Do you get called when your shift is cancelled?

My workplace has to call me or they have to pay me for 4 hours.

If I am not notified of my cancellation at least two hours prior to the start of the shift, they have to give me 2 hours' pay. So they definitely call me to cancel when they need to.

In addition, in both facilities that I worked per-diem (not even agency) at, I was guaranteed 2 hours' pay if I was not cancelled in time.

So what they're telling you is definitely NOT standard practice.

It is not standard practice to not call when a nurse has been cancelled, but failing to call, happens, sometimes frequently. In my state, according to Labor law, one is entitled to "reporting time pay", also called "show up" pay, of one half the scheduled shift, or at least four hours. Many employers refuse to pay that four hours of entitled pay and feign ignorance of the law when the employee calls them on it. One staffing coordinator said they called me a few minutes, not two or four hours, before a scheduled shift but my phone never showed that call. Another time this happened I was enroute. Never heard my cell phone ring, nor would I have answered it while driving on the highway. I had to mention the Labor Board before they would pay me for that shift. Encourage the OP to do an internet search for "reporting time pay" or "show-up pay" for their state to find out if there is a policy in their state.

When I use to work private duty, I would sometimes work part time with one of their clients. I remembering showing up at his home 3 different times to report for duty. Three different times I showed up at his home only to learn that he was in the hospital. Three times the agency failed to called me to let me know that the shift was cancelled and that he was in the hospital. I was not the only one either. The same exact thing happened to all of the other nurses who worked with that client too.

Just today, I did not go to a "make-up" shift because the client never returned my communication from last Monday concerning one of the shifts they "wanted" to get made up. I could not reach them at all yesterday, when I called yet again. This is at least the third time this person has not confirmed a shift with me, although they want to harangue about how they are owed hours. I appreciate that my time and effort is not respected, but enough can be enough. After all, this was my only day off for the week and the original shift was missed because the client called off, on me​.