Curious. Scrolling down yesterday and noted comment about unfair labor practice
Posted By: sm on 2007-02-06
In Reply to:
suit possibly brought by an MT against a certain company. I know this company only hires ICs - not employees. Is this possible? TIA.
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Even simpler than that is just scrolling down this page...
2 different threads about DSG
so noted. thanks (nm)
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Thank you, mt50. It should be noted that sm
the reason some of us older ones have injuries and infirmities is because this type of work has caused them! I have terrible arthritis in both hands that my ortho said was caused by this type of work, and that healthy MTs should not type more than 6 hours a day TO REMAIN HEALTHY.
If anything, we older MTs are bringing up the quality average. I'd love to see these smug MTSOs do without us, especially when they get new accounts and put their best-quality producers on them to snare the account.
Even with my arthritis, and s/p fractured wrist, I can and do transcribe (straight text, no templates) at 300-375 lph with 99-100% quality. But I can't do that many lines for 8 hours, 5-6 maybe if there's work in my queue and I don't have to make phone calls begging for more and waiting an hour before the clerks get around to sending it.
Among other things noted below, -
their QA department is pretty much brain dead.
duly noted years and not moths, but that.....
does not change the intent of my post. I've been at this over 15 years and I would never work as an employee. I would be in big trouble at the end of the year if I did not have my write-offs.
Here's a few places I've noted that use Meditech...sm
Ascend, Accentus, DataKey, DeVenture (some accts.), Keystrokes (some accts.), MDI - Florida (some accts.), NEMT (some accts.), Philbrick Transcriptions, PMSI in Alabama, SA Wynn, SPI/Cymed, Superior Global (maybe in conjunction with ExText, and Synthescribe... so far. nm
MedRite XL, Cquence, and Winscribe are a few I've noted. nm
s
Another example of how unfair they are.
It is definitely unfair if someone has been
there for 8 or 9 months, has to wait until 12 months before even accruing 1 minute of PTO and a new employee hired today gets PTO immediately. How is that not unfair?
How is it unfair?
Constantly assuring someone their check has been mailed and still has not been recieved is not good business ethics period. Then to have the threats on top of it...that is just plain bs. She STILL has not gotten her check and if he has any decency he will stop payment on this supposedly mailed check and just overnight her a cashier's check for her full pay. I dont know about anyone else, but Im not rich and need my checks in a timely manner, and as far as I know there arent MTs out there just doing this for the fun of it alone. Not being paid is what is UNfair.
It is unfair because those of us
who have put in 10, 20, 30 years or more should not make what a newbie does period! It doesn't matter if it's production or not. Someone with 10 years or more experience should NEVER make what someone just coming out of school or with 1, 2, 3 years in MT. We have put in our time, learned a lot in those years, and absolutely should be rewarded with higher line rates for that! When the newbies get in their years and years of experience, they too should be rewarded.
It used to be we all had to start small and work our way up. Now it seems that everyone makes the same, and it's not right at all! 
SPi unfair!
The new comp plan looks wonderful but when you start typing you notice it takes almost double to get your line counts. Sure, they lowered their line counts, but they don't pay for headers, footers, spaces, returns, tabs, and the patient info area! We get audits and have never been provided with the policy on them.
So much is changing in that company! Something is wrong! Everytime you turn around there are new MQ managers and less United States MTs and Editors. What is going on? I've went though 5 managers in the past 6 months! The director of ops is running though the company trying to model it after MQ. Well look where MQ is now! Why don't people see that the higher-ups are NOT getting the job done correctly and everything is falling apart! A change has to happen or this company is going down faster than Leroy Brown. They need to start changing their upper OP managment team ~starting with the director and all of her MQ followers!
unfair practices
I would like people to be aware of a company called Advantec MT, to let people know that at least at the beginning they pay 1/2 cent per line but don't let you know until your first paycheck is due and then you find out and you have to pay for their equipemnt which I believe is very deceptive. Thought everyone should know.
not really unfair, a lot of other companies do that too
At my last office position I had to wait a year for vacation.
That seems unfair. I have no reason to think sm
they do anything unfair. I did a little over 3000 lines last Sunday. If they were manipulating things in any way, that wouldn't seem likely.
Granted, I would like to be able to use the Ctrl/I function, but because I cannot, I do not automatically assume something underhanded is going on. The company has treated me well, and I have no reason to suspect they would cheat me in any way, and it is unfair for you to imply they do unless you have proof to back it up.
100% QASeems VERY unfair for..sm
Unfair to QA the whole group for work THAT'S UNPAID to begin with, such as demographics garbage, etc. bookkeeping that their OWN clerical staff is supposed to be doing...not the MT for GRATIS...If the client really is so demandinging and picky about the demographic work, you know full well that he is paying the MTSO for it, while we get to do it for nothing for the sheer privilege of working for them. What the heck does this have to do with transcription?? That's what we were hired for and paid for....let them do their own bookkeeping.
