Heartlanders-find a Federal resource to help
Posted By: new/old grandma MT on 2006-05-09
In Reply to:
Although my job has not been displaced, I can emphasize with your predicament. I have seen the decline in pay and benefits as a direct result of offshoring and only being able to find a job with a MTSO who stands against offshoring by sacrificing about 30% of what I had just 3 years ago. Now I have custody of a 2 yo and because I make just barely above the 200% poverty level, I do not qualify for goverment benefits that I have been paying into for the past 30 years; however, because of certain federal funds being administered differently at the discretion of different states, I could move to a different state and the 200% limit would not apply to me!
In researching what benefits ARE available to me, I found the website I have linked below. There are benefits available to persons who have lost their jobs to offshoring but I would like to point out one thing:
ONE of the programs requires that at least 3 OR MORE persons having been affected apply for the benefit. So please for the sake of each of you that are going through your own crises, band together so each of you can find a solution that works for your own needs. Please leave the ability to email each other in your posts so you can network. You need each other's support now more than ever! Find out what you CAN do for yourselves and for each other. What have you been paying taxes for all this time? You deserve whatever benefits you can obtain...you have already PAID for them!
LINK/URL: govbenefits
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ex-Heartlanders...
it's been three weeks since the layoffs... hope everyone has decent jobs at hand by now and have gotten over the trauma.
TO ALL MY FELLOW HEARTLANDERS
find an employment attorney and do it ASAP.
That's all I am at liberty to say.
can we poll Heartlanders? Who has a job yet and who has a job that is better than the old one?
x
Heartlanders: Business Email Only?!!! LOL sm
Gotta love it. No one said *ANYTHING* in the business email about *ANYTHING* and yet we get this business email 'email.' What a joke. As for their 'handbook' of rules, I threw that out last night along with the rest of their handbooks and materials. Garbage!
Heartlanders: A week later.. how are we holding up? sm
I don't know about everyone else, but the shock hasn't worn off yet and I'm still in disbelief. I've had the worst week of my life trying to figure out how I am going to survive, especially after seeing those COBRA rates - no favor to us! 
Resource Providers, Inc.?
Has anyone ever heard of this company? Know anything about them?
Anything on Med-Tech Resource?
xx
Here's a great resource
YOu can find out what services are available anywhere at this site (it's safe to click on). I'm in the same boat as you...
If the link below isn't clickable, copy and paste in your browser
http://broadband.theispguide.com/urlfilter/broadband./areacode.870/serName.a/findbroadband.html
Resource Providers, Inc (RPI)....Does anyone actually work for them? sm
Would like to hear from current or former employees with info on this company. You can email me if you would rather not post here. Thanks.
Here's an awesome resource for MTs using MS Word...sm
It's called Tips 'N Techniques in MS Word --Productivity Tips and How-To's for the Transcriptionist compiled by Cheryl Flanders. It really helped me when I was new to Word. It comes in a large, handy spiral binder. I ordered mine from her website, cherylflanders.com. I believe it was around $40. You can also find her online help in a forum called ProductivityTalk.com.
Good luck, I hope this helps! Also, I'm sending you an email.
Does anyone work for or have any information about MED-TECH Resource in GA? sm
I cannot seem to find anything recent in the archives. Thanks for your help.
Med-Tech Resource from one of the banners here is in Marietta, 770. They never replied to me, but
s
Uh, are you sure about Federal? sm
This may depend entirely on the MTSO, but as an SE with MQ, they did in fact withhold federal taxes for me, (but not state taxes.)
So, a federal law
for payment of overtime only applies to whatever hours the facility or company defines as overtime; not all based on a 40-hour week?
It is a federal offense
If the federal government checks the time the employee is producing work from the company software instead of the falsified time sheet and finds it is consistent across the board, the company will definitely be in a huge amount of hot water. I don't work for them and never have. I have my own small company with just me and two more employees, but if this is going on, the employees would have a firm case. They should also document the calls or even record them when they are called to work extra. Just my two cents. I hope this helps.
If you are an employee, they have federal
guidelines to follow to ensure you make at least minimum wage and to reference for overtime purposes.
