A physician employment agreement is essentially a legal contract which stipulates the terms by which a physician will work for a particular company or hospital. Such an agreement should stipulate the scope and status of the work to be done. That is, will the physician be considered an employee, independent contractor, or shareholder. A physician employment agreement might also have a "non-competition" agreement, whereby he agrees not to work for a competitor for a period of time. Furthermore, it should stipulate terms of payment (i.e., salary, actual billing, or a combination of the two), work schedule, and terms of severance. Under the latter category, it is helpful to delineate what constitutes termination for "cause," that is, what constitutes a wrongful act on the employee's part that would lead to his termination, and terms for "without cause," or terminating the agreement when the employee is not at fault.