RN Network prevents permanent work?

That is a standard non-compete clause.

I could understand being required to fulfill the duration of an assignment; but if I fulfill an assignment and THEN the hospital decides they want to hire me? This seems like I could never accept a real job offer in the future because 6 months "after" a contract is over seems intended to "drown me out" from ever taking regular employment should I choose to. Am I understanding this right? How could it be? How would you ever settle down in the future if you wanted to with these kind of terms?

Most travel companies have such non-compete clauses. Just go do a couple of assignments somewhere else if the hospital doesn't want to negotiate with your agency to go perm. Technically, such clauses are unenforceable against ordinary workers, however it is usually in the agency to hospital contract as well. Business to business they are enforceable so it really doesn't matter at all if it appears in your contract.

If you are interested in working perm at an assignment hospital, talk to HR. Their contract may not have a non-compete, or they may have other options available to get you onboard.

No, it is not to drown you out. It is only so they can collect a fee from the hospital - an introduction fee in employment agency lingo. Agencies earn roughly $5,000 in gross profit per assignment from one traveler. That is what they are giving up if they lose you after "introducing" you to the hospital. A typical hospital spends around $20,000 to acquire one nurse, so paying five to ten thousand to your agency is not a big price to pay when nurses are hard to come by. This is holdover from standard employment agencies from whence travel companies originated.

It is really not a big deal. If it really bothers you and you don't have to try on a hospital before taking the plunge, don't do travel assignments.

I was looking at this from the perspective that the hypothetical hospital approached me first asking to bring me aboard post-assignment completion. The contract states I must immediately notify the agency of such offers. It then goes on to mention that "notwithstanding the foregoing"....you may not accept any full-time or part-time offers for a period of 6 months after the last day of your assignment at that hospital from the agency.

So you are saying that this type of clause is not legally enforceable against me anyways? It wouldn't seem legally ethical or perhaps logical to prevent me from accepting an offer if I fulfilled the duration of the agency assignment.

I see, so this clause is meant to enforce the agency's own contract with the hospital so that they may collect their fee for helping them find me should the hospital decide they want to offer me regular employment?

Yup. Or try to bludgeon you into paying some unspecified fee if you are dumb enough to tell them. It does happen, and nurses (especially ones from overseas) do often pay. But if it goes to court as I said, ordinary workers have a right to seek employment without penalty. Workers with proprietary information on the other hand, can be stopped from working at all. Recruiters with agency proprietary information (traveler contact info), can indeed have trouble switching to another agency during the non-compete period - more often one or two years for them.

But really, it is a non-issue. If you are a traveler, you travel! If you find a place you want to work permanently, simply return in 6 months or a year when your non-compete clause expires and enjoy some new places. Or the hospital will take care of the placement fee. By the way, there is no such thing as a permanent job - some assignments are simply longer than others.

Wouldn't they find out if I didn't tell them about an offer? But you say that they can't legally enforce holding me from accepting a job offer anyway? My only confusion was that I thought they were trying to prevent me from accepting employment from hospitals I took assignments at but it sounds like that clause is only there to enforce the hospital's obligation to pay them the fee for "buying me out".

The RN agency won't stay in business long by seeking out qualified candidates that the hospital would be able to pick and choose from to hire.

Great deal for the hospital, disaster for the agency.

Seriously? Agencies should only send bottom of the barrel nurses?