Even the Best Employer/Employee Relationship Can Decay

No employer relishes the idea of having to terminate an employee. However, the ramifications of severing an employment relationship can be magnified for a small dental practice in a tight-knit community. Not only does the dental practice have to be weary of an Americans With Disabilities violation, wrongful termination, unemployment, and workers’ compensation, but the practice must keep a watchful eye on slander, libel and tortious interference with business.

In the not-so-distant past, the reach of a disgruntled employee’s disparagement of their former employer was primarily limited to word of mouth; unless the employee had access to the media or went to the extraordinary effort of taking out an ad in the local newspaper to exact revenge.  With the advent and pervasiveness of social media, harmful defamation can spread like wildfire and wreak havoc on the reputation of the small-town dentist.

Today’s dentist must be keenly aware not only of the clear benefits of social media, but also of its potential detriments. And fighting a full-on social media blitzkrieg by a former, unpleasant hygienist without the assistance of an attorney could seriously endanger the vitality, even existence, of your practice.  Whether instituting preventative contractual arrangements at the outset or extinguishing potentially practice-destroying libel or slander, your practice can benefit from the assistance of a full-service law firm like Hall Booth Smith, PC. If you have any questions about the best ways to protect your practice, please contact one of our attorneys.