No, soon the government will increase the minimum wage
Posted By: TransTechMT on 2007-12-03
In Reply to: Does Transtech give raises? - wondering, NM
and MTs will be the working poor. Sad business this is.
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when minimum wage goes up do IC rates increase also?
x
I believe that would come to a little over minimum wage...
Not good at all! 
Minimum wage at best, probably not that!
I would not take any QA/editing position unless it is a set hourly rate. Again, I have said it before, do not sell your fellow QA/editors down the drain like AAMT has sold us. Hourly is the only way!
They have to pay minimum wage s/m
They have to pay for minimum wage if you do not reach that on your line counts.
Minimum Wage
You have hit on a point that the service owners did not plan for. Pursue this with the DOL office in your state:
USMLSU Initiative
Washington, DC
ONLINE, REAL-TIME CONFERENCE CALLS/MEETINGS BEING SCHEDULED FOR THE FIRST WEEK OF 2009 !
Respect, reasonable compensation, and humane treatment for all U.S.A. Medical Transcriptionists
VR or not, need to pay MINIMUM WAGE--sm
Not just my 2 cents' worth -- that's the LAW in all 50 US states. At 3-4 cents a line, this is hardly possible, especially at the start, to make at least a minimum wage that any 16-year-old kid makes delivering groceries. Add to that all the UNPAID work we are required to do for the privilege of being fleeced by the MTSOs, CCs, researching doctors, endless demographic work having nothing to do with transcription... 
Minimum wage
You cannot by law make less than minimum wage. If you are making less than minimum wage I would tell the company, they have to make up the difference. If they don't then you should call the labor board.
If you cannot make minimum wage with this, then
get another profession. I make over $20 per hour. You are a poor excuse for a Transcriptionist if not able to do. End of message and end of talking about something apparently not everyone is able to do.
minimum wage is $ 7.--/hour.....nm
nm
California's minimum wage is higher than SM
the federal minimum wage, this may be why.
Heck, NO!! I'd never survive on minimum wage. nm
xxx
So you don't mind working for less than minimum wage?
That's what a good Editor would make because most good editors that have 100% listen I know get between 2000-3000 lines a day. I think not. People like you who take these jobs bring all of us who have worked hard down. If you have only been an MT for 2 years, I would not think you would even qualify to be QA
MT, minimum wage, single moms, etc...sm
Medical transcription requires a great deal of skill and knowledge. It is not a minimum wage job, or should not be a minimum wage position. Years of learning and experience are involved to master this profession. No qualified MT, single mom or otherwise, should be working at minimum wage levels, in turn necessitating the help of assistance programs. This is too skilled a profession, and it is a shame that it is not so slowly sinking to the level of a minimum wage-type job.
Oh nice..getting late..how about MINIMUM WAGE.. LOL
Must be paid MINIMUM WAGE for each hour -sm
worked under 40/wk if employee in the U.S., regardless of work type, job description. In addition, must be PAID FOR ALL WORK PERFORMED - I won't even go there.
Att: Flamers: You can look this up yourself in DOL regulations.
Minimum wage only applies to employees.
nm
No, she said 1000 monthly - not weekly. Less than minimum wage! nm
x
LABOR BOARD / MINIMUM WAGE LAWS
Regardless of all the bull dished out by the MTSO companies, especially as it pertains to VR, i.e., We're cutting your pay 50%, so you'll have to work twice as hard - but you're going to LOVE the platform. Also get tired of hearing about Learning Curve and wonder if my grocer, landlord & hungry kids understand this learning curve concept.
However (and the MTSOs can like this or lump it) WE MUST BE PAID FEDERALLY-MANDATED MINIMUM WAGE for workers with employee status - whether straight typing, VR or being required to babysit computer during no/low work. Of course, it's exploitation to cut wages in half from an already insultingly low rate & most MTs are surely feeling the pinch. But whether 2, 3, 4 or 10 cpl ... minimum wage must be paid. (Sorry Suits/MTSOs - the law is there for a reason!)
$1,000 divided by 40 hours is $25.00 an hour. Where do you live that that is minimum wage? nm
:{
Minimum wage laws are for employees only, not independent contractors
Would you pay your plumber or pool cleaner (examples of other IC jobs) more because the minimum wage increased?
Couldn't Amphion be held liable for minimum wage
I'm just sayin'
Our work is considered piecemeal and not subject to minimum wage laws. Just what I've been told
MT
taking a low wage does not lower the pay for a field. The fact that they are offering stated wage
means that is the market. You don't see ads for McDonald's for $36/hour and you don't see ads for A.G. Edwards for $20,000/yr. If they didn't think they could fill a job for $14, they wouldn't post it. Notice MT jobs are now posting at 5, 6 and 6.5. So guess what editors are going to make?
