not enough hours, and not enough pay

[RobotNurse]

I started a travel assignment a month ago. My contract is for 5 8-hour shifts per week, so 40 hours.

since I started, the facility has given me only 10-20 hours a week d/t low census. this has been going on for a MONTH. i've tried speaking to my recruiter about it; he doesn't care (why would he? the agency still gets their $$$.) I've tried asking the DON several times if I can float to other buildings to get more hours; he said he asked and none of the other buildings have answered him.

to make it worse, the agency appears to be reducing my stipends by more than i think is fair. i did the calculations to figure out how much stipend i should expect per hour, and I am making much less than that. (the contract says stipends will be pro-rated and reduced if the facility schedules me for less than 36 hours per week, but of course it's vague and doesn't give any specific dollar amounts or any formula for how exactly they will pro-rate it.)

tl; dr: i am getting only 15-18 hours a week on average, never more than 20, and the agency is doing their own vague self-serving type of math with my stipends so I'm hardly making any money.

My contract says I can cancel if I give 30 days written notice. BUT it also says they can basically take as much money as they want from me for "unspecified damages, lost profit", etc. if I end the contract early.

I want to do the right thing by the facility and give them 30 days notice so they have time to find another traveler. But I'm afraid the agency will start stealing my pay (or as they call it, "withholding") as soon as I give notice.

I don't intend to take another assignment with this agency OR with the corporation that runs this facility. I'm living in my own place, not in agency-sponsored housing. I'm considering closing my bank account and opening another one elsewhere since the agency has access to my current checking account via direct deposit.

What would you do if you were me? Would you give 30 days' notice and hope the agency continues to pay you for the work you've already done? I want to send my notice in right now, but I'm afraid they would try to not pay me for this week of work that I just finished.

I know there are other topics about people leaving contracts early d/t illness or just not liking the assignment, but what if the facility consistently gives you half the hours (and half the pay) you signed up for?

[NedRN]

What specifically does your contract say about hours? Does it say 40 hours a week? No outs for low censes? If so, you can sue for the balance of your hours. I'm not sure what you should do here, but if you bail, I would suggest no notice to limit your losses. Closing your bank account might be a good idea, but in most states, they cannot legally withhold liquidated damages from your check or reverse your last direct deposit, but it is common. Of course, you don't really want to go to court, but sometimes the state labor board will recover your pay and some penalties.

You might try bumping up the noise to the manager or owner level at your agency. There is a big problem here if they knew this was possible and did not tell you, and sent you anyway. Seems like a bottom scraper as good agencies don't work for such hospitals and burn good travelers.

The hospital is a really bad actor as well. It is a great corporate strategy to hire lots of travelers knowing they are there if they have needs and no need to pay them if they don't need them. Not even standby pay!

I don't really know how you can punish the hospital other than saying who it are, and who the agency is if they don't resolve this situation. This thread may ultimately be read by hundreds of travelers both organically and anyone who searches on the name of the agency here or on Google. Each traveler lost by the agency is worth about $20,000 a year in gross profits. It is significant. And if the hospital has more trouble getting travelers they will have to either raise their bill rate to compensate for the increased risks or change their practice.

You have learned several valuable lessons here, don't accept contracts that do not specify hours and who is responsible under what conditions. Same with specific damages for missed hours, this is a vital part of the contract and without, you cannot properly do a risk/reward assessment. As far as calculating the proration, take the hours worked divided by 40 and then multiply by your weekly stipends.

[RobotNurse]

Thank you for the advice. I have indeed learned a lesson about accepting vague terms on a contract! :/ I think you're right about not giving notice, so as not to give the agency a chance to start withholding my pay. I hate to quit anything without proper notice, but I would also hate to find out I've been working for free.

I've only done one other contract before this, and had no problems - they asked me to extend when my contract was up and I worked there for almost 7 months. So I'm surprised and disappointed about this one. Although I should have known better - my first day there everyone was talking about how they had such a hard time keeping nurses, and from our interactions I kind of get the feeling the DON was surprised when I didn't walk out after being given 10-13 hours my first two weeks on the job.

[NedRN]

You discussed this with the DON, good job. What did she say?

[RobotNurse]

You discussed this with the DON, good job. What did she say?

I've discussed it with him several times. The first two weeks I get the feeling he expected me to quit because he kept apologizing for not having enough hours and thanking me for being patient. Then after that it seems like he realized I wasn't going anywhere and decided it wasn't terribly important to try to get me more hours. I proposed the idea of floating to other buildings to get more work, and he said he would try to make it happen. I brought it up again and he said he had asked the DONs at several other buildings and they either didn't need me or didn't get back to him.

[idialyze, BSN, RN]

When I was traveling, all my contracts had a minimum of 36-40 hrs guaranteed. If I didn't work that many hours In a week, I was still paid my garanteed minimum hours. I quit traveling 5 years ago, do they not do this anymore?