Travel Nurse Contract Checklist: Questions to Ask Before You Sign

Questions to ask your travel nurse recruiter before you sign

Your recruiter emails a contract and says they need it back by Friday. The rate looks good. The city looks good. So how do you know the terms are fair?

You work a list. This is that list, organized by category, and every item has what a good answer sounds like next to what a red flag sounds like.

This assumes you already have an offer in hand. If you're still deciding which agencies to work with, start with choosing a travel nurse agency instead. And if the call itself hasn't happened yet, travel nurse interview questions covers what you'll be asked and what to ask about the unit.

One rule before the list. A promise that isn't in the written contract does not exist. Not because your recruiter is lying, but because they change jobs, and the next person only has the document.

Contract basics

Start with the shape of the thing before you argue about any single clause.

• "What's the exact contract length, and what's the extension process?" Good: specific start and end dates, plus a written extension policy. Red flag: "we'll figure that out later."
• "Is orientation paid, and at what rate?" Good: paid at your normal hourly rate. Red flag: unpaid, or "self-guided" modules you complete on your own time.
• "Is this standard 13 weeks at 36 hours?" Good: yes, or a concrete reason it isn't. Red flag: 48 hours a week or 26 weeks with no explanation.

That last one matters more than it looks. Standard terms give you a natural exit ramp every 13 weeks. If the unit turns out to be rough or the city isn't for you, you're out in a few weeks instead of 6 months. You can always extend a contract you love.

Don't expect much orientation either way. By my 3rd contract I was down to 2 days of facility orientation and went solo halfway through my 2nd day on the unit. Plan for "almost none" and you won't be caught out.

How long is a typical travel nurse contract?

13 weeks, and it isn't close. I pulled 400 open contracts across ICU, ER, Med-Surg and L&D: 80% were exactly 13 weeks. The rest were mostly 12 weeks (19), 26 weeks (13), 8 weeks (12) and 6 weeks (10).

Hours cluster just as hard. 82% were 36 hours a week, 10% were 48, and 7% were 40.

So if a contract in front of you says 48 hours or 26 weeks, that isn't normal and it's fair to ask why.

Are travel nurse contracts legally binding?

Yes. It's an employment agreement with your agency, and breaking it can mean losing a completion bonus, owing penalties, and getting flagged as "do not return" at that facility. More on that below.

Guaranteed hours

This is the clause I'd check first if I could only check one.

Hospitals cut shifts when the census drops. Without guaranteed hours in writing, those cut shifts are simply unpaid, and nobody has done anything wrong.

• "How many hours are guaranteed per week, in writing?" Good: 36 or 40, stated as a number in the contract. Red flag: no guarantee at all, or "it depends on census."
• "What voids the guarantee?" Good: a short, specific list, such as you calling off. Red flag: broad language letting the facility cancel shifts without triggering it.
• "What happens on a low-census week?" Good: you're paid to the guaranteed number, or offered a float assignment first. Red flag: "you just don't get paid for that shift."

A guaranteed-hours clause in plain language commits the agency to pay you for a set number of hours per week whether or not the facility gives you the shifts. What voids it is where agencies differ, so read that part twice.

What does 40 hours guaranteed mean?

It means you get paid for 40 hours a week even if the facility cuts you to 24. What it doesn't mean is that the guarantee survives everything. Call off a shift yourself and most contracts let the agency drop the guarantee for that week.

Get both halves in writing: the number, and the list of things that void it.

Overtime and extra shifts

Overtime on a travel contract works off your contracted weekly hours, which is not the same math a staff nurse is used to.

• "What's the overtime rate, and when does it start?" Good: 1.5x or better, with the trigger stated. Red flag: no mention of overtime, or extra hours at your base rate.
• "Are extra shifts paid at overtime or at base?" Good: spelled out. Red flag: "we'll sort it out if it comes up."

Federally, the FLSA requires 1.5x your regular rate over 40 hours in a workweek. Some states go further with daily overtime rules, and where both apply you get whichever is more generous.

Worth knowing: overtime rights can't be signed away. Per the Department of Labor, an agreement to count only 40 hours as working time doesn't satisfy the law. If a contract seems to trade away your overtime, that's a question for the agency, not something you accept.

Pay package

One number is not a pay package.

• "Can I see the full breakdown in writing?" Good: taxable hourly rate, housing stipend, meals stipend and any one-time payments, itemized. Red flag: a single blended weekly figure and no detail.

Two contracts can both advertise $2,400 a week and leave you with very different take-home depending on the split. How a pay package breaks down has the full mechanics, and how travel nursing works covers where the money comes from.

Also worth doing before you sign: check what other agencies are paying for this exact contract. The same job usually goes out through several, and the gap between the best- and worst-paying one commonly runs $250-350 a week.

Cancellation and call-off policy

This is the longest section because it's where nurses actually get hurt, and it's the section recruiters move past fastest.

