Medstaff, Inc presented me with a contract to work as a PACU (recovery room) registered nurse at Presbyterian Hospital in Philadelphia. I am a resident of Texas. The contract was for a 13-week period for which I would be paid $28.00 an hour to provide my expert care to post-operative/post-anesthesia patients.
I was given the option of taking a housing stipend or the corporate apartment, which was a 450 sf 1-bedroom on the ground floor in a large urban complex. I preferred to take the stipend, but was unable to find a short-term lease. I accepted the apartment that Medstaff, Inc. Provided.
It was not disclosed to me that the contract was worthless, as, according to PA law, I could be terminated at any time, without reason. I had not idea that I was totally vulnerable. If the hospital administrators were to decide that they no longer had staffing needs, they could simply end the contract. After all, it is to Medstaff's advantage that they defer to their corporate clients, rather than accommodate the nurse.
I was terminated 9 weeks into the contract, the true reason for which I will probably never know. Medstaff, Inc did not offer to find me another travel position. There had been no complaints from Presbyterian management, staff or patients regarding my performance and the feedback that I received directly from my colleagues and from those for whom I cared, was positive.
I started working September 12 and was terminated by telephone on November 11. I was instructed to leave the apartment within days. I never received any documents to notify me of termination or to notify me to vacate the apartment. I offered to pay the rent on the corporate apartment so that I would have a place to live until I was able to find another assignment or assignments with a temp agency in the Philadelphia area. My offer to pay the rent was refused. I moved out of the apartment, rented a storage locker and stayed with a friend in her small condominium until Christmas eve, when I left by car to return to Texas.
I did not receive pay for the last 32.5 hours that I worked. I was told that it was used to pay rent for the balance of the 13-week contract. I was put in a tenuous situation, as I had no income and Medstaff, Inc had witheld wages that I had earned as a registered nurse at Presbyterian Hospital - wages that I had anticipated receiving. They had taken my last paycheck to pay for rent on an apartment that they refused to allow me to continue to occupy.
Furthermore, they witheld PA State taxes, knowing full well that I am not a residen tof PA, nor am I a resident tof any state that reciprocates tax revenues with PA.
I lost ~$5,000 in wages and it cost me about $3,000 from savings and $1,500 added to my debt - so that I could keep up with my bills, mortgage, etc. My husband is disabled. I had a crappy holiday. If it weren't for my good friend, I don't know what I would have done.
I got the impression that this is business as usual for this company. No one apologized or even seemed that contrition was a concept that they understood. How do they sleep at night?
To add insult to injury, I was sent a bill for the "outstanding rent". There were no documents ever presented to me to support the termination, nor their housing costs that they so easily deferred to me.
Barbara
Weslaco, Texas
U.S.A.
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