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question for statutory workers

Posted By: sm on 2007-02-08
In Reply to:

What percentage would you recommend setting aside from each check to cover your taxes?  thanks.


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Unions may be good for workers short-term, but look what has happened to American car union workers.
They priced themselves out of the market while making an inferior product. Ford and GM are now junk bonds. I'm driving a Toyota. So if that's un-American just like shopping at a non-union store like Walmart, well you can talk to whoever is in charge of wages and taxes who have created this monster where even middle-class has very little extra money to support a union store where the employees are paid well and you pay the price in the product they sell. I can't afford it.
statutory
I know this has been asked before, but could someone please tell me the difference between statutory employee and just employee?  TIA
statutory vs IC SM
Thanks for clearing that up, all this time I'm statutory and thought I was IC. So does that mean I could apply for partial unemployment??
statutory vs. IC sm
 So if companies cannot dictate schedules to an IC, what about statutory employees?  I haven't discussed any of this with my company in 5-7 years!! Now they suddenly need an update, wherein they want to demand a set schedule....
Statutory employees too?
Is the new pay plan for statutory/IC employees too?  Cant you only switch to full time employee status twice a year, I think May and October or November.
statutory employees - MQ
When you have to take off, do you call in sick like you would a regular job?  In the past, I have and they have been quite unreasonable if I needed to take a day off for sick or personal reasons.  What upsets me is when there is no work, Im stuck, no work, oh well, but when I need to take off, I better be there, I better work or they have been quite nasty with me..What has been others response?  What have others done when they needed to take off?  Thanks for your response!
time off statutory
As they are quick to point out, as statutory you are NOT an employee and do not have empolyee benefits; they can't have it both ways, if you are IC and want to take off they really don't have a right to say anything; offices differ, but that's the bottom line.
SE as in statutory employee at MQ nm
 
Statutory status
When I worked statutory, they took out Federal, SS, and Medicare.
Any statutory employees out there?
I'll be starting a new job soon with a service as a statutory employee. I want to get on top of my tax situation now so that come April I won't get hit with a big bill from the tax man.

Any suggestions/guidelines for how much of each of my checks I should be setting aside for taxes? I know that my employer will be paying 1/2 of my Social Security taxes. What about the rest?

Thanks in advance for your help.
statutory status
I sent you an email.
Statutory employee s/m

was statutory for years until MQ made us all go to regular employee status.  The one thing I loved about this job was freedom and they really took that away when they set us up as regular employees. 


I just took another job as a statutory employee and am working out my notice with MQ.  Love, love, love it.  Statutory is the best of both worlds for me since I don't need bennies.  The PTO was nice, but the freedom is worth so much more. 


Statutory, I guess
PT, no benefits, no paid vacation/holidays, etc. The only thing they do is withhold my state/fed taxes. I work hours and days specified by them.
means statutory employee...
The link someone gave above has a section on statutory employee (SE) but are still independent contractors
Statutory status question....sm

if you are statutory status they take out federal, but not state taxes, is that correct?  What about SS? Thinking of taking a job on statutory status. Thanks.


Statutory MT/Independent contractor

Does anybody know of companies that still hire Statutory or independent contractors?  Since I take the standard deduction on my personal taxes I can no longer deduct my MT expenses and that's a major ouch.  Thanks for any help.


 


 


Doh! I thought SE was statutory employee. Sorry! NM
x
Statutory versus employee
Are there any advantages to being statutory versus an employee?  Anyone out there working statutory who can help?  Thanks!
Does MQ have STATUTORY EMPLOYEEs anymore under new plan????

It does not mention statutory anything in my letter dated 9/2/05.

I see "newly defined FT employee classification w/flexible...


I see New Part-Time employee classification w/flexible ...


I see Opportunity for PTO for part-time employees and increased PTO of up to ....


but I don't see nuttin about STATUTORY EMPLOYEES.......Statutory is not part-time


I only work part time statutory and
full time with another company, I have a little bit extra withheld from my FT job each paycheck. I try to save 30% of my SE job pay to have on hand when tax time comes, even though I don't need that much, it covers me for everything plus after tax time I still have money in savings. It does depend a lot on your life though, what deductions you have, what tax bracket, etc. I am single with no kids, so I wind up in a higher tax bracket, therefore feel comfortable only when I save more.
Question for you Statutory Employees about retirement?
Any of you who work as an SE, have you ever looked in to an SEP IRA or an individual 401K for funding a retirement plan?  I  was just wondering if this is allowed, since the income is considered self employment income, but I have searched on the Internet and can't find anything to tell how the laws specifically apply to SE's.  I know if I was an IC there would be no question.  I already have a Roth IRA but the limit for that or a regular IRA is $4000 a year and that is not enough IMO for retirement, would love to be able to save some of my SE income tax-deferred.  I'm going to ask my accountant about it but figured out of courtesy I would wait til after the tax filing season winds down.  Just curious if any of you could help out in the meantime??  TIA.
What are the benefits of working as a statutory employee?
x
Statutory Employee vs. Independent contractor
I work for company "A" as an IC. I work on Dictaphone ichart platform. I make 9 cents a line. Good accounts. Good managers. I have been offered a job as a statutory employee with company B, still on dictaphone, still 9 cents a line. Is justifiable to make a lateral move to company B just for the sake of being an employee? Tell me pros and cons please! Thank you!
Like most of the MQ workers lately.

