Client reneged on contract rate
Posted By: angela martin on 2008-03-04
In Reply to:
I need advice please. This has never happened to me before so I dont know what to do. I signed a contract with a company to do editing (QA) for $11.00 per hour. Now because there is not as much work as they thought, they want to only pay me by the line at 4.5 cents a line. I dont want them to go broke, but I think I should be compensated in some way, being that I gave up a pretty good job to take this one only because I thought I was getting paid hourly. My husband says look out for number one and make them stick to the contract, which states as long as I am doing my job well, that is what they need to pay me. Can someone please give me some advice here?
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TAT is determined in the client/service contract. sm
Some are tight, some loose.
Generally speaking, you can figure that ERs would be the tightest TAT as those patients could get admitted to the hospital and that information would need to be in the chart. H&Ps have to be on the chart before any surgery is started on the patient, so they have a tight TAT, too. Consults, also, are tight.
The client will not know how their work gets done. A contract is negotiated and
line rate agreed upon. End of client involvement. I have never seen a contract where the client specifies exactly how the work is to be done. The client just wants the work done timely and accurately. At that point, the MTSO can either hand the work over to MTs they are paying 8 to 10 cpl to transcribe or they can run the dictation through the VR server and have it transcribed and then edited for much less. The client still pays the agreed upon rate, but the MTSO makes a much greater profit by cutting MTs pay by half and asking them to edit.
Line rate charged to client
I am trying to find out what MTSO's are charging for line rates in different areas of the country. Please let me know.
Thanks
for MQ STAT employees tier rate applies to ME rate as well and how calcluated?
for a STAT MQ employee: Does anyone know if the tier rate is going to be applied to the ME rate as well or are they going to go with the 80% of the MT rate for each tier level? If the tier rate doesn't apply as well to the ME rate then going by the 80% of the MT rate is less than if the tier rate would be applied. I'm sure that MQ is going to go by whatever keeps money in their pockets. Guess this is a question for the supervisor tomorrow.
Their line rate was less than my current nat'l rate, even with mucho experience. nm
no msg
VR rate is 1/2 rate of traditional typing,I believe it is 4 cents line.
I took that to mean you can get to that rate after 1600 lines and that is not the starting rate.
:
Webmedx ASR rate is 70% of your regular line rate. sm
So if you are on a 9 cpl account, you get 6.3 CPL plus any bonus / incentives / shift differential.
From the current editing rate not typing rate
.
It's in their contract, which they sent me. NM
.
Anyone know who has contract for...
Community of Ventura in CA...used to be M/Q but they lost it a while back and I loved that account, even the ESLs..worked on it for 5 years and I put out tons of work for them day after day....wish I could get it back....anyone working there?
If it's in your contract, yes... sm
I checked with my attorney a few weeks ago as I am going to soon be going to IC status. They can have you contract for a certain volume per day, completely legal. It has to be in writing. As an IC, you also are not guaranteed work, however, so if there is none, you're out of luck and $$ for the day. Unless of course you are lucky enough to have a clause in your contract that says you still get paid for being available.
They cannot tell you when you have to do those lines, but can tell you when the deadline for them to be done is. Most ICs I know specify that they can work Xday and approximately x hours or x lines or they contract to a volume per week, but hours are up to them as to how they plan to get those lines done.
I wonder how their contract
would hold up in court. Hmmm
Why? what's in the contract?
can't you be more specific?
Looking over their contract
I've actually been hired, I am just looking over the contract.
a contract is a contract...sm
and all its contents therein. Therefore, if it was NOT in the contract, that contract is void. Now, would you continue to work for a company like that?
MDI-MD CONTRACT?
As a statutory employee/independent contractor for MDI-MD do you have to sign a contract?
What does your contract say?
Isn't it usual to have to wait 2 weeks for the first paycheck? This also means that some day you will get a paycheck 2 weeks after you quit working there. Are you paid twice a month or once a month. You should have something in writing (contract) regarding this. Wherever I have worked and whether as an employee or an IC, I have always had to wait 2 weeks to get paid, so maybe you should check that first in your contract before you just don't work. If you are an employee, then you should have something in writing too that shows how this is handled. I also just noticed in your message that you submitted your first timesheet after working there for 3 weeks so maybe you get paid only once a month, which means you will have to wait till the end of September to see money. Just check the documents you have, and I am sure you will see something that explains this.
Did you have a contract?
