Contract tips

Specialties Travel

Published

Thought that I would post a few tips that should be at the top of your list when looking for a travel company and what should be in the contract.

1. If it is not in writing, then it does not exist. It does not matter what your recruiter promises, they do not have the authority to make special offers to you. All contracts are signed off on by the head of the company or the official that can sign the contract to make it official. Anything else that is not written in that contract just does not exist.

2. Check out what the per diem pay is in the area that you are choosing. Your pay should be similar to that, not significantly lower, and should be in at least the same range when living expenses such as rent are added in. Anything significantly different and your agency is taking money that should be yours, not theirs. There are quite a few of them that hope that the nurse is not aware of this.

3. Housing deductions need to be compatible with that area. Not that you are getting $3000 for housing and the apt is only $600 per month.

erd flags go off and then you are responsible for the taxes on that other money.

4. Sharing an apt with another traveler does not get you the full deductions on expenses as they are being shared and that leaves you subject to taxes on what was not spent towards the housing by you.

5. Do your research on the agency, the facility, as well as the area. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

These are a few of the prime issues that I am seeing pop in many of the threads that I have been reviewing today. I will be adding to this as the need arises or will make it more helpful for you.

I have also taken over as the new Super Moderator for this forum, as well as the Agency Forum, so feel free to post questions to me as needed. I have years of experience in both of these areas.

Regards,

Suzanne4

Contract Question:

Is it standard to state in contracts that you are not allowed to disclose salary and benefit information? Isn't this against your freedom of speech?

Is it standard for there to be a penalty for not working these hours beyond housing?

Specializes in Trauma/ Burns/Surgical ICU/some Neuro/ER.
Per Diems and mileage reimbursments are published by the IRS; housing stipends are not posted. And there are those companies that will try and take advantage of someone.

Beg very politely to disagree - the federal government publishes per diem rates in all areas of the US. And the "per diem" rate I'm speaking of is for the amount allowed by the US Government/IRS PER DAY (or per diem) for lodging, meals, and incidentals -while working away from home.

If you go to irs.gov you will see that "per diem rates" is one of the most requested pages or sites. Click on this and you will be taken to pages where these rates and amounts set by CONUS are listed for everywhere in the US. If they are NOT specifically posted as being 'different' - meaning lower or higher than the 'standard' then they are the 'standard rate' which is posted at the beginning of the lists.

You must look carefully, these rates are updated and DO change every 6 months, BUT - PER DIEM is the DAILY AMOUNT ALLOWED FOR COMBINED LODGING (whether you use it for your apartment, hotel, or camper space rental - it DOES NOT MATTER - it is an amount based on cost of living in the area!) MEALS AND INCIDENTALS.

If I remember correctly as of July 2008, the MINIMUM OR STANDARD AMOUNT allowed for ANYWHERE IN THE US is $109.00 PER DAY. Multiply that by 7 days for weekly, 30 for monthly. Some cities have per diem allowable rates as high as $168.00 per day! Now good luck getting a company to pay you that, and NOT drop your HOURLY TAXABLE RATE to (YES!!) a RED FLAG hourly salary of $10-$15 per hour!

But the Federal Government and the IRS ALLOW companies to pay employees who travel UP TO the rates published. (again the charts show these amounts both broken down into lodging, meals, and incidentals - and totaled for a daily allowed per diem or what we call travel nurses call our "stipend" rate.)

I AGREE with you WHOLEHEARTEDLY that everyone should check with their tax advisor, however, this information IS available to anyone who wishes to look at it.

I found it and had huge arguments with recruiters because the amount of stipend in some places SHOULD have been over $700 per WEEK, yet they were offering $1200 per MONTH!!

(My theory - and it is only that - a theory - is that some of the larger companies have package deals with Real Estate Management companies all over the US. Perhaps they pay a flat fee for a certain number of apartments. So when a company will not pay the full stipend, it is because they can actually get corporate housing for you much cheaper than the 'going' rate, so of course it saves them money - or they MAKE more money - IF you choose company housing over maximum stipend.)

