I've got a question about contracts. How legally binding are they?
Posted By: SM on 2008-08-29
In Reply to:
I was reading the MDI discussion below and a couple of ex-MDI MTs have said that their contracts were changed while they were still employed forcing them to work different days, different schedules, etc. I worked for JLG not too long ago and they basically did the same thing. I signed a contract stating a certain wage and then they basically breached the contract and completely changed my wage.
So what are the deal with contracts anyway?!?!??!?!?! Why do we bother to sign them if the companies aren't honoring their side of it? And shouldn't the MT be able to take legal action against an MTSO that has breached their contract? Shouldn't there be legal ramifications? The MTSOs make sure to put in noncompete clauses in the contracts so we don't steal any of their clients and try to scare us into believing that if we try to steal their clients, they'll sue, but then they completely disregard the fact that they signed the contract and they could be sued for not meeting their end of the deal!
I HAVE HAD IT!!!! These MTSOs are getting away with too much! I have a file folder the size of a freaking PDR with nothing but contracts I've received throughout my career as an MT and I'd bet that if I sit down and go through them, not one of the MTSOs honored them.
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Not Legally
Legally, I'm bound to not tell you who this company is...but anyone in the MT business has heard of this company, so I'm sure that your first guess about who this is, is right! (I don't think that violates my agreement.)
The legally cannot do that without your authorization
If they did not have you sign a form authorizing them to check your credit report, then that is completely illegal, and I would definitely be going after that company!
In an IC position, they cannot legally
hold you to a schedule or lines. You work when you want, if and when they have work available. You have the right not to work. If there is a schedule/line requirement/or hour requirement then should be considered employee.
Legally, though, you can lie and misrepresent and
what you're saying? I know ethically to expect nothing. I guess I used that term too often. I don't expect any business to be ethical any more, but I do expect them to hide their unethical behavior. I still can't help but think that it has to be illegal in some way, some law somewhere in labor board land, that a company cannot misrepresent itself by posing as an employee and making -- false -- claims about their company, i.e. the lies. That's the part that I am just going to pursue as long as I can - For instance with myself, I share with others in the industry and others who know me and ask, the BS with the company I worked for. It was the entire MT nightmare scenario rolled into 1 job. Everyone shakes their heads and wonders how I found this place, and I share how we have forums on the internet and I had only read praises for this company for a solid year. Well, turns out the praising posters for a solid year are not the MTs, not one. So, to me, that was unethical and I still believe illegal. I'm tired of the bait-and-switch BS, and as long as I have it in writing, I'll try to find someone to help me. If just one MTSO got in trouble for lying on the internet, maybe others would take notice. I know the MTSOs certainly try to get the MTs to be made scapegoats and lots of companies go to no ends to stop internet blogging, etc, about their companies. Well, the same should go for them when they lie and misrepresent, while posing as an MT. I think I need a drink, don't you agree? Too bad I have to work in an hour, but I'll make up for it at midnight. I'll have a double! Anybody care to join me? LOL
Only way to save reports legally is if the
client request you too. If, heaven forbid, you are burglarized and your computer taken, then everything is out there for the world to see potentially. I would be fired in a heartbeat if I saved reports I did for my employer.
I am sure she was legally bound not to say anything about the sale until it was complete. That is s
business by the person who owns the business and the person who is purchasing it. She built her business, paid people for the work they did (does not owe anyone more than that), sold it and moved on. Why is it so hard for anyone to understand and why make it personal?
i'm legally bound not to talk about it specifically. but it's the same
just know everything you look up is documented. Sorry I can't elaborate and I didn't mean to be cryptic --I would love to tell everybody what happened but I don't want to be prosecuted.
Legally, they cant give health insurance to SEs or ICs. They tried that before and had to stop it.
:
Rather than all those phone calls, why doesn't MQ just do things legally and mail out
defining company policies and procedures, benefits, etc. It seems they just don't want to be legal and upfront with their MT's.
What company does not have an employee handbook outlining their policies and procedures, etc. As of late, MQ does not put much of anything in writing -- even the supes will not respond to our questions by imail, but always calls us back via phone. These phone calls really need to be recorded when this happens. Telephone conversations seem to be all the proof of ANYTHING that we MQ MT's have anymore. Have you ever heard of a company that will not respond to emails. MQ has gotten really bad about this in the last year or so. I would much prefer a company to put things in writing.
contracts
Everyone should keep in mind contracts work both ways. If the company voids the contract in anyway - nonpayment, late pay if stated in the contract a date it is to be - then the entire contract is void. If you have a problem, go through the yellow pages for a free consult with an attorney - but the contract is not just for them it is for you too - so if it states you are to do 1000 lines a day and they do not offer it up, if the wording is proper - they voided the contract not you. If a company says the payday if Friday and you do not recieve it within a standard mail delivery date, they have voided the contract. So yes please everyone review what they sign to see if you can get what you deserve. So many of us just take it, I say get some legal advice - Lawyers hand it out like candy. If we dont - they will continue to bounce checks, pay late, decrease workloads, etc.
