Mad! Signed a contract...called off -

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Signed a contract through my agency with a hospital where I'd been doing a lot of work. They wanted me for a 12 week contract. 36 hours a week. My schedule. Guaranteed per my agency. Told I woundn't be cancelled - and if I was, then I would be paid.

I was cancelled this week for one shift (low census) and now I'm told by my agency that 'that day' will be added on to the end of my contract time. Or...I can pick up another day this week.

This doesn't seem right. My schedule was already arranged to work those specific days - not float around and add another here or there on their whim.

What's my argument? I just feel like I should have kept on working like I was and not suddenly be refered to as 'on contract.'

advice?

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Contracts usually state 36 hours per week, but they do not specify that it will be at your schedule. If you get cancelled because of low census, as an agecny nurse, you are expected to pick up another shift to meet that 36 hours unless it is written into your contract about that.

Adn did your contract state no "floating around" -- or is that what your agency told you? Remember that as an agecny nurse, you are being padi extra to fill up the holes in the schedule. They are not working around your schedule. If yours fits into theirs, then great, but it doesn't work the other way around.

And remember the cardinal rule of agency and travel nursing: if it is not specifically written into your contract, then it doesn't exist. A recruiter can promise you anything, but their promises are not binding unless signed by the agency administrator.

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Contracts usually state 36 hours per week, but they do not specify that it will be at your schedule. If you get cancelled because of low census, as an agecny nurse, you are expected to pick up another shift to meet that 36 hours unless it is written into your contract about that.

Adn did your contract state no "floating around" -- or is that what your agency told you? Remember that as an agecny nurse, you are being padi extra to fill up the holes in the schedule. They are not working around your schedule. If yours fits into theirs, then great, but it doesn't work the other way around.

And remember the cardinal rule of agency and travel nursing: if it is not specifically written into your contract, then it doesn't exist. A recruiter can promise you anything, but their promises are not binding unless signed by the agency administrator.

Ouch...am I learning! Thanks for the info! Actually - I 'trust' by agency but you are so right. I haven't seen the contract - the agency signed on my behalf since this happened fast last week - (that isn't good, is it? I should have a copy, right?)

It was discussed with my agency and the staffing people at the hospital - tht I could NOT do two days in a row right now - I live out of town and can't do the turn-around commute in two days easily...so hospital knows I can't do two in a row but every other day to get my 36 -

Hospital told me to schedule like I regularly do with my agency - and that's been where I tell them MY availability and then I am automatically put on those days at the hospital. It is also written and known that I will not float to a certain area. All that's worked...til now possibly.

I will - in the future - NEVER EVER - assume, presume, trust, or whatever without reading the fine print.

Oh well - one week almost down - 7 to go!

Thanks!

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Specializes in Case Management, Home Health, UM.

A similar thing happened to me late year, after I signed up with an agency to do contractural work for a facility as an auditor. After completing two interviews, I am called by the recruiter and told that I have been hired. Ok, fine, swell. After signing a 13-week contract, I go and complete my first day of work as assigned...only to be called by this guy that night and informed that his client doesn't want me back, claiming I had "failed the third interview". You would have thought that I had learned my lesson after being lied to the first time, but I didn't. Several weeks later I am hired to do case management for a facility way on the other side of town. Their orientation was a pathetic joke, as the only nurse they had available to orient me didn't was too busy to fool with me. And, when she wasn't out sick, she wouldn't allow me work over six hours a day, complicating my already precarious financial situation. I broke my contract, telling the

recruiter (among other things), that I wasn't even making enough money to cover my daily commuting expenses. That didn't matter. Even though I had been lied to and given these two assignments under false pretenses, he gave me the "bum's rush", and I never heard from him again.

I know that there are a lot of nurses out there who make a decent living working for good Agencies. But my experience with this particular Agency left me with a bad taste in my mouth, as they were nothing but a greedy bunch of people making money off two desperate and inept clients and using me to achieve that end. NO more contracts for me! :angryfire

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It is fairly typical to have a one or two shift cancellation allowance in a 9+ week contract. Most contracts I've been on have been written this way. Doesn't bother me. There shouldn't be a problem with you looking at the contract. I actually am required to sign mine, and I'm sent away with a copy each time.

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