Bare minimum? I make over $50,000 a year in 40 hours a week. That is not bare minimum. sm
Bare minimum would be $8 an hour which is $16,640 a year or $10 an hour which is $20,800 a year. I make more than twice that and that is NOT bare minimum.
I worked to get my typing speed to 80 wpm. I worked to get my Expanders user-friendly and plentiful. I am not the fastest because I look up what I do not know, but I am lucky to have a very good memory so if I type it a few times, I do not have to look it up. I keep notes when I run across something I do not know. I am interested in my profession and read the magazines for our profession and network with other transcriptionists during my free time, devoting a minimum of 2 hours per week to networking and learning new things.
I am not the fastest MT, but I am accurate and boiled it down to simple math. I need to transcribe 250 lines per hour for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. At 10cpl, that is 2000 lines a day x 5 days per week x 50 weeks per year. I take 2 weeks off per year during July to visit my grandchildren (unpaid), 1 week a year to vacation with my husband (paid) and 1 week a year to spring clean (paid). I have worked for the same company for 4 years and 8 years for the one before this.
I treat my work hours as work hours and take 1/2 hour for lunch which I do not include in my 8 hours. I pretend that I am working outside the home and do not answer the door, get the mail, do laundry, etc. If I have a good day and go over the 2000, I bank it in my mind for days that are not as good and make sure that I get 10,000 lines each week.
My W2 each year is consistently $50,000. A few years it was higher, but I worked a few weekends, which I no longer do.
It IS possible.
Why the government doesn't come down on them...sm
Because the government, which was formerly assumed to be the people of the United States, but is now Corporate America only, doesn't have a stake in us, only big business. It is for this same reason that they allow illegal aliens to work all over America without consequnce to the employers who hire them. They make more than they would in their home countries, and a whole lot less than they should in the U.S., but companies want cheap labor and the US Dept. of Labor is there to help them get it. We who sell ourselves in the once respected MT profession for too little wages, at too long hours, without defending our rights to overtime and a fair wage, have just made the sacrifices of so many people who fought and died for those rights, martyrs to a lost cause. Shame on us. I don't work for Food, or Insurance, I work for a decent living wage, and if I can't make it working for one of these Nationial MT Sweat Shops, I quit. I don't blame myself because I know what I am capable of. I have had terrible sound quality, stupid and slow work platforms, unresponsive supervisors, account switching up to 4 in one day, nit-picking QA that I have had to prove wrong (and did) to keep my QA at 100%, and no pay for problems that were their fault. I quit them all. Although I may be Peeing in the wind, I will continue to uphold my standards, and make them uphold the Labor Laws of America. PTC I think we would all be better off it the likes of the poster below who said they did not want overtime because the government just took in taxes would leave the profession. It is hard to believe someone could be so stupid, and if they are truly an MT, then I would be ashamed to be seen with them. I would stake my life on the fact that this poster is a female, because men are not so foolish as to think that after the government takes out their 30% to 40%, the remaining 60-70% isn't worth having. Give me a break!!!
You can get a government grant to pay for
retraining if you lose your job to offshoring. You do not pay grants back.
You can then take a correspondence course from AHIMA for coding for $1500-$2000 plus books, and then take the certification test for around $300. Pay and demand for those jobs are much better, and most of the time they are in-house.
Who do you think controls our government?
this is not a personal attack but I never cease to be amazed at how few Americans CONNECT THE DOTS (all the way anyway)
The corporations call the shots with YOUR Congress/government primarily because AMERICANS are so easily pacified and distracted by the toys these corporations made for that exact purpose.
God-forbid Americans paid (payed?) any real attention to what the government does with THEIR tax dollar and in THEIR good names...
if you think the CORPORATE media is going to educate you on this, well ive got some swamp land you might be interested in...
Our government has mortaged
our souls. Once the amnesty for ILLEGAL aliens is a done deal and it will be...what will we be American-Mexicans? Then along will come China and foreclose on their mortgage, then what?
I never heard about that one. If the government
wants to make it madatory, then they have to make financial contributions.
No, I do not think that they will make it mandatory!
That's so illegal. I wish the government would come down on these companies. nm
x
Go to your state government web site
and review the guidelines for collecting unemployment. If you quit for a legitimate reason, some states will cover you. I also wouldn't worry about the reference if it didn't work out. Just put them behind you and find something else. Good luck to you.
Always the government's fault. It has nothing to do with the fact
that 3rd world MTs can work for 3 cpl? You said it yourself. It's corporate greed and they can save a lot of money if they only have to pay ICs 3 cpl even if they didn't get tax cuts. I don't think outsourcing just started when Bush got elected and I don't think it will stop once he's out of office and the directives change.