contracts
Tried to email you privately but it would not go through. can you send to my email and let me know company name you mean. I would like to know if it is the same one. thank you.
contracts
Anybody have this experience? I was just offered work from a company that sounded wonderful, just what I needed. No set schedule, work anytime, just set number of lines. Then I got the contract which stated basically paid on the 15th and 30th assuming payment received from client. What? I should do the work for their business and then they don't have to pay me until their client pays, if their client pays. I don't think so. The contract obviously precludes the MT from contacting the client so how do I know if the MTSO got paid or not or when they got paid. Just looking for other people's thoughts on this. Am I being paranoid? Have you ever been asked to sign such a contract? I have seen many postings on this board about people not being paid, and I do not want to be in that situation. I do the work for XXX Company. Doesn't XXX company owe me that money either way. I feel it is their responsibility to pay for work done for their company and THEN deal with the client for any nonpayment issues. What do you think? I politely told them I could not sign the contract with that statement included and asked them to reconsider their position, explaining my feelings on the subject.
contracts
Without reading the contracts, I would say that they need to give notice to change it, unless there is a clause in the original contract that they can change it at will. If you see a clause like that don't sign it.
RE: CONTRACTS
Right ... employees, IC or employee status, should have some type of contract with their employer. But who usually writes the contract? How many contracts presented by the MTSO actually allow for input from the MT? For the most part, they are WORTHLESS, often detrimental, to the MT, since they are almost always one-sided favoring you know who.
contracts
Do you then sign a contract you disagree with? I don't understand doing that.
When I'm given a contract, I surely do take my pen and cross out what I do not agree to, add in what I want agreed to, and sign it.
This at the very least opens the door to negotiation of what I see as issues I can't work with. I've turned down contracts where the MTSO wasnt willing to negotiate to meet my terms. And more often than not, the MTSOs have been willing to work with me.
contracts
You can give direction to a contractor. You can tell the plumber you work until noon so he needs to fix your bathtub between 1 and 5. You can tell him you can only have a plumber there on Monday.
Most ICs do not ever bother SUBMITTING a contract to a service, which is just insanity. Instead, they kowtow to the demands of a service (treating them as employees), then kvetch when they aren't treated as ICs.
Education and knowing how to conduct BUSINESS is seemingly lost among way too many MTs.
You need to negotiate better contracts.
.
Depends on Contracts
I do not know whether the contract specifies only that the work be done in US, or that the provider not outsource at all. If so, that could void contracts. But at any rate, they will still need us US employees to do the work.
Some union contracts have more pay for certification. sm
At a facility I worked at for about 11 years, we had that benefit - $1.00 an hour for certification. You would have to find a unionized hospital and see how their contract reads.
Beware of contracts that state
you get paid when we do... run, run as fast as you can...! Do not sign it.
MTSO HOSPITAL CONTRACTS
What duration of time is a contract with a hospital, one year? It is now April, meaning 50+ transcriptionists needed a year ago, means 50+ now fighting for work. ??
They don't go up b/c hospitals have contracts with MTSOs, sm
saying this is the rate for 2 yrs or whatever. The company may want to pay you more, but they aren't getting reimbursed a high rate from hospitals or clinics.
I'm an IC and I won't accept contracts that have line
IC. Those of you who agree to working a certain amount of lines are being taken advantage of, and you also make it harder for us true ICs who know that line quotas should not be enforced.
If these companies worry about keeping the client happy, then hire more people. The company I work for does just that. If I can't work for some reason, then someone else picks it up. If they can't work, then I pick up the slack.
Those of you who want steady work put up with the rules and accept IC status because you want to work every day. Well in response to your lazy post, then don't come on here crying when you run out of work because as an IC these companies do not have to promise you any work or provide it all.
So it doesn't work both ways. Most ICs, by definition, should really be employees especially with set schedules and set hours.
As soon I see that I have to work set days or type a certain amount of lines I bypass that crookery of a company. Sorry, that's how it is and I do fine in the salary and job department, and I am a true IC that makes my own rules. I am by no means lazy but I will not tolerate set rules when none should be set unless they want to offer me employee status.
P/S: You all cry when these companies run out of work and when you're an IC, they don't owe you any work; so the joke is on you for not looking out for yourself and instead trying to make excuses for these companies who are getting away with paying ICs and controlling ICs when it's against the law.
