contract question

Specialties Travel

Published

Specializes in Psych.

So, my contract has the following language:

Professional will be paid for cancelled shifts in excess of 36 hours per assignment which are cancelled by the facility and cannot be made up during the pay cycle.

What exactly does this mean? Does this mean the facility can say cancel me for Monday, but pop up a day later and say we need you to work Friday instead and I have to say ok? I specifically spoke with my recruiter about guaranteed hours during the verbal negotiation. I expressed I wanted guaranteed hours and did not want the facility to have the ability to juggle around a set schedule, like the cancel Monday then I would have to work Friday example above.

I can't porifice the "in excess of 36 hours" phrase but it is likely your analysis is correct. Your agency would have no reason to "make up" this language, it is driven by the facility contract so the agency doesn't have good options to offer you. If from questioning during the interview and your agency's own experience with the hospital suggest that cancelled shifts are common or not, then you will have at least that to base an informed choice about how to proceed. Otherwise, well, it is just a guess. Pose the question to the manager and recruiter again before making a decision best for you.

Specializes in Psych.
I can't porifice the "in excess of 36 hours" phrase but it is likely your analysis is correct. Your agency would have no reason to "make up" this language, it is driven by the facility contract so the agency doesn't have good options to offer you. If from questioning during the interview and your agency's own experience with the hospital suggest that cancelled shifts are common or not, then you will have at least that to base an informed choice about how to proceed. Otherwise, well, it is just a guess. Pose the question to the manager and recruiter again before making a decision best for you.

Thanks Ned. I did make sure to ask the manager and recruiter about scheduling/staffing. They both stated they did not have a hx of cancelling shifts or contracts due to census or other reasons. The recruiter said she has placed other staff there who extended their contracts and one eventually took a permanent position. Per the stats it's a high volume ER. As it is my first contract I guess ill just role the dice and see how it goes.

Sounds like a good choice to me. High volume means not so much chance of cancellations. Depending on hospital and location of course. For profit means higher chance of micromanaging on the skimpy end, California ratio laws means lower chance of cancellation.

Specializes in L&D, Mother/Baby.

I think that the first bit means the facility can cancel you for 3 12 hr shifts (or 36 hrs) and not pay. If there are more cancelled shifts after that, then you will be paid (that's when your hours become guaranteed). I had a similar clause in WA. The hospital could cancel me once every 4 weeks without having to pay. It's was a smaller hospital, so on slow nights when we had no laboring moms, Travelers did get cancelled :-/. They never made me come later in to make it up though. I just lost a shift for that pay period. HTH

Ah, so they can cancel 36 hours for the entire assignment. That makes sense. Without that context it certainly confused me!

Specializes in Psych.

Good to know. Thanks. The assignment is in a high volume level 2 trauma center so I'm not super concerned.

Specializes in MICU, SICU, CICU.

I would not agree to these terms. I will not take a contract unless I am guaranteed 36 hrs per week.

No way to this contract! Is this common??? You can bet your ass they will cancel you. Not good. We do not get PTO, mind u. So if they cancel u, unpaid, even just once, what is the "perk" to traveling???? I mean, yes, you get to travel the county and all that jazz, but I know I wouldn't be doing this is it weren't for the slightly better pay.

Three shifts in one assignment is about 7% of hours. Will that kill you if you get called off? Personally I like that in contracts because it demonstrates intent to stick to the contract. Those travelers that get cancelled completely don't have hospitals that respect the contract. So I feel safer.

This hospital can still cancel her completely though.

What I am saying is that in my experience, they are much more likely not to do that and respect the contract.

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