QUERY - What is the lowest cents-per-line or hourly

I have been looking for an MT Employee job for a couple of months and I have noticed that more and more job opportunities are asking for Independent Contractors rather than Employees.  Out of the hundreds of MTSOs out there, I could only count less than 2 dozen MTSOs who offer employee status. 

Between off-shoring to India and VR, it has almost become impossible for a single MT to make enough to pay the mortgage, etc.  Medical Transcription is becoming a secondary employment in two-worker households.  If some of the MTSOs who hire ICs would admit that they are actually hiring employees and treat them as such, MTs might have a better chance of getting paid what they are worth.  With less than 2 dozen MTSOs offering employee status, they can pretty much set their wages and we are stuck with it if we want any benefits at all.  They are on the verge of almost a type of price-fixing or monopoly.  We need more employers to create more competition for the well-trained MTs looking for work. 

There is an ad for employment as an INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR – Editor at $10.00 per hour.  After the Editor pays taxes and Medicare, etc (which can be 20 to 30%), they are actually working for less than minimum wage. 

I am interested in knowing if anyone would take a position for this wage and also if you think this is actually an Independent Contractor or really an employee. 

Below are the IRS guidelines for IC versus employee. 

I think if the IRS audits this company, the MT will be stuck dealing with the IRS for years to get their money back. 

WHAT DO YOU THINK?   Is this IC Editor job really IC or employee? 

Thanks. 

*****************************************************

In determining whether the person providing service is an employee or an independent contractor, all information that provides evidence of the degree of control and independence must be considered.

Facts that provide evidence of the degree of control and independence fall into three categories:

1.    Behavioral: Does the company control or have the right to control what the worker does and how the worker does his or her job?

2.    Financial: Are the business aspects of the worker’s job controlled by the payer? (these include things like how worker is paid, whether expenses are reimbursed, who provides tools/supplies, etc.)

3.    Type of Relationship: Are there written contracts or employee type benefits (i.e. pension plan, insurance, vacation pay, etc.)? Will the relationship continue and is the work performed a key aspect of the business?

Type of relationship refers to facts that show how the worker and business perceive their relationship to each other.

The factors, for the type of relationship between two parties, generally fall into the categories of:

·   Written contracts

·   Employee benefits

·   Permanency of the relationship

·   Services provided as key activity of the business

Written Contracts

Although a contract may state that the worker is an employee or an independent contractor, this is not sufficient to determine the worker’s status.  The IRS is not required to follow a contract stating that the worker is an independent contractor, responsible for paying his or her own self employment tax.  How the parties work together determines whether the worker is an employee or an independent contractor.

Employee Benefits

Employee benefits include things like insurance, pension plans, paid vacation, sick days, and disability insurance.  Businesses generally do not grant these benefits to independent contractors.  However, the lack of these types of benefits does not necessarily mean the worker is an independent contractor.

Permanency of the Relationship

If you hire a worker with the expectation that the relationship will continue indefinitely, rather than for a specific project or period, this is generally considered evidence that the intent was to create an employer-employee relationship.

Services Provided as Key Activity of the Business

If a worker provides services that are a key aspect of the business, it is more likely that the business will have the right to direct and control his or her activities.  This would indicate an employer-employee relationship.

• QUERY - What is the lowest cents-per-line or hourly - rate you would accept as an MT or Editor?
  • I edit and make a lot more than - VR person
  • 9 cents for straight typing is my bottom. - steady eddie

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I might help.

Then of course you need to know how they define a line.  "Standard" is 65 characters is a line, but that might be with spaces or without spaces being counted.  Also, not all companies a define a line this way, and it could be gross line (anything on a line, even one character is considered a line), or it could be a character line (with or without spaces).

But...CPL means cents per line.

