Draft Offer Letter Sample
(Last updated, September 2011)
You may expand upon this sample language, as needed, but please include the basic, boilerplate language as indicated in each letter.
Date
John Doe, Degree University Drive
Baltimore, MD 21201
Dear Doctor Doe:
On behalf of my colleagues in the Department of insert full department name, and the Center/Program/Institute... (if applicable), I am pleased to extend to you an offer of employment upon approval of the Dean of the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the President of the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Your initial appointment will be submitted to the School of Medicine at the level of [insert academic rank, tenure status] in the Department of ________. [If rank and tenure status are Associate Professor or above and on the tenure track or with tenure, include the following sentence:] However, it is important that you understand that rank and tenure status are not guaranteed and require approval by the School’s Appointment, Promotion and Tenure Review Committee, its governing body, the dean and the President.
Your start date will be ___________. [If anticipated start date is expected to occur prior to the approval of the offered title and tenure status AND offered rank is Assistant Professor or higher, include the following clause:] If the review process is not complete by that time, you will be granted an interim visiting faculty appointment in order to initiate compensation and until the review process for your final rank and tenure status is complete. [For clinical faculty requiring hospital privileges include the following:] Approval of your faculty appointment and hospital privileges depends upon the timely submission of requested paperwork. Delays in submission of requested paperwork may result in a postponement of your initial start date.
[Include a detailed EXPECTATIONS PARAGRAPH here including expectations for research, teaching, clinical service and institutional service as applicable; if offer is for the tenure track or tenure, expectations should include research, teaching and service as well as expectations for funding.]
[Insert the following if position is clinician-educator at the Assistant Professor level:] For promotion, it is expected that faculty will actively engage in scholarly pursuits as demonstrated by accomplishments such as clinical research, publishing findings in highly regarded peer-reviewed journals and obtaining grant funding.
[If offer includes placement on the tenure track, indicate name of the chair for the new faculty member’s mentoring committee as follows:] Professor ________ has agreed to serve as chair of your mentoring committee, which will be fully designed and implemented to foster your career development including achieving tenure.
[Licensure statement, if applicable] Please be advised that the requirement of Maryland licensure, including the necessity of timely renewal of expiring licenses, is a condition of employment, and employment cannot occur until such license is obtained. It is your responsibility to notify me immediately upon any non-renewal, suspension or termination of your licensure. If you fail to maintain a required license you will be suspended from patient or client activities. Furthermore, failure to hold and maintain a required license is grounds for termination of employment. To the extent permitted by University policies, compensation will be suspended or reduced if you are unable to perform employment responsibilities as a result of a lack of appropriate licensure or conditions placed upon your license by a licensing body.
[Non-compete language, if applicable] During the term of your employment and for a period of eighteen (18) months following the termination of your employment for any reason, you will be restricted from:(i) practicing medicine in the specialty of ___________ in any capacity, with or without compensation or remuneration, within a [15-25 - choose most appropriate radius] mile radius of the University of Maryland Medical Center or any clinical practice location where you spent at least twenty percent (20%) of your clinical work time [i.e., at least an average of one 8 hr. session per week] for the department's clinical arm, University of Maryland ___________ , P.A. (the "Practice") within the two (2) years immediately preceding the termination of your employment; (ii) solicit any of the Practice's patients to provide ___________ services; or (iii) solicit/employ any individual who was employed by the Practice, department, University of Maryland Faculty Physicians, Inc. and/or University of Maryland Medical System Corporation during the two (2) years immediately preceding the termination of your employment. Your approval of this letter and your subsequent commencement with us constitute your acceptance of this restriction.
If the terms and conditions of this letter are acceptable, the necessary steps will be taken to secure administrative approvals for your appointment. Your formal offer of appointment and terms and conditions of employment will come through an appointment letter issued by the Dean's Office, School of Medicine. I will request that you be appointed as a 12 month faculty member, at an annual total approved salary of $______. Of this amount, your initial salary will be derived from [insert general statements about sources of funds]. [If any of the funding will be coming from your department's practice plan funds that have not yet been generated, the following two sentences should be added:] As is the case for all faculty/physicians in the School of Medicine who are paid by department practice plan funds, this salary component is contingent upon funds being available within the department's practice to support faculty salaries after all costs of practice and institutional assessments are paid. As long as the department's practice, as a whole, remains financially sound, then the risk to any individual practitioner is minimized.
The University offers a comprehensive benefit package which will be fully explained to you in an orientation offered by the University. Please let me know if you accept this offer based on the terms and conditions outlined above or if you have any questions. Following your acceptance, I will process the necessary paperwork for final approval by the School of Medicine and University.
On behalf of the faculty and staff, we look forward to your joining the Department and pursuing our common educational and professional goals.
Sincerely,
Department Chair
[co-signed by Center/Institute/Program Director as applicable]
cc: E. Albert Reece, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A.
Adminstrator
[Add others as necessary]
Enclosures
Accepted: _______________________________________________________ Date:___________
(type candidate's full name and degree below the signature line)