That is what happens when corporations rule our government. sm
In a global economy, quality of life will have to readjust to the lowest common denominator because there are always third world countries that will do it cheaper.
Welcome to the New World Order that Bush told us about!
Go to your state's government website, look for SM
the link to the Treasury Dept (or whatever the place you pay state tax to is called) and there should be the info you're looking for there.
If our government TAXED them appropriately -
so that the profit margin for offshoring work was LESS than keeping it in the US, instead of REWARDING them by giving them TAX BREAKS for offshoring, it would probably move back onshore again. But they're not gonna do it without being forced to. And the government won't force them to do it unless we let our elected official know that US citizens want their jobs back in this country, and if they don't start working towards that end, then we'll vote them out of THEIR jobs.
It's only censorship when the government does it, not private individuals..nm
xxxx
just so you know, the government has a free credit report per year
lots of experts say get 1 free credit report from Equifax in January, get 1 free credit report from next biggie 4 months later, and then get 1 free credit report from the other big one 4 months after that - that way you are monitoring all 3 big credit co per year. Forgot the website but do a search - why pay for something the government (and your taxes) gives you for free.
Until OUR government quits making it so lucratime tax wise to outsource...
these companies get great tax breaks to outsource. Google it, it will amaze you.
It still goes back to our government making it lucrative tax wise to outsource
NM
News report government hiring 1000 people - sm
To work on cybersecurity. I wonder if they will address the use of widespread databases like some (they shall remain nameless lest this post get booted) VR vendors use. I hope so. I think I'm going to ask for all the names and addresses who have access to my medical record from my local hospital and see what they tell me.
A pay increase.
:D
Ins. Increase
OK, you can panic or you can check into other things. Go ahead and call other companies and see what their insurance is costing the employee and the benefits it offers. This is going on in ALL insurance companies. Everyone and I do mean everyone I have talked to in the past 2 days about this has told me theirs has gone up, too. One of my friends who works for a very well known company pays over $108.00 a pay period for single coverage and basically the same benefits as my Aetna plan with TransTech. This is not some remote thing. Even my husband's insurance went up for all the plan options. He is now going to be paying $8.17 more a pay period than I am with Transtech for single employee only coverage. The cost of health care and medications are astronomical and they are having to pass this on down to the consumer. It's nothing new. It is time to wake up though. Inflation is not getting any better, only worse by the day. As for me, I will gladly work 45 more minutes a day to pay for the increase in my plan with TransTech. I would like to suggest a company though for those of you who have children and want a good insurance policy for them. My husband is ordered to provide health insurance for his daughter from his previous marriage and we took out a terrific policy on her with Midwestern Life of Tennessee. For a PPO plan that pays just like a group plan with your employer we pay $98.00 a month. This is for an 18-year-old female. Might be worth checking into. They will also take it directly from your checking account every month. They pay their claims well and on time and we've NEVER had a problem with them. Good luck to you all.
They would have to increase it by about 30% , that is
if they want to keep the MTs and want the MTs to type those spaces... LOL
RE: VR..anybody been able to make an increase in pay doing ME?
I more than doubled my production editing voice recognition drafts, and I am completely happy with the pay I receive for my efforts.
VR..anybody been able to make an increase in pay doing ME?
x
Webmedx MTs, 30% increase with ASR?
I keep hearing this is the productivity percentage an MT will see with ASR at Webmedx. What has your experience been?
Please share:
How long you've worked at Webmedx
How long you've been on ASR at Webmedx
If and how your production has changed (numbers/percentages if you have them)
I'd like to know how much of this promise of increased earnings is truth.
Thank you.
I think you might be wrong about a 30% increase sm
maybe a 30% decrease for ASR reports is correct. I don't know for sure though.
I got a significant increase when I
went to this company. Pay is based on experience, like anywhere else. You get adjustments based on quality score. I got a raise the first quarter. Regarding the negative comments about demographics, they were time consuming to me at first but CHANGES HAVE BEEN MADE to eliminate a lot of the data entry on the unpaid screen. I don't spend any more time on demogs now than I did at any other company. 
LPH and increase speed
As I mentioned before, I am struggling with speed.
I am curious what most people start out typing (LPH) and how quickly you increased to your max (many mentioned they are 200-300+) lph. Anyone who will share on this?
I appreciate it!
That's a shame about the increase
excited to be getting to work for that company. Keystrokes has a high plan too and are looking into it, but I've read that on here for over a year now. I guess I have nothing nice to say, so I'd better be quiet. Sometimes saying too many good things can jinx us! 
Try 9 for decrease and # for increase.
NM
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