FUNNY THING ABOUT MT CONTRACTS - SM
They're about as LOPSIDED as a 3-legged dog/horse/donkey - take your pick. WHO GETS TO WRITE THESE CONTRACTS IN THE FIRST PLACE?? Who has the most to say on what does or doesn't go into it? Certainly not the MT. They're almost all written by THEM - with the help of their attorney or in-house legal department - and I can guarantee you they didn't miss a trick.
Case in point: Ever look at your apartment/house lease, for example - you know the tiny print on the back with about 200 clauses - favoring, guess whom?? IC status might have its merits for the MT - CERTAINLY for the MTSO - no taxes, no SS to pay for you ... no worry about lawsuit for wrongful termination or worry about you applying for Unemployment - but they STILL b---- and moan ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK. 
FUNNY THING ABOUT MT CONTRACTS - SM
They're about as LOPSIDED as a 3-legged dog/horse/donkey - take your pick. WHO GETS TO WRITE THESE CONTRACTS IN THE FIRST PLACE?? Who has the most to say on what does or doesn't go into it? Certainly not the MT. They're almost all written by THEM - with the help of their attorney or in-house legal department - and I can guarantee you they didn't miss a trick.
Case in point: Ever look at your apartment/house lease, for example - you know the tiny print on the back with about 200 clauses - favoring, guess whom?? IC status might have its merits for the MT - CERTAINLY for the MTSO - no taxes, no SS to pay for you ... no worry about lawsuit for wrongful termination or worry about you applying for Unemployment - but they STILL b---- and moan ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK.
Yes, the hospital contracts out to the MTSO who is an IC...sm
and has to hire people to fullfill that contract. They have the option of hiring independent contractors with some sort of line quota in a period of time or hire employees who work a schedule enabling them to meet turnaround times more precisely but having to pay employment taxes and give benefits. A company can have of mix of these employees but there is definitely a difference by law. I myself prefer flexible part-time, but so far those jobs have been hard to find.
Our contracts will expire at the end of 2009
at which point we will have to sign all that HIPAA confidentiality stuff and probably noncompete agreements with Transcend too. While the 2009 MDI contract says they have to pay us a certain line rate for 12 months (and this would be binding on Transcend as well) I bet what we signed says we cannot compete for at least couple of years (and this would be binding on us as it pertains to what would now be Transcend accounts.) Don't have time to hunt up and read my contract right now but I would be very surprised if the noncompete agreement expired at the end of 2009. Way to easy to walk off with accounts that way.
I'm not posting contracts. You're insane!
I don't care if they don't believe me. I'm the one getting paid. What do I care if they don't believe me? I can understand the problem with others getting hired in at higher rates, but truly that is their situation, not mine.
You're real sharp but not I'm not dull enough to bite that! LMAO
Good Point, But Contracts One-Sided
Sorry for duplication, I now see both your posts. You bring up a good point, though sometimes these contracts are one-sided and allow a lot of manipulation of job pool by client. But fact remains that US-only work remains and someone has to do it, preferably those of us already trained. Hopefully one way or another we will remain working for those clients. ???
Sten-Tel contract, anyone with any info on their contracts? more inside
I received their contract and had my attorney look at it and some red flags came up. One of the things that is in it is an indemnity clause stating that I an as an IC hold them harmless for ANY liability even if it's THEIR fault. And there is no guarantee of any certain amount of work or amount of hours in it. Please help and advise if you can. I would like to hear from any previous Sten-Tel workers or present ones. Thanks.
As a service, I do not carry liability insurance...on contracts,
I line out that clause. The liability for MT work is extremely low. I personally have never heard of any MT being brought into court on a transcription. Has anyone else? Therefore, liability insurance is either a) not necessary or b) if purchased, would be really really cheap as the liability is practically nonexistent. None of my clients has ever been offended that I don't carry liability. I simply tell 'em that no body does.
Non-compete clauses in contracts. Has anyone refused to sign this and still got the job? nm
nm
Companies close old and gain new contracts all the time. (SM)
Stop rumoring.
If you have information, share with the Administrator or myself. Otherwise, leave rumoring off the board.
Goldbird
When the hospital contracts an MTSO they are abiding by contract
and the hospital CAN ask that the work be done at certain times. That does not make the MTSO an employee now does it?
They CAN contract a person out to do work at certain times with certain turn around times, and that is NOT called an employee. It is called CONTRACTING someone out to do the job they need done when they need it done.
Most contracts said either party can quit or fire at any time. Would be unusual to get locked into
s
What good does it do? They've lied, they've betrayed us.
They've taken all they are going to take from me. I am not going to waste any more time being angry. I hate the way things ended, but I refuse to accept the blame for any part of it because I know that was a lie too, even though they did try to blame the MTs. I know part of the problem was quality issues, but QA wasn't to blame for that either, although they have been.
It is time to pick up and move on. I think mgmt will reap what they sow. For those who worked on the main account Webmedx is still hiring, though the best time slots have already been taken.
