Are You OK If Suppliers Pay Your Employees?

How would you handle this one? The mail arrives and you open what you thought was a letter from your main optical lab that is addressed to ‘Fashion Eyewear’, the name of your dispensary.

You are shocked to find that the only thing in the envelope is a tax form showing that your lab paid your optician several thousand dollars over the previous year. 

Shocked, because you didn’t know anything about it!

Whether you realize it or not, the practice of optical wholesalers, particularly labs, either gifting or outright paying key staff members based on how much business they send to a particular company, is fairly widespread in our industry. 

And, in many cases, it is done without the practice owner’s knowledge or consent.

Potential Problems

If this is happening in your practice, I think it can be a problem for the simple reason that is has the potential to compromise the employee’s objectivity.

At the end of the day, you want the employees who makes buying decisions in your practice to be loyal to you, not the supplier.

After all, it's your money they're spending. And, you want them to spend it wisely by getting the best possible pricing for the best quality products. 

Also, keep in mind that any bonus or perk being paid to the employee is in effect being paid out of the profits the supplier makes on your account.

Do You Have A Right To Know?

The question is, does an employer have a right to know if your supplier is compensating your employee? Is it OK for either suppliers or employees to go behind your back?

In Thursday’s blog, I’ll write about my conversation on this topic with attorney Phillip Byrum of Husch Blackwell Sanders LLP in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

What Do You Think?

Please share your thoughts by taking a short, four question survey. Your answers will be completely anonymous.

Begin Survey.  (Please complete only once.)

Best Regards,
Jerry Hayes, OD

Agree with this blog? Disagree? Have a comment or question of your own? Click here to send me an e-mail. 

Disclaimer: The information and opinions contained on this site are for discussion purposes only and are NOT intended to serve as legal, accounting or investment advice. ©2010 Jerry Hayes, OD. Not to be reproduced without written permission of the author.