Travel Company Saying I can be reported

MunoRN, RN · Jun 27, 2015

Employers will sometimes threaten to report an employee for abandonment when they quit, although it's usually a baseless threat, what you do have to worry about is financial liability based on the agreement you made.

If you actually are on the right side of your contract then you should have nothing to worry about. But nurse staffing agencies often make contracts with the facility they are providing nurses to, and if those nurses don't fulfill the contract then the staffing agency often has to pay some sort of penalty, which can be quite large. If you didn't fulfill the contract because the agency didn't abide by the contract then you're fine, if none of the things you're complaining about were actually provided in the contract then the agency could potentially seek to have you pay the penalty, which can be thousands of dollars.

Typically, agency nurses don't really get "orientation", beyond "here's where we keep our supplies", was that actually in the contract? Was the specific type of housing specified? Did it say specifically that you wouldn't be housed in the facility? Did the contract say you wouldn't have to work in nursing homes?

nursy_2014 · Jun 27, 2015

the recruiter never told me id be in strictly nursing homes. i thought this was just where they had something and he knew what i wanted from the get go. it may not be a huge notice but im off the weekend and have a family emergency that needs to be taken care of. its not like im not letting people or the managers know. im trying to talk to my recruiter but hes ignoring me. he wont answer me. i knew id be stying in the facility and i was told before i got here id have orientation and i didnt even receive a day. as far as my check, will i still get my check for hours i worked? and what about my reimbursement which was in the contract? the only thing my contract said was i would be billed for housing and anything else the company covered for me except i didnt have to pay for housing. i couldnt even provide myself with food.

roser13, ASN, RN · Jun 27, 2015

Your post is a little confusing. What, specifically, did your contract guarantee that you did not receive?

nursy_2014 · Jun 27, 2015

it said i would have orientation and on the schedule here it said i would have at least of shift of orientation which i didnt get. i re-read my contract and it said i would incur charges that the company covered for me and the only thing they covered was my physical. it doesnt say anything about fines or anything. all i was told was i would be blacklisted with that particular traveling company.

mvm2 · Jun 27, 2015

How long is this assignment for? If it is a short period of time...say 2 weeks I'd just finish out the assignment and then never work for them again.

Unfortunately the only things that the company has to abide by are the things specifically in the written contract. If things were promised to you verbally it is not right but they don't have to give you those things and can change things around.

Look at you obligations in the written contract and what it specifically says what the penalties are for you if you do not complete your asignment. Will those penalties be worth not completing your asignment or would it be better just to finish it up and just say lesson learn and find something better for your future.

Yeah that part of being responsible for charges that the company acquires would scare me. Sure so far it is a physical. But if what some of the PPs said was true and the facility that you are working at would give your company thousands of dollars penalty if you quite it sounds if you will have to pay that. So you have to again ask yourself if quitting will be worth having to pay that kind of money or just suck it up and finish the asignment

Editorial Team / Admin · Jun 27, 2015

Welcome to allnurses.com

We moved your thread to the Travel forum for the best response.

NedRN · Jun 28, 2015

I'm confused about your nursing home statement. Is your contract for LTC? I'm writing from the travel forum and I'm not sure which forum you posted into originally.

Some agencies have rather ambiguous statements about paying costs. Some of these statements may include lost profits in addition to real out of pocket expenses. One expense you may not have considered is a contractual termination fee charged by the facility if you quit without notice. That can be as much as $3,000 and you bet your agency will try to pass it along to you. Costs might include marketing and similar that are difficult to prove or disprove. I don't sign contracts where the penalties are not clear.

In any case, virtually all contracts will have carrots for completing an assignment, and penalties if you don't.

Orientation language in your contract may simply be boilerplate. Usually it is only mentioned in the context of paying a different rate for orientation versus productive hours. So it may just be a placeholder. I've never seen a contract where orientation was promised, but it is certainly possible.

Your decision to leave was premature. Having an orientation shift is certainly a reasonable expectation but is not a reason to quit. Did you try to discuss your concerns with the DON? Leaving a note on your way out is not helpful, you have to deal with problems.

I don't know what being reported is all about, but not showing up to work is not something a BON will care about.

nursy_2014 · Jun 28, 2015

I called the DON left a message and told my recruiter a few days ago and he just simply ignored me. My contract says nothing about penalties and i was never told about any. The living situation was unreasonable and I tried talking to them and they said I had to deal with it. I was in a room with a resident, had to use a resident shower and had to share the bathroom with 3 residents. I had no place to store food or even cook, and I was charged for all meals that I had at the facility. My recruiter is also trying to say that because the facility did not sign my time sheets that I was not going to get paid so I just lost a $1,000 check and he said oh well I should have had them sign the time sheets before emailing them to payroll. I decided Friday that I had had enough with my recruiter ignoring me and the situation and told him and he said he would talk to me and then began ignoring me. So i left notes, left voice mails and tried talking to my recruiter and got no response from him until I left. The orientation sucked but that is not a big deal it just would have sucked if I would have messed something up.

NedRN · Jun 28, 2015

Why not get the time sheets signed now? In any case, your agency must pay you for time worked. Call the labor board if they won't pay.

GadgetRN71, ASN, RN · Jul 6, 2015

You had to live with a resident? What? That sounds like a crappy agency, and I thought mine was bad! What agency is this so I know to avoid it,lol. You can PM me if you don't want to say it here.

Dinsey · Jul 6, 2015

I'd think the family of that resident would be interested to know that their vulnerable adult was sharing a room with an employee. There's a lot of fishy business going on there...