Again - these per diem rates are amounts the Federal Government allows business travelers to be paid while working away from home! If the traveler - whether nurse, salesman, or company president chooses to stay at the local homeless shelter, in a tent, or at the most expensive 5 star hotel - the AMOUNT ALLOWED FOR A COMPANY TO PAY YOU - AND FOR YOU TO RECEIVE STAYS THE SAME! AND YOU ALSO CANNOT BE PENALIZED FOR RECEIVING THE MAXIMUM PUBLISHED AMOUNT.

If for some ODD reason - you ARE paid MORE than the published maximum rate - yes!!! You will be taxed on any amount OVER THE PUBLISHED MAXIMUM - no matter HOW many receipts you have!

So - get as much as you can per hour - AND if you want to find your own housing - look at irs.gov for per diem rates, and make sure you are not being paid more stipend than is allowed. Also make sure you aren't being ripped off and paid way less than allowed!!

Or simply take company housing.

Additionally, there should be NO deductions EVER from ANYONE'S payroll check that are not authorized by the payee, such as insurance, or payroll deduction for savings, etc. (State or federal ordered garnishments are of course excluded.) Anyone who is having ANYTHING deducted from their check that they DID NOT AUTHORIZE should contact the Federal Wage and Hour Comission, or the EEOC, or other agency they can think of - I'm not sure which would be the proper authority - I just know there is one!!

Seriously - check out the website - it is VERY CLEAR ON PER DIEM RATES.

Specializes in ER/MED-SURG/ONCOLOGY/CARDIAC.

I Have A Question Susanne...i Need Help With A New Contract I Have Not Signed Yet..currently I Am Getting $25/hr And The Company Pays Housing Etc. No Travel, No Bonus..i Am Getting Ready To Sign On At The Same Place With The Same Company But They Are Offering Me A Different Contract, $16/hr Taxed And $16/hr Non Taxed, With A Stipened Of $2600/mo, $1000 Bonus Which Is Divided $500 With First Paycheck And $500 With Last Pay Check....the Recruiter Told Me That The Non Taxed $16/hr Was The Stipened Part So Ends Up Being $35/hr..but He Says That He Can Manipulate It Differently If I Need To...what In Your Opinion Would Be The Best To Do..i Am An Lpn..i Made Better In Texas $20/hr And $1800/mo Stipened And $500 Travel..no Bonus...what Do Ya Think...i Need To Know By Monday..thanks Redsnapper

Specializes in OR: General, DIEP flaps, HIPEC, NEURO.

I am just wondering if there are any travel companies anyone recommends highly?

I am new to this and there are so many! I will be traveling by myself, prefer to stay by myself and would like the ability to travel home on my days off. I currently work in the operating room and can do PACU also. Thank you for any information!:loveya:

Specializes in ICU/CCU.

I work for American Traveler and have been for the past year. They have been great to work with and I can always get in touch with someone immediately if I have a question at anytime of the day or night. Also I have been reading in other posts that people are having a hard time finding contracts recently, but American Traveler seems to have a ton of positions open all over the country.

Question for you:

I'm reading through all of the above and I feel really sick on my stomach because I have jumped blindly into something, that I pray I don't pay for.

My question is: I don't even know what the housing benefit is for my current assignment. Its not specified in my contract, so I have no idea if its $3,000 or $13,000. All I know is that they're paying my rent and utilities. My recruiter told me that it is tax free. (But since he told me a lot of things now I wonder) How do I find out these things?

With all I'm reading I'm beginning to wonder if I should just stay put with this company (now that I know the truth I wont expect the hype, right?) Once they get everything "straightened out" I should start to see a benefit in traveling... I pray....

Wow. Glad I read this. I was talking with a recruiter from there. I have travelled with a sister company, Nurse Choice, and never had any problems. I've been doing travel assisgments for almost 2 years now and can honestly say I have never had one single problem with anything related to pay, reimbursement, travel or insurance. I have only taken paid housing once, I usually take the stipend. On most assigments I negotiate time off and just don't receive a paycheck for the week I am off (no housing stipend either - so I would assume you have to pay for the housing during this period).

