Canceled Contract

[nja06]

Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated: I have been waiting to start an assignment in Oakland,CA for over a month because they said they were okay with me not being available on Tuesdays and that is necessary for me. Tuesdays off were written into my contract; they were also discussed and approved in my interview. Two days before my first day I got an email with orientation directions stating they would be Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I immediately notified my company that the schedule states I should be there Tuesday and I am not available and I tried to work out an alternative arrangement. They did not respond to my request for an alternative arrangement and told my company it was non negotiable. I showed up late Tuesday to see if someone could go over the paperwork I missed and they told me I cannot work because Tuesdays are the only day they do this. I'm betting it would take less than an hour to go over the stuff I missed but instead they want to be down an entire nurse and all the staff and patients will suffer because they were expecting me. I've just moved 3000k miles and paid rent. I was transparent about this-This is a nightmare. I feel that this is a breech of contract and if they are allowed to do this with no consequences, what is a contract worth anyway?

[I<3Endo]

I understand the orientation days are usually non-negotiable but I've never heard the part about the agency/hospital contracts being completely separate....

I understand that there is a nurse-agency contract and that there is an agency-hospital contract. I get that.

But your explanation stated (if I'm reading it right), that an agency can agree to the Tuesdays off (for example), the nurse signs in good faith, but that the hospital by no means has to agree to that when the nurse arrives to work? Because the actual "hospital contract" can be totally different? That's pretty scary.

I'm a fairly new traveler but I've never run into anything like this! Again, I'm not referring to orientation week. I know that's always a whole different animal.

[nja06, MSN, RN, APRN, NP, CNM]

I think it's pretty complicated and it's honestly more than I even understand unfortunately. I know as traveler's our contract is with our agency and it's the agencys responsibility to make sure the terms of our contract are met with the hospital. I talked to a lawyer just to ask questions about this because it feels like a breech of contract to me, and I'm very upset as it's shaken up my life unexpectedly, however, I don't want to penalize my agency for the rigidity that the hospital is demanding since they have only tried to help me and facilitate my needs during this assignment. It really sucks because it's not like I was saying I just love to go shopping Tuesdays and I can't make it because it interferes. I actually have live exams on Tuesdays for grad school so I THOUGHT I made certain that those days were off limits and they understood that. This would have been my fourth contract and I have heard of stuff like this happening before but I never thought it would to me...I hope this never happens to you!

[NedRN]

But your explanation stated (if I'm reading it right) that an agency can agree to the Tuesdays off (for example), the nurse signs in good faith, but that the hospital by no means has to agree to that when the nurse arrives to work? Because the actual "hospital contract" can be totally different? That's pretty scary.[/quote']

I think ChrisMMS explanation is a little off as well. I hate to argue with him as he has signed a thousand more contracts than I have (and decided not to contribute earlier}, but the issue is usually with communication, not the contract. While assignment agreements can be pretty informal between a facility and an agency, as little as a one way email, there is generally a formal assignment confirmation (which could also be an email, but is more often an addendum to the main agreement). This identifies the traveler, the shift and unit, dates of the contract, and any alterations to that, such as days off - a very frequent requirement. Often it is just a few days to a week off specifically enumerated during the assignment, but grad students (or religious requirements) comes up often as well.

Ideally, this assignment confirmation is signed by both the hospital and agency, but often is only done by one. Legally, it is still enforceable as there is implied consent once the traveler arrives and starts working (same theory when a traveler doesn't sign their contract and goes on assignment despite that). Of course, it is virtually never worth actual legal action.

The issue is really getting everyone on the same page. It was once fairly common for agencies to be in direct contact with managers (and the unit manager or director to sign contracts), but that is much more rare these days. Thus the train of communication goes something like this: traveler>agency>HR>manager. Often like this: traveler>agency>vendor manager>HR>manager. Some larger or more traveler heavy facilities leave the manager completely out of the loop even though they or an assistant manager is doing the scheduling. They may just get notified of a new traveler's first day on the unit.