That's something that should have been addressed in the contract. If it wasn't, you can do whatever you'd like to do.
I used to charge for keeping records as storage. Nuttin's free :)
client
Boston, Mass.
own client
Get this, I had my own client since Feb. When i first started they were five weeks behind. Got them all caught up. REcently have been having trouble getting my paycheck. Keep being told its in the mail. I started putting a little bit of pressure on my boss yesterday and now tonight at 10:30 i got an email saying we should part ways. I am so upset and do not know what to do. All because i asked for my pay. Uh may be they dont think over 2G is not a lot of money to them but I do. They also were pushing me about TAT. They gave me 4 days no problems as long as i get the files and everything i need in a timely manner, which lately i have not so i have been calling the manager because that is what i was told to do. I really hate to go back to work for a big national but I guess now i have no other choice. I wrote back a big reply to her email and waiting to see if i get a response and DH also told me i should call my manager and tell her thanks for the back stabbing? What do you think?
client
Oh yeah, they did not even give me the decency of a phone call jsut a lousy email can you believe that?
its the client
Hey, it is usually the client that changes pay practices...why is everyone on this board out to badmouth one person after another....dishonesty is not always the path taken
I have (I am an IC). I had one client that
used cassette tapes and if I had to scan a tape I charged an extra 0.02 per line for that report. Not much, but it did cut down on the Stats. I also printed reports at home and if I had to reprint something because of their error or losing report, etc., I charged 0.05 just to reprint it.
The client usually never knows about VR sm
being used (big secret the larger companies keep), so they are getting full transcription rate and paying 1/2 rate to MTs to edit - more profit for the service!
No, you got the client because
you can hire MTs that will fall for it.
only if the client allows it
is disengenuous and poor logic. It is also moral relativism, which in my book, is very, very wrong. I ain't gonna be working for them, either.
Correct -- Got my contract right here ...
as a SE, MQ is required to take out FICA (SS) and can take out Federal taxes.
Individuals are responsible for state taxes.
Do you have a contract? If so, does it state
when you will get paid? If you don't have a contract get one. If it states you will be paid by a certain date call the MTSO and ask about payment. I'd give it one week after that and if no payment no work.
contract worries
they have a contract that has the wording saying they can deduct money from your pay for work that needs to be edited. I didn't like that so I didn't sign.
Unless you have a contract with one of them forbidding it, sm
buy all means you are free. Years ago, most of the nationals had ICs only and had contracts stating you couldn't work for one of their clients for a period of one year, etc.
If you are an IC, what does your contract state?
They can get into real issues with the IRS when they tell an IC what they are going to pay if it's a contract violation - that is treating you as a SE which affects the taxes they have to pay. So go back read over your contract and see what it says about notification of pay adjustments. Good luck - rotten thing to happen right before the holidays.
I had my attorney look at a contract also
I was asked to sign a really outrageous one.... not for Sten-Tel. I don't want to mention the company. It's hardly ever on here and I think I was the first and only person asked to sign one. Basically making me a slave with varying pay and other horrible things.
Didn't you have a contract with them? nm
nm
Yes, had a contract and filled out sm
a 1099. Received checks without taxes deducted. All of a sudden deducted taxes, and told me I was staying employee like it or lump it. From what I read on these boards, this company is always low-balling someone.
Have you signed a contract with them yet? sm
I haven't even set up a time to train yet but I just faxed my contract in this morning and I am supposed to get my lanier sometime next week. I guess I probably pestered her; I would rather say I was persistent : ). I had another company with an offer standing and I didn't have time to wait around and let the other one slip by in case things didn't work out. Luckily, they did and I am very happy with my choice.
I know they contract with Spheris. nm
xxx
contract not always honored . . .
This happened to me, after several times of not getting paid in a timely fashion, even adding it to the contract didn't matter. I was working for the state I live in!!!!! They paid me when they darn well felt like it. Just warn the others is really all you can do.
Pay schedule contract
It is noted on the labor board web site - if you are given dates of pay they have an obligation to within a reasonable amount of time to send payment - reasonable being mailing of checks - as an IC you are a business - notify them of what they owe - and tell them effective immediately late charges will be added. I agree contact all you can and send the bills to the credit agencies and have it on their credit report - they can be found on line. You are a business, what happens when you do not pay a credit card on time - you get late fees -sock it to them and get your money - stop thinking as if you are employee - you are IC - treat them as a payor who does not pay their bills.
