Brigette Honaker  |  October 13, 2020

Category: Labor & Employment

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Travel nursing benefits may not meet California labor law requirements.

Travel nursing benefits may not satisfy California law requirements on overtime, missed breaks, and housing stipends.

What Is Travel Nursing?

Travel nursing allows professional nurses to travel around and provide healthcare to different communities. These nurses may travel around local areas, between states, or even to other countries under the employment of a staffing agency opposed to a single hospital or clinic.

Travel nurses may have a variety of responsibilities including:

  • Examining patients to make care decisions;
  • Relaying information about health;
  • Delivering medical and treatment to patients;
  • Essential research;
  • Collaboration with other healthcare workers;
  • And more.

Requirements for these jobs differ from other nursing opportunities in that newer nurses have the same opportunities as more experienced veteran nurses. Generally, having an RN license in good standing and some nursing experience is enough to qualify for travel nursing.

Do Travel Nurses Get Benefits?

Travel nurse benefits may be attractive to prospective workers. Traveling can be hard on nurses and their families, but high wages and other benefits may entice professionals to these transient roles.

According to Nurse.org, travel nurses may make over $3,000 per week, over $50 per hour, and over $100,000 a year. With COVID-19 ravaging communities across the country, high risk areas are reportedly offering travel nurses packages of over $10,000 per week or $100,000 for a 13 week assignment.

However, unlike regular nursing, travel nurse pay benefits include more than just wages. Packages may include hourly pay, non-taxed stipends for housing, non-taxed per diems, travel reimbursements, and other forms of compensation.

Per diems are non-taxed forms of reimbursement for meals, housing, or other expenses. Employers may provide per diems on a weekly, daily, or shift basis opposed to in a lump sum or on an hourly basis.

The U.S. General Services Administration reportedly indicates the maximum amount companies can reimburse for food and housing costs in a zip code. However, this maximum amount is reportedly not often given to nurses. If a hospital offers a high billing rate, travel nurses may receive these benefits. If the billing rate is low or average, travel nurses may not receive the max amount indicated by the GSA.

It should be noted that work expenses are not allowed to be deducted from taxes at the end of the tax year. Instead, tax free reimbursements may be offered as a part of a travel nursing contract to help compensate workers for per diems, scrubs, continuing education, travel costs, hotels costs, and more.

The wide range of compensation available to travel nurses can make the professional extremely lucrative. However, with these complicated forms of pay, travel nurses may not know if their rights under state labor laws are being violated.

This may be even more of a problem considering that reimbursements must be negotiated upfront with each new travel nursing contract. Without knowing what travel nurse benefits they are owed, mistakes may be made when it comes to contract terms.

Travel nursing benefits may not meet California labor laws.What Protections Are Nurses Offered by California Labor Laws?

California is widely renowned as having some of the strictest labor laws in the country. Labor laws in the state ensure fair wages, overtime, double time, and other benefits.

Some professionals, such as individuals working in law, medicine, dentistry, optometry, architecture, engineering, teaching, or accounting, are exempt from certain benefits such as overtime. Although it may seem fair to exclude travel nursing benefits based on this classification, nurses are not covered under the professional exemption.

According to California labor laws, registered nurses “employed to engage in the practice of nursing” are not considered to be professionally exempt employees. As such, they are not exempt from overtime coverage unless they work in a “learned” profession, perform independent tasks, and earn at least two times the state minimum wage for full time work.

Although these exemptions and exceptions to exemptions can be complicated, this shouldn’t allow travel nurses to be denied the benefits they are owed. However, should a nurse be denied travel nursing benefits, there may be options for them to recover the compensation they are owed.

Were You Denied Your Proper Travel Nurse Benefits?

If you were denied travel nurse benefits despite working in California within the last four years, you may be eligible to speak to a qualified attorney. If your employer has violated California labor laws, you may be able to collect compensation.

Travel nurses may not be the only profession affected by this issue. Travel doctors, travel technicians, travel dental hygienists, travel occupational therapists, travel physical therapists, travel pharmacists, and others could also have been denied benefits in violation of California law.

Free Travel Nurse (And Other Travel Healthcare Professional) Wage and Workplace Violation Class Action Lawsuit Evaluation

If you are a travel nurse (or other travel healthcare professional) who has worked in California in the last four years and have experienced employment rights violations, you may be eligible to file a travel nurse pay lawsuit.

Get a Free Case Evaluation

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.

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