Paying to Quit or Four Months Notice Has Workers Feeling Trapped

Last spring, a doctor for Concentra Inc., the leading US occupational health-care company, told his boss he wanted to quit. The workload of as many as 40 patients a day was too great, and the breaks were too short, he says. He’d gotten so used to inhaling his lunches in a couple minutes that he’d started racing through meals with his family, too. But Concentra wasn’t ready to let him go.

It told the doctor that it would enforce a contract clause requiring employees to give 120 days’ notice when quitting or pay a hefty fee, equivalent to ...