Contracts and Cancellations

Specialties Travel

Published

Is there a way to add a clause in the contract to protect yourself in the case of having to cancel for unsafe staffing, family medical emergencies, etc. without penalty?

Or, if the hospital cancels and you already paid for your own housing, drove to the city, etc...to get reimbursed for your money?

Or, is this just a part of travel nursing?

Let me know if you have put any clause like this in your contract, please!

I'm just nervous about getting or having to cancel a contract.

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The first thing to know is the industry "fall off" rate is 10%. The flip side of this is 90% of contracts complete. If you have better than average people skills and are competent, your rate should be even better. But if you plan for worst case scenario financially and have some funds in reserve, you will be fine. My people skills are below average, and I come in at 20 years of travel exactly at the industry average. My finances are in good shape.

It would be bad to be cancelled on your first assignment! That is why you really want the best odds for the first assignment, not worry about money or location so much.

Unsafe staffing is not a reason to leave an assignment. It should be reported to JC. There are no assignments where your license is in jeopardy as long as you are working as a prudent nurse with your experience would work in a given situation and prioritizing your actions accordingly.

I would have a good discussion with any agency about their compassionate leave flexibility. Any agency should be better about unavoidable reasons to cancel if you have had a prior assignment with them, or are otherwise a proven asset (travel plus in demand specialty). They may or may not be willing to document their criteria or policies (which will be based on actual circumstances) in a contract, but having the conversation may help you build a good business relationship with a foundation of trust.

If a hospital terminates you without just cause, for example stating low census, and the agency doesn't defend your contract (and their contract), I would seriously consider taking them to court for the balance of the contract if there is no at-will language in the contract (most will). If the hospital had a no fault termination clause and the agency failed to include that in your contract, again, I'd again be interesting in taking them to court. Mind you, despite my strong language, it is generally not worth it to deal with courts. Better to just let it go. In any case, hospitals know they are not generally allowed to terminate a contract without just cause so it is not uncommon for hospitals to fabricate a clinical or performance issue.

In some ways, finding and paying for your own housing that you can cancel if you are terminated lowers your financial risks to just missed time. If the agency is paying for it, they have increased risks and costs and will pass them to you if you are canceled.

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I have good people skills and competency. I don't think I would be terminated for anything performance based..but who knows? And my finances are OK, so I should be fine. I'm just planning for the worst. It's just that planning my housing and paying deposits and rent and driving there seem so time/financially consuming just to get cancelled for some reason.. that's why I wanted to know if there was a way to avoid this or get some reimbursement. But, it is true that for the most part, it is just time consuming to do all that work for nothing!

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Good attitude! Perhaps I should have expanded above sentence to: if you manage everything really well, you are just out missed time between contracts.

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Specializes in ICU, Postpartum, Onc, PACU.

I was once cancelled by a hospital, which hurt even more than it should have since I LOVED the assignment, because someone told the manager I'd said something I've never said in my life (that I was scared of defibrillators, which, as an ICU/PACU nurse I found comedic). I didn't get paid for the nearly full 36 hours I'd worked that week and the agency, whom I'd been with for a few contracts with no problem at all, dropped me. If I didn't need the money I wouldn't be working so yeah, it hurt in more ways than one and I nearly lost my permanent home because of financial reasons before I was set up with another contract with a new agency. The one I'm with now is good so far (and has been in contracts prior), but there are some extremely rotten eggs out there and that includes hospital staff and recruiters/agencies so do what you can. The things you can't control like with my one situation can't be helped, I guess, but I also didn't know you couldn't leave because of staffing issues and not get screwed over. Being in California, I assumed you could, but I guess I'll just have to report the current hospital after I leave.

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Didn't get paid for worked hours? Labor board or a lawyer.

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Well, that makes me not want to say anything to staff! :unsure:

Sorry that happened to you, but thanks for letting me know.

I will really have to watch what I say around others :speechless:

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