Don't you feel this is the least bit unfair? sm
Unfair to each one of these companies who has to spend quite a large sum of money to recruit and train and ship your equipment? And unfair to yourself, as how can you expect to truly learn all the different operating systems and dictators and accounts if you can't concentrate on just learning a single thing at one time?
I think you give us all a bad name.
You're right - it is unfair
My company actually put it in the employee manual - that employees are required to use PTO for periods of low work volume and computer downtime - and the company reserves the right to INSIST upon the use of PTO. Obviously if a company needs to put that language in their manual, they are deliberately planning to overhire, run out of work, and have computer downtime. It is completely unfair - especially since there are rules about requesting it in advance when we want to use it for OUR reasons, but of course those rules are waived when forced to use it for the company's advantage!
Companies SHOULD live up to their end of employment and pay when you show up to work as agreed - and most do in other industries! What is the point in EARNING something they can snatch away whenever they please? PTO is not really a benefit when you are forced to use at the company's whim and for their benefit instead of your own. This ensures you never get to plan an actual vacation, and the company doesn't have to have much concern when work volumes are low - they can just force us all to go on vacation - although instead of CALLING it that and letting us WALK AWAY from the job and go do something else - they force us to sit there and TRY to work, then take the vacation after the fact when it turns out there was none! That is a double whammy because you never got to actually LEAVE the workstation - and it snatches away a future time when you actually planned to! So of course we get burnt out and miserable without hope of a REAL vacation spent away from the keyboard!
It stinks that every chance they get, some suit (who gets salary and NEVER gets forced to take PTO himself) finds a way to steal an employee's benefit and turn it into a benefit for the company instead. PTO under these circumstances is NOT a benefit - it is just another term for slave labor. How DARE they act like unpaid time off is a priveledge that THEY may choose for us, but WE may not. Its unbelievable the lack of respect we receive, and the crap we are supposed to put up with, for the luxury of working at home.
That's pretty unfair.
Just because the patient returns for multiple hem/onc visits is not a good enough reason to pay lower scale to type a few lines.
Unfair and no work
I have worked for them for about a year now and they are always running out of work. They are sweet as pie to you if they need you to help with overflow, but when work runs out they get ugly. JMO
It's unfair to say it's only people with children.
I think the above poster is correct that it's the perception that you can work when you want to that has caused this, not just people who have kids. I have a transcription service and some of the worst offenders don't have any children at all. Even in the real world I always saved my vacation days, etc. to use for my children's school events or whatever and took time off for my kids because they are my no. 1 priority. That has never interfered with my fulfillment of my job duties, even when I worked outside of the home.
I've hired anywhere from someone straight out of school to older people nearing retirement age and some of my best ICs were mothers. Some of my worst included one gal who wanted to party every night of the week and couldn't work the next day with a hangover, an older lady who got tired earlier in the day than she thought she would so she had to stop work early, and yet another lady who had marital problems and used an argument with her hubby as her excuse not to work on any given day. I can give more examples, none of which involve kids. Most of the women with kids did well because they knew how to organize their time, worked when kids were asleep or at school since they knew it was their only chance to get it done, and they were adept at multitasking.
What you are really seeing is a lack of work ethic in general, in all different professions. So many want to get rich right now but they don't want to have to work to do so. We live in a drive-thru, high-speed society and everyone wants everything RIGHT NOW with the least amount of effort possible.
as unfair as it sounds, I have never heard sm
of a company that lets you see a contract until you are ready to sign. If when you read it you don't like it, you don't have to sign it. A hassle yes, but companies are not going to just arbitrarily send out their contracts for folks to see.
Payback is what comes after notification that your sup is being unfair.
I have lost 1/3 of my income, lost ability to work OT and am having less than desirable work siphoned to me since I finally found the courage to go above my sup's head. So, know the risk if you stay in the job.
I think you are being a bit unfair. We all say we want MTSOs to be upfront sm
about what they will pay, what they expect, and not to waste OUR time testing if the wages or whatever do not meet our expectations, then when someone does that, she gets blasted. I just started doing some part-time work for her, and the work is clinic work, which is super easy, and the pay is on time and it is weekly, which is a nice little extra.
Just my thoughts. 
Practice what you preach. Your a** has been on here all day!
;-)
Common practice?
Is it common practice now days to type 4 different accounts - 7 different work types in one 8 hour shift? I'm experiencing this as a FT employee for a well known company - Other than this, the company is wonderful ....this has given me great experience, but my pay has decreased.....Do I need to suck it up and keep pounding away or look elsewhere? Any advice appreciated!!!
RE: Common practice?
Suck it up. You really do not have a problem.
Why not practice being French
here to see how you like it? Try being snotty and rude. Sneer and pretend you don't understand what people are saying. Maintain a disdainful countenance, while dissing the USA. Set fire to a couple of cars. Demand 8 weeks paid vacation and then refuse to work anyhow.
Not exactly defending the practice
First, I'm not a big fan of mandatory overtime anyway. I understand sometimes they need it, but after 40, there are some weeks where I don't even have another minute in me to give them.
