my company pays downtime for conf calls...

• Should company pay for time spent on a required conference call? (sm) - Mouse
  • Curious - Do you work for SS? nm - Just me
    • No, I don't nm - Mouse
  • my company pays downtime for conf calls... - yes...nm
  • absolutely should be compensated.. - MT20+

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I don't believe a word they say and it makes me sick.

Must be nice, but I sure don't know many MTs who could afford it.   Also, as an IC, if I take time off I simply don't get paid!

Interestingly, Kim Buchanan (the current president of AAMT) was formerly employed by Healthscribe. In fact, due to her AAMT status, she was a feather in their cap (so to speak). No conflict of interest there...

First, this is not spam.  I am just a QA who found the below projects.  It is called BOINC, and the purpose is for home users to allow their CPU and memory to be utilized as a "supercomputer" for the purpose of medical and other research projects.  It runs on parameters you set in terms of when it can run, etc.  I have been using it for a week and it does not slow my system down at all.  Why not use that downtime for projects such as AIDS and cancer research?

Here are the links:

http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta

You can also Google BOINC to find a list of projects.

Do MTSOs, nationals, usually pay for downtime for employees?  If so, what has been your experience - ever received downtime? your company's policy, i.e., pay for two days downtime?

Also, as an employee for a nat'l, if you have a set schedule, what do you do when very little work comes in, for example one dictation/hour?  At what point do you cut out?  I'm new to working for a national and this has happened a lot lately - I know, the holidays.  If there is little work, I usually only stay connected for two hours, let me sup. know, and call it a day. 

I swear, sometimes I hate this industry!!  Any other company, at least in my state, if there is no work, as an employee, you still get paid or after a certain period, you get unemployment...something!

I was doing some research and just thought I would share it here. 

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http://en.allexperts.com/q/Employment-Law-924/2008/3/unpaid-training.htm

Question
I'm a part time security officer.  The contract is changing hands where i work (large corporate facility)...the location stays the same but a new company takes over the new contract next week.  The incoming company has advised everyone that they must attend a mandatory unpaid training class.  Is this legal?

Answer

Expert: Shirley McAllister, CPP, PHR
Date: 3/28/2008
Subject: unpaid training

It is not legal.

Here is the ruling from the Department of Labor Website at

http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/whdfs22.pdf

Lectures, Meetings and Training Programs: Attendance at lectures, meetings, training programs and similar activities need not be counted as working time only if four criteria are met, namely: it is outside normal hours, it is voluntary, not job related, and no other work is concurrently performed.

Since the meetings are not voluntary you must be paid to attend them.

FURTHER:

29 CFR 785.27 - General.
Attendance at lectures, meetings, training programs and similar activities need not be counted as working time if the following four criteria are met:
(a) Attendance is outside of the employee's regular working hours;
(b) Attendance is in fact voluntary;
(c) The course, lecture, or meeting is not directly related to the employee's job; and
(d) The employee does not perform any productive work during such attendance.

IF THE ABOVE 4 CRITERIA ARE NOT MET, THEN THE EMPLOYEE MUST BE PAID FOR THE TRAINING/MEETING TIME.

29 CFR 785.28 - Involuntary attendance.
Attendance is not voluntary, of course, if it is required by the employer. It is not voluntary in fact if the employee is given to understand or led to believe that his present working conditions or the continuance of his employment would be adversely affected by nonattendance.
__________________

ICs and unpaid trainings:

http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59022

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FURTHER
(FROM http://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/flsa/hoursworked/screen1d.asp)

Waiting for Work
Time which an employee is required to be at work or allowed to work for his or her employer is hours worked. A person hired to do nothing or to do nothing but wait for something to do or something to happen is still working. The Supreme Court has stated that employees subject to the FLSA must be paid for all the time spent in "physical or mental exertion (whether burdensome or not) controlled or required by the employer and pursued necessarily and primarily for the benefit of the employer of his business."

Place of Work
Hours worked include all the time during which an employee is required or allowed to perform work for an employer, regardless of where the work is done, whether on the employer’s premises, at a designated work place, at home or at some other location.
------------

DOL.GOV, WAGE AND HOUR OFFICES:

Having trouble finding your answer on our website?

Call the Wage and Hour Division’s toll-free help line:
1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243)
TTY: 1-877-889-5627
Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time

so who exactly is getting cheated?  And just who are you talking about when you talk about whether it is "fair" or not.  I don't give a crap how much taxes my neighbor pays.  It's none of my business.  And if I found out they were paying less in taxes than me, I would ask them how they heck are they doing it so I can do it too!

I just want ask, is it necessary to get personal and insult?  You disagree with me, fine.  But I've been called a liar, a cheat, a no-ingetrity thief, my intelligence has been insulted, and I have had my parenting skills questioned.  That is a little over the top.  If you cannot debate an issue without resulting to personal attacks, then YOU are the stunted one!

It is a very good thing that some of you work at home, ALONE!  You are sorely lacking in people skills and diplomacy.  Let me guess, when you worked in the office you were one of those girls who didn't like to share her desk, griped if someone dropped a crumb on your desk, and kept track of everyone's breaks, lunches, and line counts just so you could tattle to the supervisor!  I've worked women like you, it was like working with kindergarteners.  That's why I came home to work.  Do us all a favor, looking in the mirror, count your wrinkles, and realize that this isn't high school anymore!

That would work, with the cell phone.  I have my house phone line and the extra phone line for work only.  The company I work for has toll-free access, so I don't need toll call or long distance service, and it runs less than $20 a month.

I also like having caller ID so I can also see who it is, and the answering machine so I can hear why they are calling.  If it's urgent or important, I take the call.  Otherwise, I don't answer it.  You wouldn't believe how much productivity it eats to answer the phone every time it rings.

Especially the "TD" where his knees, shoulder, elbow, hand and ball hit outside the line and then he scooted it in w/ a wide-eyed guilty look.   And, Hawks would have done better if Stevens could catch.

Sweet reverse play by Steelers though and long run by Parker.

And very cute commercial w/ the Budweiser colt.

Have received three phone calls from India...I can tell by the accent (I transcribe a lot of Indian doctors). The first two calls were just stuttering around, wanting my name, etc. The last one was Sunday night at 9:00 p.m., woke me up. I was furious and asked him if he knew what time it was. He said he had no idea, but started with that "your name please", etc. I yelled "don't ever call this number again", and I hung up. I have passed this around at work, and some people are getting calls from India...I think they get us off the computer some way. Anybody else having this happen?

my local phone company as most do, has a harrasement dept.  you set it up that each and every time you get a call, you hit a certain numbe of keys and it "logs" the calls.  After 5 such calls, you then report it to the police dept, they get the records and can go after the creeps!  You never know the number, but the police will let you know who the offenders are.  My sis had to use it because of an ex boyfriend of my nieces...his mother lost ALL phone service for a year!

wish you had it, it worked great to stop the 2am calls.

Let alone call you names in front of them.  He sounds like a true control freak and slob to boot.  Your 16yo needs to NOT be exposed to this kind of behavior from a man...she'll end up getting into relationships thinking this is "the way I grew up" mode.

Keep your faith and get out and into living your own life for you and your own children.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/10/26/internet.calls.wiretap.ap/index.html

For those MTs like myself who access their work over the Internet, would this consist of violating the HIPAA laws?