ANY LAB TEST NOW Franchisees Free to Leave, Compete
Lab Test Franchisees Open New Business; Franchisor Concedes Non-Compete Can’t be Enforced, says Franchise Lawyer W. Michael Garner
Two former Miami franchisees of “Any Lab Test Now” have successfully challenged the post-termination covenants not to compete in their franchise agreements, and have left the Any Lab Test system to open Unilab Express, according to Jason Baumann, President of Unilab
Miami, FL (PRWEB) June 29, 2011
Two former franchisees of “Any Lab Test Now” have successfully challenged the post-termination covenants not to compete in their franchise agreements, and have left the Any Lab Test system, according to the franchisees, Jason Baumann and Orlando Fernandez.
Baumann and Fernandez, formerly franchisees of Any Test Franchising of Atlanta, Georgia, a franchisor of walk-in laboratory services, have now opened business under their own flag known as “Unilab Express.” Baumann commented, “We hope to better serve the Miami public with a broader range of services, the availability of a physician, and better compliance with Florida’s strict patient privacy rules.”
Last week, Baumann and Fernandez wrote to the franchisor, announcing that they were leaving the system and pointing out that the franchise agreement’s covenant not to compete, which would otherwise have put them out of business, was not enforceable under Georgia law.
Joe Neely, President of Any Test Franchising, Inc., wrote back to both of the franchisees agreeing with their letters and accepting the terminations.
ALSO READ: ANY LAB TEST NOW Franchise Complaints
“The non-competes are fatally flawed under Georgia law,” said W. Michael Garner, attorney for the franchisees. “The Supreme Court of Georgia has held that provisions containing exactly the same language were unenforceable. The franchisor was smart to do this and avoid a legal fight that would have resulted in a legal precedent.” Baumann and Fernandez had raised their allegations that the non-compete was invalid in a lawsuit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, Baumann et al v. Any Test Franchising, Inc. case no. 11-18661 CA 15.
Baumann and Fernandez, together with several other franchisees, are also suing the founder and owner of Any Test Franchising, David Lageschulte, of Fort Myers, for alleged fraud and misrepresentation made in connection with the sale to them of their Any Lab Test franchises. “We are pleased to have been able to sever our relationship with this franchisor.” Fernandez said. The case, Baumann et al. v. Lageschulte, No. 11-19072 CA 05, is pending in the Circuit Court of Miami-Dade County.
Walk-in laboratory facilities are becoming highly popular because of their convenience and low cost. A drug test, for example, can be obtained at Unilab Express for $39.
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am going to give you the honest truth to heart testimony of my experience with this company any Lab test now ,,I have been in the medical field working as a phlebotomist For over 30 years the hourly rate wasn’t as much as I am used to in the Atlanta area but I persevered and went ahead and took the job,when I took this job I started seeing a pattern with these people that they had there working ,I started seeing a pattern with the the unprofessional behavior ,the numerous hippa violations the reputation of the people that they have working there ,there are people who have been in gangs in and out of the prison system ,people who would ordinarily not be able to get a job anywhere else because they have a background but I looked past that secondly I start noticing how everybody there has had some type of sickness or some type of long-term disease, cancer diagnosis and a light went off in my head ,how does a place that garnered and operates lab testing With a doctor in charge and owner of all the locations let their people get so sick to the point where they are not able to take care of themselves, I was told when I started working lol ok there they offered lab testing to the employees and then I was told that we offer lab testing at a deep discount to our employees so I had some labs done and I was told by one of their managers (Diane)that I did not have to pay for my labs Because she was the newly appointed manager of the Jonesboro store and it was her decision to either charge me or to not charge me for labs ,so I had labs done on myself and my husband ,After working in this climate I left after about three months because I just didn’t like The non-existent training program the lack of money that I was being paid ,The volatile type of clientele that would come in and once to twice a week Clayton county had to be called because of the numerous fights that would take place inside us because of the DNA testing-they wanted you to work numerous locations but you did not get compensated for going to those locations anyone who has been in this business for a minute knows if you have to float or travel to other locations you either need to be paid an hourly or you need to get paid your mileage because if I go on this road and I get