I would try and coordinate everything - including the mess up on your insurance with your recruiter. If he's not helping and the money and insurance isn't immediately forthcoming, I would speak with his supervisor and move up the chain of command until I got my money, insurance and some answers. Tell them if this isn't resolved immediately (within 5 business days) then you will never work another assigment for them. I would also tell them that you will inform the facility (the person responsible for contracting with Preferred) about their lack of response, inaccurate pay, etc.

As to whether or not to fulfill your contract, I will have to defer to others who actually take the housing because I don't know enough about how that works. If things are resolved within the week, I would stay since you are at least a third through your contract (I assume you took a 13 week).

Specializes in MedSurg.

Not a good agency/recruiter at all. You should be reimbursed for travel and she needs to "be there for you" when you call. What agency is this. Keep looking - there's 100's out there and this is not a good one.

Specializes in SICU, MICU, CCU, Rehab.

Any comments about Faststaff?

Specializes in MedSurg.

I haven't worked for Faststaff. I've worked one assignment for Access and it was good, but they are based in CA and don't always have contracts in the midwest - where I would like. You have to look at where a company is based - sometimes that effects where they get the most contracts. I worked for PPR staffing out of Florida when I first started and they were okay - my recruiter, who I initially thought was great (my first travel company), I later realized was just too new to everything also and promised me assignments, I realized later, were never gonna happen. I have talked with them since and would have taken an assignment, if they could have got me one, but they didn't have anything (my recruiter is no longer there). Anyway, pay, housing/stipend, benefits were good there. I've also worked for MSN/Intellistaff (out of their Minneapolis office) and I was not happy with them at all. Currently working local for Favorities, which is good, but haven't done a travel assignment for them yet. Signing up with Nurses in Partnership this weekend to try and get an assignment at the new County USC hospital just built in LA. Hopefully I'll get and the agency will be good. So far the recruiter, Joann Casley, seems very competent and attentive - time will tell. Good luck and remember to get everything in your contract - don't sign until they put it there and if they don't want to put it in, that's reason to question them.

I Have A Question Susanne...i Need Help With A New Contract I Have Not Signed Yet..currently I Am Getting $25/hr And The Company Pays Housing Etc. No Travel, No Bonus..i Am Getting Ready To Sign On At The Same Place With The Same Company But They Are Offering Me A Different Contract, $16/hr Taxed And $16/hr Non Taxed, With A Stipened Of $2600/mo, $1000 Bonus Which Is Divided $500 With First Paycheck And $500 With Last Pay Check....the Recruiter Told Me That The Non Taxed $16/hr Was The Stipened Part So Ends Up Being $35/hr..but He Says That He Can Manipulate It Differently If I Need To...what In Your Opinion Would Be The Best To Do..i Am An Lpn..i Made Better In Texas $20/hr And $1800/mo Stipened And $500 Travel..no Bonus...what Do Ya Think...i Need To Know By Monday..thanks Redsnapper

Suzanne, I'm in a similar boat as Redsnapper. Please help us.:redpinkhe

Specializes in telemetry, med/surg.
Hi! I am also very new to this forum and farily new to nursing (3 yrs experience). I am wanting to start traveling very soon and have been in contact with numerous companies. I have reasearched their websites and talked with recruiters. I have given them my background and told them the exact places I would like to travel to for starters as well as some of my other requirements for working with them (nicely and in an asking, non-demanding manner). It is the actually company and what pay packages are best that is bothering me. I hear a lot about "tax advantage" as well as "all-inclusive"

I posted on the general page and listed the companies I was thinking about. I will list them again and if anyone has any input or additional advice I would really appreciate it so I can make the best judgment and get on assignment!

PPR healthcare

RTG Medical

American Mobile

Nurses in Partnership

Travel Nurse solutions

Access Nurses

On Assignment

Do not go with American mobile they are all about the tax advantage plan and making you responsible to the IRS for large amounts of money that are "tax free" check out highway hypodermics they rate companies that is where I found mine

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