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When the hospital contracts an MTSO they are abiding by contract

Posted By: no name on 2009-08-05
In Reply to: Attention MTSOs. Educate yourselves regarding IC status...sm - anon

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.




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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. ??


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.
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.
I say that when hired, before an MT signs the MTSO's contract

she should present a contract to the MTSO and basically say, I'll sign yours if you sign mine.  Get a little contract negotiation going.  Of course, then the MTSOs will point to that as another reason to offshore because Indian MTs will do the work cheaper and sign whatever piece of paper is put in front of them.


Well, this is where an organization created by American MTs for American MTs would come in negotiate better and iron-clad contracts on behalf of its members.  Does anybody know of an organization like that?   Hmmmmmmmm


I work right for the client.......not the MTSO. I am an IC for a hospital. nm
x
I work for MTSO and know the hospital acct
I work on is a big one, just do not know how many MTs that on this particular account. When you say you correct only erroneous text I am not really sure what you mean by this. I correct everything I see that is an error so can you explain further as far as erroneous. Do you read the entire report as it goes or ?
Actually, my local hospital offered me MUCH less than what I make at my MTSO
By 4 cpl.
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. 
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.   


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. ???
when docs give mtso a check, then mtso pays you?
nm
Diskriter off off offshores - and on some hospital accounts - they have not informed the hospital
x
Jewish is the main hospital, St. Mary's is another hospital under their management. (nm)
x
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

I've got a question about contracts. How legally binding are they?

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.


Most contracts said either party can quit or fire at any time. Would be unusual to get locked into
s
Isn't she an MTSO owner - which MTSO ? Just curious. n/mnn
nnnn
First for hospital, then outsourced still on same hospital work
and believe it or not, the hospital was so much easier. Had worked at the hospital for 11 years before they outsourced and then worked another 3+ years for the company they outsourced to. What a difference! The company had so many rules and regulations you could hardly keep up with them all, thousands of them, on the same account, mind you. The higher ups would not leave you alone, constant IMs about any and all. I have gotten to the age where I do not need all that and walked the other week. Have scheduled testing with another hospital for this month. Hope I make the cut, love the hospital work 1000 times more than a company.
It's in their contract, which they sent me. NM
.
Anyone know who has contract for...
Community of Ventura in CA...used to be M/Q but they lost it a while back and I loved that account, even the ESLs..worked on it for 5 years and I put out tons of work for them day after day....wish I could get it back....anyone working there?
If it's in your contract, yes... sm
I checked with my attorney a few weeks ago as I am going to soon be going to IC status. They can have you contract for a certain volume per day, completely legal. It has to be in writing. As an IC, you also are not guaranteed work, however, so if there is none, you're out of luck and $$ for the day. Unless of course you are lucky enough to have a clause in your contract that says you still get paid for being available.

They cannot tell you when you have to do those lines, but can tell you when the deadline for them to be done is. Most ICs I know specify that they can work Xday and approximately x hours or x lines or they contract to a volume per week, but hours are up to them as to how they plan to get those lines done.
I wonder how their contract
would hold up in court. Hmmm
Why? what's in the contract?
can't you be more specific?
Looking over their contract
I've actually been hired, I am just looking over the contract.
a contract is a contract...sm
and all its contents therein. Therefore, if it was NOT in the contract, that contract is void. Now, would you continue to work for a company like that?
MDI-MD CONTRACT?
As a statutory employee/independent contractor for MDI-MD do you have to sign a contract?
What does your contract say?
Isn't it usual to have to wait 2 weeks for the first paycheck? This also means that some day you will get a paycheck 2 weeks after you quit working there. Are you paid twice a month or once a month. You should have something in writing (contract) regarding this. Wherever I have worked and whether as an employee or an IC, I have always had to wait 2 weeks to get paid, so maybe you should check that first in your contract before you just don't work. If you are an employee, then you should have something in writing too that shows how this is handled. I also just noticed in your message that you submitted your first timesheet after working there for 3 weeks so maybe you get paid only once a month, which means you will have to wait till the end of September to see money. Just check the documents you have, and I am sure you will see something that explains this.
Did you have a contract?
That's something that should have been addressed in the contract. If it wasn't, you can do whatever you'd like to do.

I used to charge for keeping records as storage. Nuttin's free :)
Correct -- Got my contract right here ...
as a SE, MQ is required to take out FICA (SS) and can take out Federal taxes.

Individuals are responsible for state taxes.


Do you have a contract? If so, does it state
when you will get paid? If you don't have a contract get one. If it states you will be paid by a certain date call the MTSO and ask about payment.  I'd give it one week after that and if no payment no work. 
contract worries

they have a contract that has the wording saying they can deduct money from your pay for work that needs to be edited.  I didn't like that so I didn't sign.


 


Unless you have a contract with one of them forbidding it, sm

buy all means you are free.  Years ago, most of the nationals had ICs only and had contracts stating you couldn't work for one of their clients for a period of one year, etc. 


If you are an IC, what does your contract state?
They can get into real issues with the IRS when they tell an IC what they are going to pay if it's a contract violation - that is treating you as a SE which affects the taxes they have to pay. So go back read over your contract and see what it says about notification of pay adjustments. Good luck - rotten thing to happen right before the holidays.
I had my attorney look at a contract also
I was asked to sign a really outrageous one.... not for Sten-Tel. I don't want to mention the company. It's hardly ever on here and I think I was the first and only person asked to sign one. Basically making me a slave with varying pay and other horrible things.