Working for an agency and training

[cccl1]

Hello, I am a home infusion nurse and work for an agency. I am told that I am an independent contractor and am paid with company checks, no taxes withheld and a 1099 at the end of the year. Now my question. I am required to do drug specific training at times lasting 2-4 hours. This is done by phone/computer and course completion testing is required in order to be certified by the drug manufacturer to use infuse the drug. I have never been paid for this training/certification time. Am I entitled to be paid for this time? What do you think? Thanks for your opinion, Carol BSN, Long Island, NY.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

I would guess that you either are/are not paid for your training time, based upon your company's policies/procedures.

I'm not sure what outside entity you expected would pay you?

[been there,done it]

Of course you should be paid for the training time.

FYI, as an independent contractor I was paid $40/hr. for training.

Review your contract, are you required to train without reimbursement? If so.. start looking for an agency that will appreciate you.

By the way, are you aware you need to file quarterly and pay 100% of FICA?

[cccl1]

Thank you for your time. That was the feeling that we should be paid, and truthfully I didn't pay that much attention until this last med training came up, and I realized it was going to be a minimum of 3.5 hours, with not even a bagel for my time :) In truth, the agency I'm with is one of the better ones around.....or, so say nurses who have been with other agencies in the area.

Turbo Tax never said anything about quarterly....FICA is covered.

Thanks again.

[caliotter3]

All income tax is due when you earn your income. When your income provider does not pay to the govt with every check, you are responsible for making quarterly payments. For some time I did that. I just did a rough estimate of my taxes owed and paid in what was due for the quarter. You need to look into this because you want to prevent getting in trouble at a later time and incurring penalties and interest. Go to the IRS website and look up quarterly withholding or quarterly tax payments. If you want, you can go to any tax preparer, such as HR Block, and they can explain for you.

[cccl1]

For Roser 13: Well, that was a non-committal answer, but thank you for your time. As for the "outside entity", that would be the drug companies who provide the training. They pay the agencies for the nurses time, and presume that the agencies will compensate their nurses accordingly. Got that info straight from one of the drug company reps, which prompted the question.

Thank you again for your time.

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

Is this for Hyqvia training per chance.Our independent contractors are required to competent in the IV therapies we provide and they are paid when we have meeting and any and all training on line. It is in their best interest as well as their responsibility to make certain they are sending a nurse out that is competent.So are they telling you they are not going to pay you? They are making a lot of money on many of these expensive drugs and they absolutely need to pay you and keep your competentcirs on file.

[RunBabyRN]

I do the same thing (independent contractor for home infusions through an agency), and I am paid for any training.