New Travel Nurse Left in Limbo: Guaranteed Hours Stalled by Mandatory Drug Test Delay – How Can I Protect Myself in the Future?
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New traveling nurse, guaranteed hours but was not allowed to start working until drug test came back.
Hi, I am a relatively new nurse with 4 years of experience. I have questions about the situation that happened to me in my previous assignment and how can I avoid the same situation happening to me ever again. 5 months ago I agreed to travel to a different state 980 miles away from my home and work as a traveling nurse.
My recruiter told me that this company needs nurses just for 4 days a week / 32 hours, but with the potential to make it 5 days a week / 40 hours. y recruiter also told me that the facility requires me to do drug tests and fingerprints on site and they would not accept the result if this were done at a different place. I was told that I should start my work on Tuesday, so I would have to arrive at the facility for my drug screen the day before.
I was under the impression that I would do a drug screen and would come in to work the next day. HR at the facility told me that I would not be able to start working until I received the negative result from the independent lab in a different state, so my start day has been postponed by 1 week. A few days later I found out that the agency made a mistake, they advertised my workplace in the Western part of the state, but the facility wanted me to work in the eastern part of the State 1 hour and 40 minutes away from the original place.
At this point, I already signed a housing contract for 8 weeks and paid 1st month's rent and deposit with the cleaning fee. My recruiter told me that mistakes happen, so if I like I can cancel the contract but I would have to pay a cancelation fee to the agency ($3700), but if I choose to continue with this contract then the agency would help me to pay off for house I no longer can use.
In the end, they paid $800 and I had to pay $1200. Due to confusion with drug tests and location, I was sitting without work or pay for almost 2 weeks even though hours had been granted. I like my recruiter, but I do not feel that this agency treated me fairly. What could I have done differently to limit my expenses in this case? Of course, in the future I will ask the location where I am going to be working during the interview, but what also can I have done differently? I was also required to complete a 3-hour long test/assessment, and once completed my recruiter told me that this completion of this assessment is required by the states to work for the agency by the states and I would not be compensated for hours spent completing this assignment.
Published
New traveling nurse, guaranteed hours but was not allowed to start working until drug test came back.
Hi, I am a relatively new nurse with 4 years of experience. I have questions about the situation that happened to me in my previous assignment and how can I avoid the same situation happening to me ever again. 5 months ago I agreed to travel to a different state 980 miles away from my home and work as a traveling nurse.
My recruiter told me that this company needs nurses just for 4 days a week / 32 hours, but with the potential to make it 5 days a week / 40 hours. y recruiter also told me that the facility requires me to do drug tests and fingerprints on site and they would not accept the result if this were done at a different place. I was told that I should start my work on Tuesday, so I would have to arrive at the facility for my drug screen the day before.
I was under the impression that I would do a drug screen and would come in to work the next day. HR at the facility told me that I would not be able to start working until I received the negative result from the independent lab in a different state, so my start day has been postponed by 1 week. A few days later I found out that the agency made a mistake, they advertised my workplace in the Western part of the state, but the facility wanted me to work in the eastern part of the State 1 hour and 40 minutes away from the original place.
At this point, I already signed a housing contract for 8 weeks and paid 1st month's rent and deposit with the cleaning fee. My recruiter told me that mistakes happen, so if I like I can cancel the contract but I would have to pay a cancelation fee to the agency ($3700), but if I choose to continue with this contract then the agency would help me to pay off for house I no longer can use.
In the end, they paid $800 and I had to pay $1200. Due to confusion with drug tests and location, I was sitting without work or pay for almost 2 weeks even though hours had been granted. I like my recruiter, but I do not feel that this agency treated me fairly. What could I have done differently to limit my expenses in this case? Of course, in the future I will ask the location where I am going to be working during the interview, but what also can I have done differently? I was also required to complete a 3-hour long test/assessment, and once completed my recruiter told me that this completion of this assessment is required by the states to work for the agency by the states and I would not be compensated for hours spent completing this assignment.
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