer "outlier" is exactly that...a rare statistic. I would almost prefer having the ONE evil doer within my company (as they are rare to start with) than having 100 conscientious employees working for my competitor--because ultimately they will improve that service through ideals and innovations just by bei g themselves. I would want that exclusively for my company, not the competitor.

[n7lxi]

As someone who has hired many people, written contracts and enforced non compete clauses, I can tell you that in most cases, it's simply a scare tactic.

Most terminated employees simply don't have the money to fight a legal battle.

There are several reasons why a non compete will be ruled null and void.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Sorry for any spelling errors.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Question to AK at the end of this post but heres my response

True on the null and void portion but does the average EMT have the money to go to a lawyer and spend the hourly fee that that lawyer will charge to get that non-compete ruled null and void.

I Think Not.

I have been threatened with a non-compete and have won on my side for a couple of reasons but the bottom line is this, if you read what you are signing and you know and understand what you are signing before you sign it then you should be good to go.

If you don't understand the legal verbage and not many emt's or local joes who do, then you go to a lawyer first and have them go over the non-compete.

I'll ask this of AK - would you hold it against a future prospective employee if they took your non-compete to their attorney to have it explained to them? Would you look negatively upon that employee if they did that?

[emtdennis]

If there is no agreement in place, you may want to have a chat with your employer. Due to the need for aditional income, you need to work for other service.

If there is an agreement in place, you need to honor it. I would hope a person does not sign something they don't understand. The employer should have taken the time to explain it to the new hire.

Many companies (even non-ambulance) have no-compete statements