I completely trust that an agency has at the very least a verbal commitment from someone about days off. But the issue is if that commitment has been communicated to everyone who needs to know (and be fully on board). That includes the manager and scheduler, HR, and the vendor manager (VM). Generally HR is doing the orientation, but it sometimes the VM. Someone has to make sure all the parties know. Agencies may not understand these issues and trust HR or the VM to be professional and bring the assignment confirmation to attention of all the parties. A really good agency will ask at least three times about these various parties and ask for affirmative confirmation that they agree.

Unfortunately, agencies can drop the ball even after experiencing the fallout from a disaster such as yours because of internal communication issues. Travelers are really out of this loop unless they have had this issue occur and push the agency again and again to get affirmative confirmation. Obviously, that is more important than a contract saying the same thing that you are not going to defend in court anyway.

Finally, yes, hospitals often have mandatory orientation that cannot be missed. However, it is not uncommon for a traveler to show up the week prior and sit in HR going through some mandatories if they cannot attend one of the official scheduled orientation days. But that can only work if good communication happened to alert everyone to a potential issue and a workaround problem solved.

[nja06, MSN, RN, APRN, NP, CNM]

I wish the hospital offered an alternative to their Tuesday rule. If so, I would have been all over it! I even went in Tuesday after my exam to try to work things out. Unfortunately this rigidity isn't helping anyone and I am left without a job and them without a traveler...for no good reason!

[NedRN]

All institutions are rigid. Travelers have to lobby hard for special needs. There is no red carpet, especially for travelers who are being hired for their flexibility. Understand that and traveling will not have any disappointments.

[nja06, MSN, RN, APRN, NP, CNM]

This feels a little insensitive. I know travelers are hired to be flexible but I thought my needs were discussed and approved (multiple times). I was not expecting a red carpet, just reason. In the time that the facility spent arguing with me and my agency I could have signed the paperwork I missed on Tuesday and started work

[NedRN]

Facts can be harsh for sure. But if you had had the facts prior to this placement, I bet you would have avoided disaster.

[nja06, MSN, RN, APRN, NP, CNM]

Yeah I wish I could have trusted my company had made sure all Tuesdays were actually off the table. It would have saved me a lot of hurt.

[perfexion, ASN, RN]

Im going against the grain here. I think it's common sense that orientation didn't count on your Tuesdays off. Ive been to some hospitals that cancel you if you're late to orientation. Like others said, it's usually non-negotiable. It's a JCAHO requirement that we have to sit through some of the crap. If any part of hospital orientation was optional, nobody would show up. I think you should've made some arrangement to miss clinical that one day. There has to be some kind of exception to missing clinical. What if you had jury duty? They wouldn't let you miss Tuesdays. I know that's not what you wanted to hear though.

[nja06, MSN, RN, APRN, NP, CNM]

no, you were not the only one that said that, even though the way you said it was not in the nicest way which is unlike the way anyone else wrote to me. I am a rather new traveler and did not anticipate that this would be a problem. If I did I would have triple checked if this was okay. I wish my agency would have asked about orientation before I moved across country. If it was a normal class day I probably could have missed, but I did have an exam and I thought I covered my bum from the beginning by talking to the manager, and having it written in my contract. I totally understand your point and wasn't expecting them to throw out the requirement, but it would have taken an hour or less to fill me in so I felt that that was extreme after all I'd done. I had already attended a day of orientation. I didn't realize a traveler would be canceled for being late. You are right in it isn't what I wanted to hear. I was looking for advice and support; I wasn't really looking to be kicked when I am down.

[Ms_Interpret]

Missed opportunity for ideal communication..Both on your part and on the part of your agency. Knowing that you are fairly new to travel nursing, the agency could have given you a heads up when you all were discussing the scheduling requirements of your contract. But then again, if it were me, I would have asked my recruiter, "Now, are you sure I will have X day off for my test? Or will I need to make other arrangements?" Lesson learned. You'll know better going forward. Best of luck.

[nja06, MSN, RN, APRN, NP, CNM]

Thank you! I thought getting it written in my contract and discussing it during the interview would be enough, but it should have been covered again before I signed. I thought I was covering all my bases, but I only found out about orientation at like 3pm on the Friday before it started. Tough lesson learned but that is life!