Screwed over on my First Travel Paycheck?!?

[RubyLex]

My first Travel Assignment...essentially trying to escape the degrading bullying scene I have endured for 3 years, but I digress...First things first, a breakdown of my Travel Pay:

Regular Hourly Rate: $26/hr

Overtime Rate (over 40) $70/hr

Rate 2 (37-40 hrs) $60/hr

On Call Pay $4/hr

Call-Back Rate. $70/hr

Holiday Rate. $70/hr

Per diem Allowance $250/week

Housing Allowance. $690/week

A disclaimer that I suppose is pertinent to this within the contract:

OT/Holiday/Call Back hours are paid for actual hours worked (not on-call hours) and based on client hospital and will be paid by in accordance with applicable law.

My Scenario:

scheduled for Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday of the work week. Monday I agreed to work Call Back. I was called in to begin the shift as normally scheduled WITH a $500 Bonus!!!

Paycheck stub:

Bonus $400 (gross).

after taxes...$248.40

Next Paycheck stub:

Earnings:

Regular (36 hours). $936.00

Call Back (12 hours - $70). $840.00

Housing Stipend $690.00

Per Diem $250.00

Direct Deposit $2,334.47

To keep it brief, where is the OT pay for my 37-40 hours @$60/hr and OT pay for 8 hours @ $70/hr?? And what's more, how does Parallon get away with magically jacking $100 of my bonus and it not being accounted for?

When asking my recruiter he stated "The 500 is taxed twice. Once when we get it which brings it to the 400 and then when we give it to you which lowers it even more. Bonuses are taxed much higher then regular pay. In the call back you were paid for 12 hrs at the $70 dollar rate (Call Back) it looks like. The rate for hours 36-40 is $60/hr, but since you were on call back you got paid the higher rate of $70 for hours 36-40 and then the OT rate of $70 for hours 40-48. The overtime pay is your call back pay of $840. That was paid on top of the 36 at $26/hr (Regular). Maybe I am missing something. Were you expecting to see the overtime pay on top of the callback hours? For about $130-$140/HR? Does that make sense to you?"

No, Mr. Recruiter, it sure does not!

Feedback please, anyone?? And the state law here is OT after 40 hours.

[Wolf at the Door, BSN]

I have heard many stories mainly AMN (American Mobile Nursing).

[NedRN]

Distilling down your message, I see you have two complaints. One apparently is that you were overpaid, getting paid $70 an hour for 12 hours of callback instead of $60 for some of those hours. I'm not sure why you find this objectionable, but I think you would have had a right to complain if it had been done the other way. I think this was right and fair.

The $500 bonus was apparently a hospital promised bonus for an extra shift. If an agency passes through the bonus without a deduction, they will actually lose money because of the hidden (from you) payroll taxes of employer's share of FICA, unemployment, and workers comp. Those in aggregate are around 10%. So $50 is the fair deduction, but Parallon would like to make a profit as well on those funds, so added $50 for themselves (a much lower profit margin than on the rest of your hours).

However, what makes any deduction really unfair is that Parallon is HCA. There are no separate profits. And I'd bet that HCA hospital employees who are offered a shift bonus sees the entire amount listed as gross pay on their paystubs. However, since Parallon is a separate corporate entity, despite being owned 100% by HCA, I would guess this is entirely legal. Sorry.

[Wolf at the Door, BSN]

I would never work for HCA facilities but, that is my personal preference.

What city is this and what is your specialty?

[Tneo8385, BSN, RN]

What would you suggest for ICU specialty in the state of PA bottomed out?

[Wolf at the Door, BSN]

What would you suggest for ICU specialty in the state of PA bottomed out?

Actually I am looking at PA right now. Are you referring to agencies, hospital, or both?

I am not a huge fan of FastStaff but, during the summer they had loads of Philadelphia spots for Temple Now they have nothing, I guess they lost the contract. Thomas Jefferson has an EMR conversion right now. They even have 6 week assignments starting 2-28. ICU is paying 2100/36hours gross. PACU 2400/40hours with certain agencies mainly RCM.

[Tneo8385, BSN, RN]

Mainly agencies, what's the issue with faststaff if you don't mind me asking.

[Wolf at the Door, BSN]

Mainly agencies, what's the issue with faststaff if you don't mind me asking.

One thing I noticed about Fast staff is the hospitals they staff are usually horrible places to work. Also they put you in shady extended stays if you need to take their housing. I have heard horror stories about Philly extended stays that faststaff used. Better to take their tiny stipend in that area. .