I've also had the same thing with overtime...being happy because they're requesting it for an account that's semi-easy and I'm good at, and then logging on to find out it's the account from hail. I can't be the only one from that hail-storm to be working, and I can only assume they're not too backed up because they're not the ones looking for OT, so why oh why oh why must I type any of the Chennai Boomhauer in my spare time.
It must have something to do with different turnaround because I don't think my place assigns them. At least in theory, although I've not seen the spread sheets to prove it, it's first in/first out to me. I did ask them about this one other time I signed on for overtime at the slightly better place and got stuck with Hail Community Hospital. I was still eligible for the OT, but I'd have gotten probably double if I'd have been typing the actual account that needed the OT.
That is crazy!! I do QA too - how unfair to be docked points!
//
Free Practice Test
This will give you some sound files and practice tests - http://www.meditec.com/meditec-skills-test.html
Unfortunately, many practice this unethical behavior. sm
I worked for a company that sold out to MQ. A certain person took all of the names of the MTs with her when she went to another company, went after the accounts this company had, and tried to recruit the MTs for that account for the new company.
I asked how they go my name and number as I had never applied to this new company before - and I was told so and so worked at such company and we have this account now and you used to work on for such and such company....etc. I was shocked to say the least!
So, yes it does happen, and NO I never took the job and asked them to please not contact me again that I was not interested.
Nothing is sacred anymore - not even our privacy let alone the hospitals and patients!
its for Family Practice account
/
is there any type of practice test
you can take to help prepare for it or at least give you an idea of what's covered?
family practice companies
Does anyone out there know of any companies with good family practice accounts?
Yes, hiring practice was right 'fit' for me
Imagine hiring someone just based on their resume and a phone interview. Aha, the catch? You have to pass a very rigorous 10-day QA process, can transcribe only 5 reports a day during that time. It is challenging, but well worth it at the end of that time. You decide if it's the right job, and they decide if you are the right employee.
Like I said, old school.
Does that include the overhiring practice of Transcend's
so none of us can make a decent living, or the miserable platform transcend brought with it?
Oh, I understand. I wasn't condoning the practice
of not paying for no work situations at all. Just commenting that MQ was not the only one to fail to do so.
Although I have never been out of work with either MQ or Spheris, should that situation have occurred I would have been all the more reliant on the other position's income.
I once had a group practice client, which included ...sm
6 physicians. The most irritating one was the doc from India who had been in the U.S. for at least 15 years (I know this because I went to school with his children), and refused to even work on losing at least a small part of his accent. He was so ridiculous, and each time I typed his work, I said to myself I swear this guy purposely works at keeping his thick accent just to irritate me! Interestingly, 2 of his partners in the practice were ESL (had only been in the U.S. for 1-2 years), and their accent was much less severe. These were younger docs, who in my opinion, made an effort to get with the program if they want to practice medicine here! I do believe that people can actually make themselves hold onto their accents. I have a friend who is from the south (She has lived near me in the SE part of the country for 20 years) and she continues to have a strong southern accent. She has not lived in the south since she was a small child. I tease her about it.
That is totally unacceptable business practice.
As I have stated repeatedly, although very unfair, leads have line counts too.
nm
How different are internal medicine notes from family practice? nm
I had no MT training, either. Started at an Ortho practice, then to a nat'l. MT school is NOT a n
x
And yet YOU fuel the fires. Good grief, practice....
nm
Is it common practice for companies to disable the cont.I function?
Does that necessarily mean anything?
With practice and expansion usage, you'll get there! Stop dwelling on the
s
Any place to get free practice voice files or does anyone offer testing that could be accessed w/o
x
Agreed. I also got a nice Christmas bonus working for a tiny private practice. sm
In a smaller office you're seen as an actual person.
It may have to do with their labor law of ...sm
anything over 8 hours is considered overtime and must be paid 1.5x even if you work 12 hours one day a week.
It is no longer anything over 40 hours per week but anything over 8 hours a day. That, my friend, will cost the company plenty of money.
That is why companies are not hiring California MTs.
You might want to try IC positions......and not employee.
Labor Day. nm
You have to be IC because of labor laws sm
I don't know of any companies like this because they have to verify the # of hours you work. Most places require a set # of hours per week, if you are full time often 32-40 hours, PT 20-32. All I have dealt with require the hours be met more importantly than the lines, they have to have staff to cover set hours for client needs. If your lucky enough to type 250 lph, apply for part-time, then you'll only have that 6 hour day you are looking for and not be obligated to type longer, then if you don't meet the line requirement in that time, you'll still have room to type longer without costing the company OT if you need to type another half hour or hour longer than expected to get there. These companies have to be very careful to keep track of the hours because they are required to pay OT for anything over 40 hours, and they have a minimum line count so they know the have people that can get the work done instead of people that aren't disciplined to type from home. All of this is just what I have seen in my 12 years as an MT, may be different for other MTs.
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