Clocking in/out does not necessarily mean a loss of flexibility. It does mean some accountability, though.
You can go on line and get the Federal
forms from the IRS. I never did state, they were never that much anyway.
Your federal ID is just your SS number.
I am not an IC at Transcend, but I do some IC work in my local area. All I needed for this was to get a business license in my city of residence, for a home-based business. It costs me $26 a year, but I'm sure that will vary widely depending on where you live. (And that fee is tax-deductible.)
That's all it takes to become an 'established company,' to the best of my knowledge. Instead of a W2 at tax time you get a 1099.
Just call your city hall and ask them how to get a license to set up a home-based business.
If you have a home-based business you can write off all your computer equipment and repairs, and if your accountant is savvy enough, you can even take the home office tax deduction. Mine told me that is no longer an audit red flag because so many people are telecommuting now.
Federal Trade Commission ........ nm
ss
Do they take out for all taxes or just the Federal and you pay your own local? nm
s
WHY NOT MAIL THEM COPY OF FEDERAL....SM
and labor board guidelines regarding employment of independent contractors and the difference between IC and employment status. They cannot have it both ways...have their cake and eat it, too. They don't want to pay taxes, Soc Sec, and benefits for MTs.....but they still want the same control over the MT. Same mentality of most MTSO's....insulting our common sense & intelligence bec. they've soooooooo smart and we're are, collectively, soooooooo dumb!  
Several years ago, they passed a federal law
That law says that companies with over a certain number of employees have to provide advance notice (I thought it was 30 days, but maybe it's 60 days, I dunno)before just closing up shop and doing mass layoffs.
I do NOT think that law would apply to smaller transcription MTSOs with fewer than 50 employees or so.
It would absolutely apply to Medquist, though!
I google federal layoff law. sm
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=federal+layoff+notice+law&aq=f&oq=
Can click open articles.
Companys should at least be reported to the Federal labor department so those coming up from behind. Sadly people need to be MADE to be decent to their fellow humans
SE doesn't take out federal and state taxes, only
x
Here's The Federal Law on Mass Layoff Notice
http://www.doleta.gov/programs/factsht/warn.htm
This only pertains to federal health programs
Like VA. It says if the MTSO is paid with federal money, then they are subject to all these things.
ANY federal money - included Medicare and almost
I could be wrong, but I read it to mean ANY federal money which includes Medicare/Medicaid, and there are probably not too many hospitals, clinics, or private doctor's offices that do not have at least 1 Medicare/Medicaid patient. Seems to me they would not be too worried about all the listed countries for off-shoring if it was only VA, since there was already a big stink about off-shoring VA records. But then, as I said, I could be reading it wrong. I guess only time will tell.
Overtime is calculated in Elabor, in compliance with federal law....
We enter our hours into Elabor each day, and OT is calculated. Right now, with a slow workload, I doubt overtime is approved. As a matter of fact, it is not approved.
Does your MTSO take out all federal/state employee taxes? nm
nm
MTSOs have a unique loophole in the FMLA Federal
MTSOs have a unique loophole. I got caught up in it a couple of years ago when trying to use medical leave for my personal medical illness.
Here are the Federal Requirements:
EMPLOYEE ELIGIBILITY
To be eligible for FMLA benefits, an employee must:
• work for a covered employer;
• have worked for the employer for a total of 12 months;
• have worked at least 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months; and
• work at a location in the United States or in any territory or possession of the United States where at least 50 employees are employed by the employer within 75 miles.
The loophole for MTSOs is the last one …”50 employees… within 75 miles.” MTSOs can interpret that to mean “50 employees who WORK FOR SPHERIS” within 75 miles of EACH OTHER. So, if you live in the middle of Wyoming, there may not be 50 employees within a 75 mile radius of your home. Thus, the loophole, which some MTSOs actually do use.
HOWEVER, some employees do have a counter-loophole. States also have FMLA requirements, and the State that you live in supersedes Federal requirements. In my case my Sate does not have the “75 mile radius” requirement, so after I contacted my MTSO and informed them of that, they backed down and approved all the leave I wanted.