Yes, yes.  I worked for them for one whole day.  The only reason I applied was because I was born in Mass (but now live in AZ) and it was an editing job, which I wanted to try doing, since I trained MTs for so long and edited their reports, etc.  Anyway, the supervisor, Bobbi, was an absolute tyrant nightmare.  Training was done over the phone, and she was so nasty and bitter, she made you feel like you had never done a thing in the medical field ever before.  For example, I was not following what she was talking about as far as her formatting statements, and she was going on like, what are you talking about???!!!    I had to take a Valium and Rolaids, and then she told me to go ahead and transcribe some reports.......I have been doing transcription over 20-years, and wanted to just edit.  Well, she said she was going out for the evening, but there should be no problem with the system and sending the reports on after I transcribed them.  Well, there sure was.  I contacted the lady that was her assistant, and SHE ragged on me for contacting her.  I said, 'sorry, I can't send the reports.  Something is wrong with the system, so I am just going to email them to you, so you know they have been done at least.   The next morning I woke up and emailed Bobbi that I am not right for this job.  Nobody is.  That has been years ago, and amazingly she cannot hold on to anybody for that Editor job.  It was so bad, I cannot remember the name of the company - Maybe something like Infomatics, or something.  She was an absolute horror.  Don't work for her.  You will not be happy........ 

Deb

Even at a moderate pace and 100% reading of each report, that is more than $11.00 an hour.

I SO agree with what you said.  Loved the platform (EditScript V8) and the account was really not that difficult & good sound quality.  However, they had too many people trying to train the VR and sometimes it was a mess.  The 3 cpl for the VR is RIDICULOUS, especially when on some reports it would be quicker just to manually type the entire report rather than edit.  I was told I could not use a word expansion program, so I HATED that part.  We also could not copy/paste repetitive phrases of dictators from another report due to alleged HIPAA violations.  I truly don't see how a generic phrase or even paragraph for a procedure, as long as patient names are not mentioned, is a violation of HIPAA.  I think it has more to do with training the VR program.

My pay was relatively on time and accurate, but it just was not worth my while at 3 cents per line.  I also hated the panicking e-mails and the nastygram e-mails I received CONSTANTLY.  The nastygrams were just a blanket e-mail to everyone saying if they didn't do this or that they would be TERMINATED and constantly crying wolf about backlogs when at times there was no backlog!  I don't consider 4 jobs to be a backlog.  I now work for a small service where I am getting top dollar (12 cpl weekends) for relatively easy work & am happy that I quit.  Maybe someone else will do fine at TTD and will like to work that way.  Maybe they will make a lot of money at 3 cpl, but it sure wasn't me.

In order to make $20.00 an hour, which is what I make most days, I would need to edit 666 lines an hour.  Is that even possible? 

Hmm.... 666.....hmmm

In order to make $20.00 an hour, which is what I make most days, I would need to edit 666 lines an hour.  Is that even possible? 

Hmm.... 666.....hmmm

In recent experiences for me, I have found that supervisors rarely answer e mails.  I find even if they ask something in an e mail or on a phone message, and you answer, there is no response.  If an MT needs advice about QA, scheduling, etc. and e mails there is no answer.  Is this a new trend? I have found this with recruiters as well.  After hired, if you ask the recruiter anything, there is no response, and you get voice mail if you call.

Is this a new form of etiquette among corporate individuals that we at home do not understand? This is something I have found working for companies which I consider not so good, and one which I consider to be wonderful, but since MTs are isolated, it seems that at least an answer now and then would be nice.  Even to let us know if they got the message to begin with.

My DH said not to worry, if I don't hear anything no news is good news, and yes it is rude, but I need to get over it. I am starting to agree, and not ever getting answers from team leads, or sups are the norm.  Anybody else have this experience? Thanks in advance for your response.  I just want to know if I am the only one feeling slighted.  I don't want or need my hand held, just need to know they got my schedule for example, or my query regarding QA.  After all, I don't want to make a mistake over and over again, for example.  Perhaps no news is good news, but are we MTs in the field a bother?

MDI  in Florida.  if you have Meditech experience.  If you don't, they will train you on it.  Giving sign-on bonus through March.  Diskriter pays by report, 1.05 -1.25.  Just have to do your research.  Its a pain.