My account is 40% per contract. Most are
pretty good though. They have 20+ accounts and I don't know what others are like. Two or three more counts are coming on-line soon.
Rely on your contract - you did have one - right? nm
nm.
there's nothing wrong with the contract
why don't you call and just ask them, they are always helpful and friendly at the Porterville office (not Bangalore). Yes, they do outsource - it says global right on their website. If someone didn't know they outsourced before they were set up with them then they didn't do their homework. If someone couldn't get their program off their computer then they didn't set up an appointment to have support take it off for.
Turned it down after getting contract...sm
There were 2 objectionable sections to me. One indicated pay for QA but on further questioning, there were no specifics given on what would be considered necessary for pay or how much it would be. The other was a charge for tech support. On further questioning, they indicated why and under what circumstances, but wouldn't put it in the contract. I wouldn't sign it since those 2 items were so vague.
I had a friend without a contract
She was charged for the IT guy setting her computer in teh amount of 100.00 or something like that. Sounds low, yeah, but the MT never even started working or for some reason there was no work. Well 3 months later, she gets a bill from the lady saying she had to pay this money. The company is a lady name Suanne at p.r.n. Transcription, I believe in Florida, so beware.
Just because you sign a contract
doesn't mean you have no recourse. I worked for a company as an IC and my contract said that I had 24 TAT, was responsible for my own equipment and taxes taxes, had to abide by HIPAA regulations or get terminated, etc. The company I worked for (very small less than 80 employees) DID NOT comply with HIPAA regulations and I have plenty of proof. I'm gathering all the information I can before I see an attorney and possibly the IRS. One gets tired of hearing look at your contract. What makes them think THEY can break rules outlined in a contract and get away with it?
I've also been looking into IC versus employee status (on the IRS website) and it is interesting reading. Makes me wonder if this contract was ever legal by IRS standards (something else I will be looking into). It's time the tables turned on these bullies. They need to realize that WE are the ones that make them money not the other way around!
Do not sign contract
Having experienced this personally, it can be anything from an inconvenience to a devastating financial blow and, by signing the contract, no leg to stand on when it comes to getting your money.
No, do not sign the contract.
Find another company. There plenty out there that require set lines, but as an IC you shouldn't even have to commit to that. The true IC positions are hard to come by as this field is abused as an IC. JMO.
Contract concern
I am wondering why it would state the MT is working for 2 companiies and that the first company (OSI) should they not pay, then the second company (Alpha) only being liable for minimum wage. That sounds fishy. It is a violation of federal law to not pay, and to sign the contract, is that not my agreeing to only accepting minimum wage regardless of what I would truly be owed should OSi decide not to pay?
This is negiotiated in a contract between
the MTSO and the Client. Where I work, our pay scale was adjusted to make us more competive with other MTSOs wanting our account (which is major). We went from a straight cpl to a tiered system where the more lines we produce, the more we are paid. Lucky for me, it was not a cut because I had not been there very long. However, the ones that were at the top of the range had a pay cut.
Read your contract.
If you are an IC, you should have a contract. MTSOs need to be able to count on their workers, ICs and/or employees. Sorry to hear that you medical issues prevent you from meeting the required production. Maybe you should find another company who can afford to be more flexible.
If the contract states that they will reduce your pay if production is not met, then they are free to do so. I've not heard of a company who does this either, but you may want to read your contract and make sure things are being handled accordingly. Additionally, they have the right to end your contract (as in telling you to hit the road) if you are not meeting the agreed upon production. Seems like they are still trying to be nice by decreasing your pay instead of terminating you.
my company does - it's in our contract
I can see their point. The MTSOs have TATs to meet. If you commit to a certain number of lines per day and aren't able to make that consistently, the MTSO may have to pay a penalty for late work or the MTSO may have to offer an incentive to its other MTs to keep the work in TAT. The company I work for tries very hard to make sure that we all have work, but they expect us to work our scheduled lines to keep everything in TAT. It's a 2-way street.
I worked for MQ before and they didn't give a rat's a$$ if we had work or not. Of course, we were expected to make up time if we ran out of work, sometimes sitting at the computer for 12 hours a day. At least the current company I work for is decent about missing lines due to low work.
I also know that if you worked in-house, you could only take so much time off before they'd try to fire you or make you quit. Have you looked other places that allow you to work more prn? I hope things work out for you. I can understand your frustration, too, especially in this economy.
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