• "What's the cancellation policy, for both sides?" Good: a specific notice period, usually 2-4 weeks, with penalties spelled out and obligations running both ways. Red flag: you owe penalties and give notice, while the facility can cancel at will.
• "What happens to my housing stipend if you cancel early?" Good: paid through the end of the pay period, or a defined wind-down. Red flag: it stops the day the contract does, while your lease doesn't.
• "Is there a do-not-return list, and what puts me on it?" Good: a transparent policy with reasonable triggers. Red flag: "at the facility's discretion."
• "What's the call-off policy and the penalty per missed shift?" Good: a specific number in writing. Red flag: undefined penalties, or losing the weekly guarantee over 1 sick day.

Read the cancellation clause in both directions. Most are written so that leaving early costs you a completion bonus and possibly a penalty, while the facility's side says they can end the assignment with little or no notice. That asymmetry is the industry norm, not a drafting error, and it's the reason the next paragraph exists.

A cancelled contract is a rent payment, a lease you signed, and a gap with no income, all landing in the same week. That's precisely what an emergency fund is for.

Can you end a travel nurse contract early?

Yes, with consequences. Most contracts want 2-4 weeks of notice, and leaving early typically costs you the completion bonus and can get you flagged do-not-return at that facility.

Talk to your recruiter before you walk. An agency that helps you exit cleanly is worth staying with.

What are valid reasons to break a contract?

Unsafe staffing, being asked to work outside your scope or license, documented harassment, the facility violating its own contract terms, and family or medical emergencies.

Document everything in writing as it happens, not afterward. Emails and dated notes are what turn "she just left" into a defensible decision.

One-time payments and reimbursements

These are the terms people forget to check and then never see.

• "Is there a travel reimbursement, how much, and when is it paid?" Good: a stated amount with a payment trigger, like your first or second check. Red flag: "we usually take care of that."
• "Is there a completion bonus, and what exactly forfeits it?" Good: an amount and clear conditions. Red flag: a bonus you only hear about verbally.
• "Who pays for licensing, certifications and the physical?" Good: agency-paid or reimbursed, in writing. Red flag: you front all of it and hope.

Push to have licensing and certification costs reimbursed rather than paid out of pocket. A reimbursement through a proper accountable plan reaches you tax-free, and W-2 travelers generally can't deduct those costs anymore.

Watch what the agency trades for it, though. A reimbursement funded by shaving your hourly rate isn't a reimbursement.

Facility-specific clauses

These are terms about the unit that belong in the document, not answers you get on a call. For the unit questions themselves, use the interview guide.

• "What's the float policy, and is it in the contract?" Good: named units or a defined scope, written down. Red flag: "floats as needed" with no limit.
• "Am I guaranteed the shift I'm being hired for?" Good: nights or days stated explicitly. Red flag: "primarily nights," which is not a commitment.
• "Is on-call required, and how is it paid?" Good: rate and frequency stated. Red flag: not mentioned, then assigned once you arrive.

Float language is the one that surprises people most. "Floats as needed" can mean a Med-Surg assignment for an ICU nurse, and once it's signed it's the deal you agreed to.

Housing terms

• "Is this stipend or agency-provided housing, and is that in writing?" Good: stated plainly, with the stipend amount. Red flag: "we'll help you find something."
• "If it's agency housing, what happens to it if the contract ends early?" Good: a defined notice period. Red flag: nothing in the document.

Confirm that housing actually exists near that facility before you sign, especially for rural assignments. The travel nurse housing guide covers where to look and how to vet a place you can't visit.

Tax and compliance

Keep this short, because the travel nurse taxes guide covers it properly.

• "Does this assignment location put me near 12 months in one place?" Good: the agency tracks it. Red flag: they've never thought about it.

An assignment expected to last more than 1 year is "indefinite" under IRS rules, and that location becomes your tax home, which makes your stipends taxable. Extending back-to-back contracts in one city is how nurses walk into that without noticing.

Contract red flags

If you see these, slow down. They're not maybes.

• Pressure to sign within hours. A contract that can't survive you reading it overnight isn't one you want.
• A rate that drops right before signing. Blamed on "bill rate changes," and it's the oldest move there is.
• Verbal promises that never appear in the document. Shift, unit, start date, bonus. If it's not written, it's not real.
• No guaranteed hours. Covered above, and it's the one that quietly costs the most.
• A one-sided cancellation clause with no wind-down on your housing money.

Take 24-48 hours to read it. A good recruiter expects that. One who won't allow it has told you exactly what working with them looks like.

USE A BURNER NUMBER AND PRIVATE EMAIL while you're shopping contracts around, before your real details land in several agency databases. Here's how to set up a free burner number.

Sign it or don't

Guaranteed hours in writing. A cancellation clause that runs both ways. An itemized pay package. Float and shift language that actually commits to something. Every promise from the call, in the document.

If all 5 hold up, sign it. If the recruiter gets cagey on any of them, you have your answer, and there are other contracts.

Next: find travel nursing jobs on StellarNurse to see what else is open at what rate, sort out housing before your start date, and check the travel nurse salary guide if you want to know whether the number in front of you is any good. The rest of what I've written is on the guides page.

Thank you for reading the whole thing before signing instead of after. That's the entire difference between a contract that works out and one you spend 13 weeks regretting, and most nurses never get told that any of this is negotiable.

Got a contract in front of you with a clause that reads strangely? Send it my way. I'll tell you straight whether it's standard or whether they're trying it on.

Frequently asked questions