What does time off during a travel therapy contract do to your pay?

Time off in the middle of a travel contract is paid only if the contract says it is, and it can cost more than the shifts you miss: a missed-shift clause, fewer minimum hours or a change to your stipends can all follow. Settle the dates and the terms before you sign, and get them in writing.

By ProTherapy Staffing, published November 4, 2026.

Is time off during a contract paid?

Only if the contract says so. The Department of Labor explains that “The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations, sick leave or federal or other holidays,” and that “These benefits are matters of agreement between an employer and an employee.”

Most travel pay is built around the hours you work, so a day off is usually a day without the hourly wage. Read the contract for any paid time off, and see how a pay package is put together to know which parts are tied to hours.

What is a missed-shift clause?

A term that says what happens when you do not work a scheduled shift. Some contracts deduct a set amount for each missed shift, some reduce the minimum hours the contract promises, and some do both. The clause matters most when the time off is your choice rather than the facility’s.

Ask the recruiter to point to the clause in the offer and to say how it is counted: by shift or by hour, and whether a day you agreed in advance counts as missed. If the answer is not in writing, ask for it to be.

If you want to know how ProTherapy handles time off on a contract, ask: Find my next contract.

Does time off change your minimum hours?

It can. A minimum-hours term usually protects you when the facility cancels a shift, not when you ask for a day off, so a contract may lower the minimum for the weeks you take off or exclude days you requested. That can change your pay for the whole week, not only the day.

Ask how the minimum is worked out in a week with approved time off, and whether it applies to that week at all. Compare the answer across offers, because two agencies can treat the same week differently.

Do your stipends continue while you are at home?

Ask, because stipends are tied to living away from home. The IRS says in its guide to travel expenses: “If you go back to your tax home from a temporary assignment on your days off, you aren’t considered away from home while you are in your hometown.”

Agencies handle this in different ways, especially if you keep paying for your lodging while you are away. Ask how the agency treats the nights you spend at your tax home and whether anything is held back, and keep a record of the dates. For your own taxes, ask a tax professional.

When should you ask for time off?

Before you sign. A facility can plan around dates it knows at the start, and a request in the offer is a term you can negotiate; a request a month in is a favor you have to ask for, and the schedule may already be set.

Put the dates in the contract, with what happens to your pay, minimum hours and stipends for those days. Negotiating pay covers how to raise terms like this with a recruiter.

Does time off make the contract longer?

Sometimes. Some facilities ask you to make up missed shifts by extending the end date, and some do not. If yours would, the extra days can affect your housing, your next contract and how long you are working in one place.

Ask whether the end date moves and who decides. If you have a next contract lined up, say so before the dates are agreed.

How do you compare two offers on time off?

Put the same questions to each: whether any time off is paid, what the missed-shift clause says, what happens to the minimum hours and the stipends for the days off, and whether the end date moves. The offer with the higher weekly figure can be the one that costs more if you take a week off.

How to read and compare a travel therapy pay package walks through the rest of each offer line by line.

Frequently asked questions

Is time off paid on a travel therapy contract?

Only if the contract says so. The Department of Labor explains that the Fair Labor Standards Act does not require payment for time not worked, and that these benefits are matters of agreement between an employer and an employee.

What is a missed-shift clause?

A contract term that says what happens when you do not work a scheduled shift, such as a deduction for each missed shift or fewer minimum hours. Ask how it is counted and whether agreed days off count as missed.

Do stipends continue when I go home on days off?

Ask the agency. The IRS says that if you go back to your tax home from a temporary assignment on your days off, you are not considered away from home while you are in your hometown.

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