What the heck? I've never heard that in the 8 yrs I've worked here. sm
Go back to your STM or over his or her head.
Since you've brought it up, I've stopped SM
giving the negative info because every time I have in the past I am called a disgruntled ex-employee or told that my experience has no relation to what the company is like today.
I won't repeat the information I've given in the past, anyone can find it on searches. I've decided to just let the people have their experience with the company and that experience will validate everything I've ever said about those people.
The same people own and run that company--they may have new names doing the management, but it still runs the same way.
You've got it ~ you've hit the nail on the head....
I can Google until dawn and still not find John Smith in NY - you know the neurologist... Cut me a break! I've now learned to ask my online company for a list of referring physicians (since none of the accounts are in my state) and also ask for websites for the hospitals, but I still don't take more than 5 min of my own time to find referring physicians. I send it right through with a verify cc:...
As far as making an educated guess, I would only do that if it was my own account and I know the dictator well. For the online company, it is their responsibility to make that educated guess as it is their client, not mine. I leave that up to the company to make assumptions; this way it is on their back, not mine when it comes to the legality of the report. Ultimately, the physician is responsible when signing that report or there should be clause on those reports that state dictated but not read. If that clause is not there, then it is the physician's responsibility to know the content, not the MT. An MT can only transcribe what they hear and really should not be making educated guesses on anyone since we live in a world of sue-happy patients and their malpractice insurance is so high. If there is a question, it needs to go the dictator to resolve.
JMO - been doing this for over 20 years. 
I've been a QA 15 years and I've never heard
of any company only paying for the actual Keystrokes of the blank. You would literally make less than minimum wage that way. Waaay less.
I've come here for as long as I've been...
...an MT, for the same reasons all of you do. I don't scan the boards looking for false accusations, but when something comes up that does involve me, I would like the opportunity to defend myself. That's all...
I've used it before...sm
If you are thinking of going with a company with the beginning letter of "e" and ending in "Z"....you will not be getting paid for spaces. They allow ONLY 8% for spaces, which IMO, is retarded. The platform is very easy, but this particularly company has it set up to NOT count spaces, you will be typing your fingers off it seems.
I've been doing this for more than 11
between 250-350 lines an hour where I am now, without killing myself. At Medware, I was lucky to get 200 lines an hour.
I've only seen 1. sm...
And it was at www.transcriptionoutsourcing.com . It doesn't say this or much of anything else on their website. I think I got this as a link from an MTDaily ad that had a different company name listed and when you clicked their email, the Transcription Outsourcing web site is where it took you. I'll look around and see if I can find the original ad. It was a small company. Good luck in the meantime!
I've got?? i think this is better said I have 12+
nm
I've been there too ... and it's getting very old
I've accepted offers with and tried just about everyone. So far, the one I trained on today has been the best to deal with. The trainer also told me she has been on this account for many, many years - and in that time has only run out of work twice, due to hurricanes. I'm getting very, very tired - I just want to find the right fit. I've found quite a few WRONG fits (and I'm not a newbie - I've got 13+ years on me). I figure, at this point, I want to pick the RIGHT ones, not just ANYone. I think I'll talk to DH some more and see if we can work something out. Who is the *&%* Company, it's late, I'm tired and I can't figure it out. If you want, and can do it, e-mail me separately. I have to make a decision with them soon. Thanks so much for at least your honest, yet positive, input. It's refreshing on these boards.
I've have been doing (sm)
some work for them lately. The stuff is mostly medical conferences and symposiums where people are giving talks. You generally get their Powerpoint presentation to help with drug names and doctor names. I did have one nightmarish assignment where there were about six people sitting around a table all talking at once and I was supposed to figure out who was talking when. The rest of them have been pretty good, though.
Just so you know, this is another CL, not the CL you've seen here for a while now, before the mov
x
Not me, I've been looking for (sm)
minimal part-time at least 9-10 cents per line for a long time. You can find it and get nothing but the bad dictation. BTW, I started typing about 30 years ago. So hang in there if you'd like, I've donated too much of my time to this so-called profession. And there are no hospital jobs around here. I live in a fairly large city and the hospitals are ALL on VR or EMR. It will reach everyone's town before too long. It will be whoever will work the cheapest can have the job. Not me, I'm not that cheap.
Wow! You say you've been an
Again, it is common sense not to post people's names on public forums for any reason. Sometimes, I can't tell if you folks are 12 years old or 98 years old.
Please do not post names.
Well DUH - so do I. That's why I've done
in one form or another (as an employee, as a contractor, as an MTSO) since 1983. And have been with the same small service for many years. And have had my own company/accounts since 1992. But I know my skills are in demand. That certainly seems to bother you a LOT. You sure are defensive about this company, aren't you?
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