Before accepting an assignment, I personally like to think things through. But if you are a locum tenens nurse practitioner, you already know how quick the process is. Completing a phone interview and being offered the position can happen in as quickly as a matter of minutes. And usually the agency would like an answer right away. If you take a day to think things through, this makes both the agency and site nervous. They want to lock you into that position as quick as possible!
There is always that fear that you may start an assignment and absolutely hate it. Fortunately, in your contract you can give a 30-day notice and leave earlier than planned. But what if the assignment is so bad that you are afraid to lose your license? In this case, you can go ahead and break your contract. The site and agency won’t like it, but after all, you must think of yourself and your license first.
I have personally broken a contract before and know many other locum tenens providers that have too. The main issue about breaking a contract is that you open the possibility of the site not honoring your contract as well. For instance, they may not want to cover your flight back home anymore or will hold you responsible for fees encountered from breaking an apartment lease etc.
So to answer my original question: are contracts that official? Contracts are nice to have as an agreement but they are by no means 100% binding. However, there are some risks you encounter by breaking them. That is why I often like to stay at a hotel for the first week of my assignment so I can feel it out before agreeing on an apartment. I also like to keep a plethora of airline miles on hand in case I need an “emergency” flight home.
Now looking at the other spectrum, how easily can a site break a contract with you? They only can if there is a causative agent; such as complaints from patients or failure to comply with expectations. I have never been afraid of a site breaking a contract because I believe myself to be a good worker and in the rare case they do end the contract early, I know I have tons of other job options waiting for me.
Moreover, I believe the more established you are with the agency, the more flexibility there is with the contract. If you have been working with the same agency over several years and you break a contract one time out of those 5 years, there will unlikely be any repercussions. This means if the site doesn’t want to pay for your flight back, the agency will step up and go ahead and pay for it instead. This is when you know you are working with a great agency because they have your back!
