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Are Working Interviews Right For Your Dental Practice?

Are Working Interviews Right For Your Dental Practice?
by Darci Barr

Hiring managers love working interviews. While it's true that evaluating candidates (especially entry-level dental workers) before making a hiring mistake has many benefits, there are also important legal components to consider.

It’s no surprise that working interviews have become popular, particularly in the dental industry. Gaining firsthand insight into how a candidate responds to patients, staff, and the surroundings allows an interviewer to anticipate the candidate’s learning curves. While acclimation to the team takes time, a “bad fit” can usually be spotted quickly. However, it is extremely important that both the office and candidate are in complete understanding of what the working interview will or will not involve.

The IRS defines an employee as “. . . under common law rules, anyone who performs services for you is your employee if you can control what will be done and how it will be done.” In a working interview, the candidate performs services for the duration of the interview. The services conducted include current patient procedures, cases, and personal health information—which is used and accessed during the interview—with the understanding that the individual may become a permanent hire. The candidate is now an employee, no matter how many or how few work hours are involved.

An informed interview

Some offices argue that a candidate is a volunteer who has agreed to work for the purpose of being evaluated. This is a misuse of the title. The Department of Labor refers to a volunteer as “someone who performs hours of service without promise or expectation or receipt of compensation for civic, charitable, or humanitarian reasons.”

One can understand the gray area as it is true that the potential employee arrives to the office and intends to work at will for financial gain while under the control of the business owner.

Most law firms advise business owners to recognize that a working interview means compensation at no less than minimum wage, regardless of how much time is worked. Furthermore, many dental offices invite students to conduct working interviews. If so, the office must be careful to note that they may have changed a student’s status from intern to employee. Here are a few more considerations before conducting a working interview:

• A contract is needed that defines expectations of time and duties.
• The candidate is eligible for worker’s compensation (liability), even for working just a few hours.
• The employee must properly record and report his or her wages.
• The employer must properly record and report the worker’s information.
• The employer could inadvertently become responsible for unemployment.
• All applicable state or federal obligations exist as with any new employee, even during an interview.
• Be careful to understand the conditions of a student intern versus an employee as wages and expectations are handled differently.

Read full article on Dentistry iQ.