Our work is considered piecemeal and not subject to minimum wage laws. Just what I've been told
Posted By: HospitalHomeWorker on 2007-09-18
In Reply to: Couldn't Amphion be held liable for minimum wage - for the unpaid busy work?
MT
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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!)
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?
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
when minimum wage goes up do IC rates increase also?
x
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
No, soon the government will increase the minimum wage
and MTs will be the working poor. Sad business this is.
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
$1,000 divided by 40 hours is $25.00 an hour. Where do you live that that is minimum wage? nm
:{
Couldn't Amphion be held liable for minimum wage
I'm just sayin'
I've Considered That
I have several musical instruments as I have 3 now grown kids and I used to play in community band myself. I considered it, but there's only a 30 day limit on getting them back, and the amount they offer is supposedly about 1/4 to 1/3 of what you would get if you sold them outright, so I am worried that if I don't have things squared away in 30 days, I stand to lose $2000 worth of instruments (and sentimental value), not exactly priceless but still unlikely to be replaced soon, for $500-600. I suppose I could start with the one that would be missed the least (the flute) and take/reclaim them one at a time as necessary/able.
I can't tell you how often I've considered sending anonymous letters to hospitals/docs! nm
x
Told minimum PT was 3500 lines a week; requires 2 weekend days a month nm
xx
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?
We have privacy laws in this country, and you are held accountable. Our privacy laws
x
off subject question - why do you work for 3 companies?
That seems like a lot of companies to work for.
I've been told they max out at 9.5. Sorry. NM
:
I don't know "who," I've just been told how many...by QA. nm
nm
I can honestly say that I havenever told anyone the amt of a check I've gotten....
and I don't intend to start now. Sorry!
I've been a QA 15 years, applied to Focus, and was told
that they only hire QA on production now & no longer pay QAs hourly, so I said NO THANKS.
You make an hourly wage when you run out of work? sm
I am confused. Is that right - you make an hourly wage when there is no work available? How long has that been going on? I have worked there for some time and have NEVER been paid for when there was no work. Please explain.
I too work for QT, but I believe if you do a minimum of your line
count your scheduled days to work and usually work extra even if not asked if you know they are behind, that you shouldn't be asked to work weekends, if this is not your scheduled shift. The work has been out of TAT for months and there didn't seem to be any concern, no incentives offered to catch it up and lots of time not even requests to do extra, then all of a sudden every day it was a phone call or e-mail asking you to work extra and then on top of that they asked you to start doing 30 minutes on weekends. It *issed me off that they were holding the threat of losing the account over us.
how many hours do you have to work minimum?
nm
I don't work there, but with 34 years of experience, their starting wage was sm
just a little over 6 cpl. I am amazed that companies get away with paying such low wages. Good luck if you decide to go there.
They DON'T pay a decent wage or provide ample work.
They're sending it all to India. That's the point.
Does anyone work for NEMT making their hourly wage?
Doing editing? Anymore information?
I used to work for them part-time -- I think 20 hours/week is the minimum. nm
nm
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.
I was told Escription would not work with Vista. Turned out it wouldn't work with my sm
Office Basic Edition 2003 either, but no one could figure out why, it was supposed to.
There is actually a section on the Dell website that offers Windows XP. I haven't checked it out as I'm not in the market, so I don't know if it costs extra. I have a Dell and it's been fine for me. I hate the ESL tech department, but it seems like most of them have that now.
yes, but I was told as an IC that if work was slow ICs get no work since they are nto employees
nm
That'd me the day someone told me I HAD to work OT.
MDI-MD told me it would work now. nm
xx
ICs being told when they can and cannot work
With being an IC, the only requirement I had was I had to commit to a certain number of lines per day and they had to be completed between 1:00 am-11:59 pm of any given day. Some tried to pin me down to stating approximately what time I would be working daily, but since I am an IC and I cannot give an hour-by-hour commitment each day, I usually gave them a time frame of when approximately each day I would probably type the work such as anytime after 2:00 p.m. and before 11:00 p.m. However, they do expect you to make your daily line commitment.
An IC CANNOT be told how to do her work. Would
v
IC cannot be told I need you to work between 1 and 5 but they can say I need these lines by
:+
I was told I should be glad to work for 6 cpl w/ 5 yrs exp
I told her to off this job to someone in India.
Her response was she had people glad to work for 6 cpl with ONLY 5 YRS EXPERIENCE.
She should be able to afford ONLY 9 CPL . You would think anyway.
lol
You will be told that you can work remote,
And, there are a number of excuses that will be given as to the reason why. Pay is not toooooo bad. Would not go there. There are better jobs out there. Best of luck to you.
I was told there are no more accounts I can work on
and am getting sporadic work. I LOVE this company too, and they pay for down time which is incredible, but the work comes trickling in so I cannot claim no work, but it is just enough to keep me going.
Talking to IRS about how ICs are told to work
I wanted to let you know about what happened when I tried to talk to the IRS a few years ago about a fraud that I knew was happening, had all the information. This pertained to a woman scamming section 8, food stamps, welfare money (living with a guy with a city job yet claiming no money). Her children came to live with me for 2 years. I took total care, housing, food, etc. with no money from her. I claimed the kids on my income tax for those 2 years and come to find out her boyfriend also claimed the children on his taxes (remember when at home they were on all kinds of welfare and he probably was claiming them then- this is against the law and called double dipping). I got information from a tax preparer at my home, not mine, wanting to know if filing and called the place, found out he had claimed them in the past and then I contacted IRS. Oh, I also got notice from IRS that I was one of 2 filers who had claimed the kids! I had all the social security numbers, names, birthdates, all that I needed. This scamming on their end went on for several years and do you think anyone interested or would talk with me? Nah, nothing. No one contacted me or their parent. When I see the rah-rah about turning these companies in I am reminded of what I tried to do with just wasting my time in the long run.
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