ProTherapy Staffing
The contract clauses most likely to cost you money are guaranteed hours, cancellation terms, stipend recapture, and missed-shift math. Confirm hours are a written number (e.g., 36/week), cancellation notice is symmetric, stipend recapture is never retroactive, and that a missed shift — billed at your blended rate — can cost more than a day's base pay.
A travel therapy contract is short — usually a few pages — and almost every expensive surprise in this industry traces back to one of a handful of clauses in it. As an agency run by therapists who signed plenty of these contracts ourselves, we want every traveler reading their contracts like a pro, whether you sign with us or not. (Transparency is literally our pitch; an educated traveler is our best customer.)
Here are the nine clauses to read closely, what good and bad versions look like, and the questions that flush out problems before you sign. This pairs with our 10 questions to ask a staffing company — that post covers the agency; this one covers the paper.
1. Guaranteed Hours (or the Absence of Them)
What to look for: A specific number — "Facility guarantees 36 hours per week" — not vague language like "full-time hours expected."
The red flag: No guarantee, or a guarantee the facility can void for "low census." Without guaranteed hours, the facility can flex you down to 24 hours in a slow week and your paycheck drops with it — while your rent doesn't.
Ask: "How many hours are guaranteed, and what are the stated exceptions?" Some contracts allow the facility a limited number of unpaid "flex" or call-off shifts per contract; make sure that number is written down and capped.
2. The Cancellation Clause
What to look for: How much notice each side must give, and what you're owed if the facility cancels early.
The red flag: Asymmetry. If the facility can cancel with two weeks' notice and no penalty, but you owe damages for leaving early, you're carrying all the risk. Facility-side cancellations happen — census drops, budgets change, a perm hire shows up — and the contract decides whether that's a paid inconvenience or a financial emergency for you.
Ask: "If the facility cancels in week 4 of 13, what exactly do I receive, and how fast can you redeploy me?"
3. Early Termination Penalties (Your Side)
What to look for: What happens if you need to leave — family emergency, unsafe assignment, illness.
The red flag: Flat-dollar penalties, repayment of "placement costs," or clawback of bonuses and reimbursements that exceed what the agency actually loses. A reasonable contract distinguishes between abandoning a contract and leaving for documented cause.
4. Stipend Recapture
What to look for: Language allowing the agency to reclaim housing or M&IE stipends already paid if the contract ends early — sometimes retroactively to day one.
The red flag: Retroactive recapture is the nastiest clause in the industry. A contract ends in week 10, and suddenly you "owe back" ten weeks of housing stipend you already spent on housing. Pro-rated treatment of the current week is normal; retroactive clawbacks are not.
5. Missed-Shift Math
What to look for: What one missed day actually costs you. Because stipends are paid weekly against an expected schedule, many contracts deduct a missed shift at your blended rate (taxable + stipend), not your taxable hourly rate.
The red flag: A $25/hr taxable rate with a $55/hr blended rate means one sick day costs $440, not $200 — and some contracts add a penalty on top. You can't always negotiate this away, but you should never be surprised by it. Understand how your package splits before you sign: pay packages explained.
6. Non-Compete and Conversion Clauses
What to look for: Restrictions on working for the facility directly (or through another agency) after your contract, and the radius/duration of any non-compete.
The red flag: Multi-year, wide-radius restrictions that could block you from taking a perm job you fall in love with. A facility paying a conversion fee to the agency is normal; a clause that handcuffs you for two years is not. Enforceability varies by state, but the fight isn't worth having — negotiate it down before signing.
7. The Float Clause
What to look for: Whether you can be floated to other units, buildings, or even sister facilities — and whether that changes your setting.
The red flag: "Clinician may be assigned to other facilities within the health system as needed." You signed for outpatient; week three you're covering a SNF across town. If you'd accept floating, fine — but cap it in writing (which buildings, what mileage, what settings).
8. Benefits Timing and Gaps
What to look for: When health insurance starts and ends relative to your contract dates, and what happens in the gap between contracts.
The red flag: Coverage that ends the day your contract does, leaving you uninsured between assignments. This is exactly why many travelers carry their own marketplace plan instead — we wrote a whole post on it: why you should consider your own health insurance. Also check 401(k) vesting; some agencies vest immediately (ours does), others make you wait long enough that you never vest at all.
9. The Pay Package Breakdown Itself
What to look for: Taxable hourly rate, housing stipend, M&IE stipend, and any reimbursements — each as a separate line item, in writing, before you sign.
The red flag: An agency that will only quote you a "weekly take-home" number and won't show the split. The split determines your taxes, your overtime rate, your missed-shift cost, and whether your stipends survive an audit. An agency that hides the breakdown is telling you something. (And if your taxable rate looks suspiciously low relative to the package, read our tax guide — the IRS has opinions about that, and they become your problem, not the agency's.)
A Quick Pre-Signature Checklist
- Guaranteed hours: a number, with capped exceptions ✔
- Facility cancellation: notice period + what I'm paid ✔
- My early exit: penalties are proportionate, cause is recognized ✔
- No retroactive stipend recapture ✔
- I know exactly what one missed shift costs ✔
- Non-compete is narrow or absent ✔
- Float is capped in writing ✔
- Insurance dates vs. contract dates checked ✔
- Full pay breakdown in writing ✔
We're happy to be evaluated against this list — every ProTherapy contract shows the full package breakdown up front, and we walk through cancellation and hours terms with you before you sign, not after something goes wrong. If you've got a contract from any agency you'd like a second opinion on, call (484) 324-8320. Yes, really — even if it's not ours.