WageTime is payroll for per diem nurse staffing agencies: each check is built from the shifts a nurse actually picked up, at the rates those shifts actually paid, with overtime blended across facilities automatically.
WageTime provides payroll mechanics, not tax or legal advice. Whether a per diem nurse is a W-2 employee or a 1099 contractor, and which credential a given shift requires, are decisions for you and your advisors. Sample screens use a demonstration environment.
Per diem nursing is not high-volume the way warehouse staffing is, and it is not the 13-week package a travel desk runs. A per diem (PRN) nurse works shift by shift, with no set schedule and no guaranteed hours, for a higher hourly rate instead of benefits, and floats across local facilities to wherever census is heaviest (ANA). Every check is assembled from the shifts they actually worked, at the rates those shifts actually paid.
A per diem RN averages around $48 an hour nationally, often 15% to 50% above a staff nurse, and each shift layers its own premium on top: evening and night differentials, weekend rates, holiday pay, charge duty, and surge pay for last-minute coverage. Two facilities in one week means two base rates before a single differential lands. Software that stores one hourly wage per employee cannot produce the check those shifts add up to.
When a unit’s census drops, per diem nurses are the first called off, often with an hour’s notice, ahead of core staff and anyone already in overtime. Some facilities still owe a minimum: report pay for a nurse sent home after arriving, or a callback minimum when on-call turns into a worked shift. That is real money your payroll has to cut, and there is no stipend to prorate the way a travel contract has.
A per diem nurse steps onto a unit with little orientation, so a current license plus BLS, ACLS, and facility health items are the price of working the shift at all. Because the same nurse picks up many short shifts across facilities, a card can clear Thursday and fall short of Friday’s night shift. That gap usually surfaces only when the facility runs its own check, unless the expiration is already flagged on your side.
A per diem nurse might work zero hours one week and six twelve-hour shifts the next, which is exactly why the ACA look-back method exists. An average headcount report will not tell you which specific nurse crossed 130 hours in a month and is now owed an offer of coverage. And back-to-back twelves push nurses into daily overtime and double time in states that count hours by the day, not just the week.
App-based nursing marketplaces routinely book nurses as 1099 contractors, and the Department of Labor has challenged several of them for it. An agency that assigns a nurse’s shifts and directs the work is usually looking at a W-2 employee instead. Getting the classification wrong is expensive, and payroll that can only run one worker type forces the question before you have answered it.
WageTime builds the check from the shifts, not from one stored wage: each shift pays its booked base rate with its premiums layered on top, and overtime computes on the weighted-average rate across facilities.
| Shift | Hours | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Mercy GeneralICU night, diff · $58.00 | 12.0 hrs | $696.00 |
| Lakeside SNFweekend day · $48.00 | 12.0 hrs | $576.00 |
| St. Clareday charge + surge · $58.00 | 12.0 hrs | $696.00 |
| Parkviewevening · $50.00 | 8.0 hrs | $400.00 |
Replaces the spreadsheet where someone rebuilds a nurse’s week from three facility timesheets and guesses which four hours were overtime.
Exactly what your policy says: on-call standby, a callback minimum when the phone rings at 2 a.m., and report pay for a nurse sent home all run as pay codes on the same check.
| Nurse | Pay code | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Renee A., RNOn-call standby, 24 hrs | On-call rate | $120.00 |
| Renee A., RNCalled in 02:10, worked 3 hrs | Callback minimum 4 hrs | $208.00 |
| Priya S., LPNShift cancelled, low census | Called pre-shift, no report pay | $0.00 |
| Marcus D., RNSent home hr 2, min paid | Report-pay minimum 4 hrs | $192.00 |
Replaces the after-the-fact argument over whether a sent-home nurse was owed four hours, settled from a policy nobody had in the payroll.
Every nurse’s license, certifications, and facility health items live on one WageTime record, and every date drives a recurring alert, so the warning reaches your scheduler before the shift is offered, not at the facility door.
| Nurse | Credential | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| Renee A., RNFri ICU night: lapses first | ACLS certification | Apr 3 |
| Priya S., LPNNext: Sat SNF day · 72d | LPN license | Jun 21 |
| Marcus D., RNNext: Thu ER, renew 26d | BLS certification | May 9 |
| Dana W., RNNext: Sun float, 123d | TB screening | Aug 14 |
Replaces the renewal spreadsheet nobody updated, and the shift a nurse could not legally work because a card expired two days before it.
