I recently saw an internet feed from Bent Ericksen & Associates that I thought was very important. It was about the dangers of having working interviews which are very common in dental practices.
The feed mentioned two examples of when a working interview can turn out to be a nightmare for the practice. One potential employee filed successfully for Workers’ Compensation as an employee saying that she fell off a chair and hurt her back. The second example was about a potential employee who was not hired and filed for unemployment. The ruling was that the doctor was her last employer. In both of these cases the doctor is liable for the financial claim that results and this could be very costly.
One suggestion is to have the potential employee demonstrate their skills without actually working in the office. Another suggestion is to actually put the candidate on the payroll as a regular employee.
Protect yourself and stop doing working interviews! Find other ways to assess whether you want to hire the person or not!