Mistake #3 – The Employment Contract Fails to Meet the State’s Health Department Requirements

The Employment Contract must include specific terms to comply with the State’s J-1 Waiver Conrad 30 requirements. Each state has their own unique employment contract requirements but in general many states require the following terms to be included in their contract:

• The contract should include the location of employment and designate the Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) or Medically Underserved Area (MUA) ID number;
• The employment contract must indicate that the physician will work full-time (40 hours per week) at the specified health care facility;
• States may also require that the termination of the agreement only be for cause and not by mutual agreement;
• The Physician’s salary should be included in the contract;
• The field of practice and job duties may also be required in the contract;
• Some states also require the list of benefits, and amount of paid or unpaid leave provided to the physician;
• Some states require specific language to appear in the contract such as: “All Amendments to this Agreement shall adhere to State and Federal J-1 Visa Requirements;”

It is imperative that the correct terms required by the State Health Department are included in the agreement or certain states will not continue to process the application.

We worked with a large health care facility and physician that typically requires their employees sign their standard employment agreement.

Initially, they were not willing to cooperate with the physician to include the required terms necessary for the J-1 Waiver Conrad 30 program.  However, after I explained to the health care facility the necessity of incorporating the J-1 Waiver Conrad 30 terms the facility amended their contract.  Since this was a large institution with a Human Resources Department it took approximately one month for their HR and legal department to approve and incorporate the changes in the contract pursuant to my suggestions.  The physician prudently retained our office well in advance of the J-1 Waiver Conrad 30 filing schedule and we were able to revise the contract and submit a successful application resulting in a successful J-1 Waiver Conrad 30 application.