One nurse at a time: a PRN roster is the variable-hour population the ACA look-back method was written for, and the nurse who quietly averaged 130 hours a month shows up by name in WageTime, owed an offer of coverage.
| Nurse | Avg hrs/mo | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Renee A., RNMonth 9 of 12, offer due | 148 | Offer |
| Marcus D., RNMonth 7 of 12, offer due | 132 | Offer |
| Priya S., LPNMonth 6 of 12 | 96 | Below threshold |
| Dana W., RNMonth 3 of 12 | 41 | Below threshold |
Replaces the headcount average that hides the one per diem nurse who quietly worked her way past full-time before anyone offered her coverage.
W-2 nurses and 1099 contractors run in the same payroll: nurses are paid with withholding and automatic filings, legitimate contractors are paid alongside them, and the classification decision stays in one system instead of two.
| Worker | This run | Year-end form |
|---|---|---|
| Renee A., RNW-2 employee · withheld | $2,475.64 | W-2 |
| Marcus D., RNW-2 employee · withheld | $1,404.00 | W-2 |
| Dana W., RNW-2 employee · withheld | $912.00 | W-2 |
| Alex T. per-project educator1099 · no withholding | $1,500.00 | 1099-NEC |
Replaces the second payroll login for contractors, and the year-end that reconciles two systems that never agreed on a nurse.
Full-service payroll is $10 a month per person paid that month, plus $50 a month per company, with unlimited runs. No long-term contracts, no per-run charges.
Off-cycle runs and bonuses cost nothing extra. No long-term contracts; cancel anytime.
Example: 50 people paid × $10 + $50 company = $550 for the month
HR & hiring, onboarding, PTO, time tracking, benefits, and workers’ comp are optional add-ons, priced separately when you’re ready.
See a demoThe agency is usually the employer of record for its W-2 per diem nurses, paying wages, withholding and filing taxes, and issuing the W-2s. WageTime runs that model with weekly runs at no extra cost, shift differentials and on-call as pay codes, weighted-average overtime across facilities, and any 1099 contractors paid in the same run.
Each differential is a pay code. Night, weekend, and holiday premiums plus on-call pay are configured as pay codes, and charge duty or last-minute surge coverage runs as custom pay codes you define. They layer on top of each shift’s base rate, so a nurse working several shifts at different facilities gets one check that reflects what each shift actually paid.
Facility policy decides, and WageTime pays whatever that policy sets. On-call standby, a callback minimum when a nurse is called in, and report-pay for a nurse sent home after arriving all run as pay codes. Because runs are unlimited, an off-cycle correction for a mishandled call-off costs nothing extra.
Classification is a decision for you and your counsel, based on how the work is directed, not a call WageTime makes. App-based marketplaces often book nurses as 1099, and the Department of Labor has challenged several of them; an agency that assigns shifts is frequently looking at a W-2 employee. WageTime runs both types in one payroll and files both year-end forms.
Per diem nurses are the classic variable-hour case, so the look-back measurement method decides eligibility. WageTime tracks hours of service per nurse across every facility, applies the measurement and stability periods you configure, and flags the specific nurse who averaged 130 hours a month and is owed an offer of coverage. Year-end 1094-C and 1095-C forms are generated and e-filed.
$50 a month for the company plus $10 for each nurse actually paid that month, with unlimited runs. A month with few bookings costs less because you pay only for nurses who worked, and a busy month never charges per run. An agency paying 50 nurses and 4 schedulers is $590, no matter how many shift weeks it took.
One per diem nurse, the shifts they picked up at each facility, and a call-off or a callback to price. Twenty minutes on a live demo company with a payroll specialist: you’ll watch the shift-differential week resolve with weighted-average overtime, the on-call and report-pay minimums pay out, the credential board flag the next shift, and the ACA look-back name the nurse who crossed full-time.
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