Medical Staffing Company Loots Traveler's Pay
by George M. Newton
(This is the second of two parts concerning our poor experience in dealing with one particular travel staffing company and is not reflective with all staffing agencies.)
On each new assignment the Traveler signs a new contract. This document protects the travel professional as well as the company, though in truth, the contracts leans more toward the staffing company than the worker.
In the previous article my wife had some questions about what she perceived as lack of agreed upon pay with the staffing company. It was quite a bit lower than expected.
The Traveler gets her check sent direct deposit so we knew the pay was short of expectations, but until she received her pay record, which is sent to her in the mail, she wasn't sure why.
Carol figured that since the housing was not any more than her last assignment, her pay would not be any smaller even though her hourly pay was reduced. She would recoup it with lower than expected housing costs.
This didn't happen. After looking over her pay record, she talked with her recruiter who was confused that she wasn't getting the money back in her check. He investigated and said he was still unsure of what to say because he didn't understand the answer and would try to get a better explanation.
Next thing you know, he is no longer with the company and the company is not standing by his verbal agreement to put any pay not spent on housing back into the Traveler's pay.
So not only did the Traveler take an unncecssary pay cut of more than $1,100 a month, the staffing company was also taking out enough money each pay period during the contract term to cover the cost of breaking the lease. The company signed a seven month lease to get the cheaper rent and would have to pay a penalty fee if the apartment was not rented. That was not our problem. Taking out this fee was not specified in the contract.
Furthermore, my wife specifically asked her recruiter, who is no longer there, prior to taking the assignment if she would be responsible for paying any penalty fee if she didn't stay longer than her specified contract time. She was told, "No." That was the company's responsibility.
To make a long story less long, company representatives dodged her queries for two months until she finally cornered the finance officer and was told that the penalty fee was her responsibility and that she was not getting any money back. None of this was spelled out in her contract.
After considering a number of options, our main recourse was to change to another staffing company and tell everyone we could what crooks these people are. I won't mention their name here, but if you want to know it, send me an email and I will tell you.
The problem here is not that we object to travel companies making a profit, but that we want all details spelled out in the contract and then both parties abide by them.
We are aware that travel staffing agencies sometimes get the crappy end of the stick when a traveler does not live up to their agreed upon contract. We just want staffing companies to treat travelers like they would want to be treated, ethically, honestly and don't take out money not spelled out in the contract.