Check out your State requirements to see if they are different. If they are not, if you can survive with 6 weeks and want to keep your job, I would not rock-the-boat any further. Personally, I would use those 6 weeks to find another employer who is more employee friendly, if there are any left out there.
Good Luck and Congratulations on the new Baby.
To be independent at Transcend, have to have own company established and federal ID number?
I guess that about tells it all, does it not? In other words not just the required 8 hour weekend but also you have to have established company. I wonder how many fit under that category?
Did find a Wright Watson Sten-Tel in Austin if their site isn't old. Find 'em with Google. nm
s
Trying to find info on Encompass on this board, can't find any recent. sm
Anyone have any current info. Any employees out there? Give me the low-down if you can! Thanks a million.
Not state by state, federal labor law - sm
and you don't have to be asked. If you work it, asked or not, they have to pay time and a half OT rate for hours worked over 40 in a week.
Taken right from U.S. Dept of Labor -
An employer who requires or PERMITS an employee to work overtime is generally required to pay the employee premium pay for such overtime work. Employees covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)MUST receive overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek of at least one and one-half times their regular rates of pay. The FLSA does not require overtime pay for work on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, or regular days of rest.
Extra pay for working weekends or nights is a matter of agreement between the employer and the employee (or the employee's representative). The FLSA does not require extra pay for weekend or night work or double time pay.
They must deduct FEDERAL taxes.. NOT STATE taxes.. if they took out state taxes.. it would be FLORID
which would only have to be refunded to you for you to pay YOUR state what you owe them which is nothing but a pain... be glad they weren't handling your state tax.. and I think in this case.. if someone at the IRS told you they have to deduct YOUR states taxes.. it is that person who is uneducated... they only have to deduce federal income tax
If you find
someone who is hiring for psychiatry and/or psychology, please come back to this message and email me. I have made this post a couple of times before and have not gotten a response.
How to find JUST Ops, not H&P, DS, etc?
Any ideas?
you will probably have to find sm
a company in your country. The companies I know of don't hire MTs out of the country. I don't want to be rude, but just for some information, I wouldn't describe what I wanted as wanting to do reports in my spare time. Very unprofessional.
How do I find it
How do I find it?
Please tell me if you can find a
I would like to know too, but I am not holding my breath either.
I cant find anything on them. nm
:
find a new MT job or get a second job
I definitely know where you are coming from!
If you find out, let ME know - sm
Tried to find this out myself a while back and got no good answer. Seems like no one wanted to speak up. I was scared off because not one person could say one way or the other.
It COULD get better, if we could find a way to get -nm
.
How could we find out? nm
Cant find it either...nm
.
If you find out anything please let me know also...
as I was hired by them
Please find somewhere else
Please, they will not tell you anything, ever. Management changes on a daily basis, the MTs are told nothing. They will ship the work off one day, take it back, then ship it off again at their discretion. There are many GOOD companies out there, don't waste your time and talent on this place. It is apparent that their goal is to replace all American MT's with offshore, it is just a matter of time. They will treat you miserably if you decide to go there.
Where is their ad - I can't find it? nm
x
How to find?
I have called both the tax and the labor departments in my state and they know of no such regulations.
The way to find out might be to - sm
either have some investigative type get a job at that company's management level.
Sometimes even some hospital medical records management folks actually know where their records are REALLY being typed.
Where I used to work inhouse, that institution has a strict 'No offshoring' policy. They contract only with MTSOs who supposedly do not offshore. Yet some of it IS going offshore, and that hospital MR manager knows it, but the rest of the hospital doesn't. She & the MTSO have some sort of a sweetheart deal going, and she thinks she'll never be found out. Attempts to 'out' her secret by MTs have failed because (1) MTs are never taken seriously there, (2) she's such an adept liar that she always twists things around to come out in her favor, and (c) most of the whistle-blowers in the MT department there have either been fired or driven out.
There's such a wall between MTs & management that it's hard for the truth to be known. I think that's another reason why unionization could help us, because they've got the wherewithall to investigate issues such as cheating MTs on line counts, sending work offshore through the 'back door', etc.
If ever MTs needed someone to unite them and stand up for their cause, it's now.
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