hurt doing your business I can turn around a no nd sue so that got kind of old real fast especially when you’re not getting paid what 30 years experience guarantee you and they want you to travel from one end of Atlanta to the other needless to say three months after leaving their so-called manager name Aron sent me the most nastiest email on Christmas Eve at 10 PM at night to my email address stating that I owe them $2800 for Lab fees that it was considered theft they will pursue other measures to get that money from me and I need to reach out with to them as soon as possible ,when I reached out to him he begins to tell me you signed paperwork in the beginning stating that you would pay for blood work I signed a lot of papers In the beginningI don’t quite remember everything that I signed in the beginning but if I did sign something I know it didn’t warrant $2800 worth of lab test ,me and my husband have insurance we are blue-collar people why in the world would I want to steal Lab’s and if I was getting labs done I obviously was getting them done to see where me and my husband was healthwise so how could you even attempt to accuse me of theft ,so we talk to our attorney about it and he told us you could either go in this the long game or you can go into the short game,if you have the money I would say go ahead and Pay get them off your back and destroy them in social media or let them try to come after you and we will just put it off in court for the next 5, 6years we just don’t show up for the hearings and hopefully they’ll go away well since me and my husband are responsible people we went ahead and paid the money it wasn’t even two days after that and we made arrangements to pay it in full not once did he ask me my side of the story that his own manager told me that I did not have to pay for labs ..nothing, He had the nerve to send me another email on Christmas day while I am with my family, how rude is that I know you celebrate Hanukkah but I celebrate Christmas on the 25th and I thought it was very rude for him to reach out and accuse me of such things on a family holiday when it could have very well waited and you obviously waited three months you mean to tell me it could not have waited till after the holidays, he had the nerve to send me an email saying maybe we could go out for coffee and have lunch together and talk about this matter further ,I worked for you Aron for three months and never once we ever went out for coffee talked about going out for coffee how come now that I’m endeared with a debt with you ,you want to go out with me for coffee I felt like he was sexually harassing me or at least trying to see how far he could go with me knowing that I owe them a debt I will never forget this incident and I will scream what happened to me from every mountain side because it wasn’t right and it wasn’t fair and it really says a lot about the doctor that owns all of these locations your Hippocratic oath say health first not money first you offer no benefits you offer no retirement no vision no Dental and one employee leaves with bloodwork and you come after them three months after they leave for $2800 ,I did some digging on Google and I also see that this is not a once in a chance thing with the owner Dr. Perlow and the manager Aron ,I see on Google that they like to falsify portfolios to get to investers to invest in there businesses but they are falsifying the portfolio saying that the business is bringing in more money than what it really is so you have a lot of people out here who would like to invest in his company but what he do he inflates The amount of Money that the business brings in ,stiff the investors they end up buying into the company and they find out that the company doesn’t even bring in the amount of money that they were told because he’s at an advantage he’s the doctor he brings in all his patients to get bloodwork improving his bottom line directing an tunneling patients An getting there bloodWork done at his locations instead of directing these people to get their blood done through quest labcorp or numerous labs in the Atlanta area so that kind of told me everything that I needed to know that their shifty they’re sneaky and they’re all about money and sticking it to their workers it’s a sad situation when I started working there they come up with this odd Reasoning that if you work here for about a month or so you can be a manager at one of our many locations but what they don’t tell you is you’ll be the manager of cleaning toilets mopping floors and keeping their labs clean on the inside because they’re too cheap to hire a cleaning company to come in ,no way that’s one of the reasons I decided this place is not for me I have been drawing blood for 30 years and I’ve never had to stick a brush in a toilet anywhere to clean a toilet I’ve never had to rinse out a mop to mop the floor you’re not offering your people any kind of benefits but yet you want them to keep your property clean ,now I know why you you hire people with no experienceAnd a bad background and I’m gonna report you to everybody who will listen.