$10,000 penalty if you leave the ICU

Specialties MICU

Published

I am looking at joining a hospitals ICU unit and was floored with their expecations. To join this unit you have to sign a two year contract. If you leave before the end of your two years of work for any reason you have to pay them $10,000.

The hospital has a 20 week training program for ICU nurses and I can understand they may want to recoup some of their costs for early exiters.....but $10000??

Is this common in any other cities? Needless to say I will be interviewing elsewhere.

My unit (SI) had seven people accepted into CRNA School in 06 and 1 left for PA school and one that finished NP degree and left for a new job. MICU had two leave for school, CCU had 1-2, and NICU had at least one. This staff turnover is beyond their control and unrelated to working conditions. Just my $ .02

Just a thought, but it almost sounds like it could be more beneficial for the units to hire ADN's instead of BSN nurses because the ADN's won't be running off for advanced degrees as quickly. I'm not saying they should, but.....

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I am looking at joining a hospitals ICU unit and was floored with their expecations. To join this unit you have to sign a two year contract. If you leave before the end of your two years of work for any reason you have to pay them $10,000.

The hospital has a 20 week training program for ICU nurses and I can understand they may want to recoup some of their costs for early exiters.....but $10000??

Is this common in any other cities? Needless to say I will be interviewing elsewhere.

Yup, they can do that. Any place of employment can legally charge a fee for training that it renders that can generalize to a competitor.

I know you work at a hospital, but let's say you worked for Jenny Craig...and then you went to work for Weight Watchers...it's not the same thing...it's not the same program, etc...so they can't charge you for training if you leave.

However, with your ICU situation...it sounds like they are going to charge you for the perceptorship if you leave before two years, and that is a recoverable cost, because if you leave, that training will directly benefit you at another hospital.

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I am in an OR program in CA where they have us sign an agreement to give them one year or $10,000. I signed it knowing that the agreement is unenforceable, that it is just a scare tactic. I wonder, however, if I do leave when the program finishes and do not pay (or give my one year) would I be burning a bridge? Would it be worth it?

If you live in California I wouldn't worry too much about burning bridges, unless you live in a rural area where there's not too many jobs. There's SO many hospitals begging for nurses, I just don't think it would be an issue.

I understand why the hospitals are doing this but, at the same time, you don't really know if you like a job until you actually work there. If they want to retain nurses ... pay them more ... especially the experienced nurses, instead of always trying to cheap out by hiring new grads at lower salaries.

Not that I'm against hiring new grads because I'm a new grad myself but ... I know what they're doing here and it's ultimately to save themselves some money instead of paying nurses more.

:typing

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Specializes in ICU, oncology.

I've never heard of this. The only thing I encountered was that if you didn't stay for 18 months you had to give back your signing bonuses, prorated to how long you did stay. I would be very worried about the climate in that hospital if there is so much turnover that they had to institute this policy.

Here's a novel idea...why not offer a retention bonus to stay over the 2 years?

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Specializes in ICU.

I've never heard of that! My hospital has a sign on bonus for new grads that would have to be paid back if they left before a year of employment...but that's not even in writing!

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Maintaining the freedom to do what you want, and go where you want, when you want, is priceless. Signing a contract with no obvious benefits to you, but with a potentially huge downside is probably not the wisest thing to do.

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Specializes in ER/ICU, CCRN, SRNA (class of 2010).

That is antiCRNA school rhetoric...Duke's CTICU has a similar repayment clause for new hires. I laughed when they showed it to me and took a job on a different unit. I guess eveyone else has as well, since they have almost no staff now.

According to the business law class I took some years ago a contract has to serve both parties and if there is a no compete clause or financial penalty when you quit there must be corresponding compensation. Or the floor must give some special training that you could not get in another hospital ICU in the area. So in my opinion it would never hold up in court, becuase it is one sided in favor of the hospital.

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I'd avoid those places personally. With incentives like that management and other personel could treat you like crap and you'd have to take it or lose $10,000.

I suppose if one wanted those jobs bad enough one could write a counter contract stating the hospital would pay you $x in the event working conditions, natural disaster, things out of your control, etc. required you to quit. Of course they could always say no.

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Specializes in Trauma acute surgery, surgical ICU, PACU.

Where I work, you don't get "orientation" to the ICU, you have to go back to school, and take a nine month course of extra classes, lab, clinical, and practicum. It's a lot of extra training. It's a joint training program between the hospital and the university, and we get university credits for it.

Because few people would choose to leave their paid jobs to take this extra training, the hospital pays for it - they pay the tuition, AND replace our wages with a stipend while we are in the course.

In exchange, we sign a contract agreeing to work 3000 hours within 24 months of graduating, or pay back the money (it amounts to about $20,000). They pro-rate it, so that if you work half of your "pay-back" hours, you only owe half the money, etc.

For me, it's a good deal. We are unionized, so we have protection and good working conditions. I knew what I was going in to. And I got free education that I can take with me wherever I go.

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Specializes in ICU.

>$10,000 pay back

Life is too unpredictable. This is coming from a complete control freak...

As a new grad I signed a contract feeling that I made all the needed arrangements, adjustments and compromises in my personal life to see the contract through. It's only two years right...

Here I am a year later- my career goals have changed, my drive to secure a spot in any advance practice program of my choice is gone. If I see this through it will be at a great cost to my family.

I am older I should have known better... My saving grace is that I am in a wonderful ICU that truely focuses on "best practice", not the easiest place to work... But, I feel safe on this unit.

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Specializes in Critical care/ER, SRNA.

I know a lot of ICU's are moving in this direction. What managers are finding is they are hiring all these people and spending a lot money getting them oriented, and then after a year the staff is leaving for CRNA school. Look to see this trend increase in the near future!!!:o

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Specializes in ICU.

I am a new grad (May 07), and just got a job in an ICU. I was told I would also have to sign a contract for 2 years and $10,000. The clinical manager told me this during the interview but cupped her hands and whispered that she doesn't believe it is "enforceable", legally. I would like to go CRNA or flight nursing down the road. All the hospitals in my city have a 2 year committment for ICU. I chose the one that offered a 6 month orientation program vs the other that had a 3 month one. For a 2 year committment then 6 months training would be the minimum as I see it.

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