One of my co-workers had a (sm)
similar situation, only it involved her entire family. She was adopted as an infant by these people and they never let her forget it. It finally got to the point that she told a dear friend that she was planning to cut off all contact because she couldn't see putting herself or her children through it anymore. That dear friend and his wife adopted her at the age of 40!!
Did you get the email this morning about the new pay plan for statutory employees. What is your
feeling. I know I cant struggle any longer or harder for money anymore. I agree. I am in all these different accounts to make lines, being QA'd on all of them and I just cant do anymore than what I am doing now so I am not sure what step to take next. I guess just wait and see what happens with the new pay plan. I hope that is not why they are hiring so many people because of concerns of a lot of people leaving because of it. Have you heard of more accounts being lost. I wonder where all these accounts are going.
What companies other than MQ hire statutory employees and are they hiring now.
:
too many variants. are you employee or statutory? what office? what reports?
not my office.  you have to work so many weekend hours per pay period but you can choose the hours.
Indian workers
I was obvious they were Indian workers from Indian..Every one of them that I talked to had an Indian accent..I have nothing wrong with American workers with accents..but I called at least eight people to get my internet account straightened out and all had Indian accents..Come on now, I cannot believe eight people are of Indian descent all working at the billing department of my internet account..If you are American of first descent and working IN America, more power to you..if the account is sent overseas, I have a major problem with that..and if you dont have a problem with that, contact me in a few years when our jobs are overseas.
MTs/factory workers
I'm sure many younger and maybe even older MTs might not agree with this, so if you do, I'll be pleasantly surprised. The "how many lines per hour can you do?" mentality so prevalent in medical transcription today is not a good thing for this profession. This belittles the professionalism of the job we do, a profession which requires immense medical knowledge and skill, a fact which, sadly, no one in hospital administration or other positions of management have a clue about and really don't want to know about, else they would have to monetarily compensate us for the professionals we really are. The sad fact is that like a frog being killed by slowly upping the temperature of the water in which he is immersed, without his being aware of the change in temperature, we have by an analagous method slowly but surely become no more than skilled factory workers. X-ray techs, nurses, physical therapists, and other professionals are not evaluated on the basis of the number of patients they take care of each day but on how well they take care of these patients, so why are we evaluated on the basis of how many lines of transcription we can do per hour or day rather than the quality and accuracy of the reports we transcribe? It used to be our responsibility as MTs to put the patient first, to give the appropriate time to research any questions we have regarding the physician's dictation on a particular patient and to make sure we get it right for the sake of the patient, but now it has become the focus of our profession to see many lines per hour we can transcribe. This mentality leads to just trying to produce lines rather than trying to transcribe accurate medical reports. It is my firm opinion that we should not be paid by the line but by the hour, and unfortuantely, AAMT has not been there to represent us in this very relevant issue. If we are so professional as they espouse, then why don't they try to get on track and reverse this trend? In my opinion, AAMT has failed us. They have been so focused on style issues, which are of far less significance than medical accuracy and have caused many of us to boil inside because of the attention given to these really mostly irrelevant issues, that the crux of our problems has escaped them. They have been in absentia and have not been focusing on the issue of getting health care facilities and transcription companies to recognize us for the professionals we are and elevating our pay scale to the level it should be. I have been an MT for over 20 years, so I've seen the negative changes as they've slowly but surely transpired through the years. Perhaps it's time for me to leave the profession altogether because I just can't deal with this "factory productivity" mentality.
MTs/factory workers

There are many ways of sifting the chaff from the wheat.  It doesn't take long to figure out those who are goofing off versus the ones who are researching to transcribe accurate medical reports.  There also other means of monitoring MTs at home if one feels the necessity to be monitored.  Also, there are ways to clock in and out on a pay-per-hour basis. One is via dial-up method and entering one's ID number into a designated system. 


As for being paid for the amount one does versus being paid hourly I would only ask, would you want someone rushing through your H&P, your child's H&P,  or the H&P or other report of any loved one just to get a certain number of lines a day, possibly listing an allergy to the wrong medication or listing the wrong extremity or wrong eye designated for a surgical procedure?  I have transcribed for many, many years and there have been innumerable times that I have had to correct mistakes by physicians who have dictated the wrong extremity, the wrong eye, the wrong medication, the wrong drug allergies, etc., etc.  I for one wouldn't want someone transcribing that I'm allergic to Namenda when I'm really allergic to Augmentin, and it's easy to see how these two medications could be misunderstood if the physician dictating isn't articulate enough, if the quality of the dictation system is poor, or if one is in just too big a hurry to produce lines to care.  I do pray if I am ever a patient in a hospital that the MT who does my report gets it right.  With such emphasis on line counts, it's no wonder we have patients who have had their only "good eye" or "good extremity" removed surgically.


Not true. And they pay their workers well &
http://www.snopes.com/business/alliance/costco.asp
Workers Compensation
Have any of you who are employees of a national company ever had to file for WC due to hands that just won't work anymore?  I need to get carpal tunnel surgery but can't afford to make zero dollars while I'm off.  I don't want to start accumulating medical bills or alert my company until I've done my research.
Workers Compensation
I did workers' compensation claims in my pre MT life.  If MD says it is work related, should be no problem being covered.  Depending on what state you live in, there is probably a waiting period that you would not be paid for until you are off for a certain number of days.  State laws dictates the % you are paid of your average weekly wage based on a minimum and maximum rate.  Do not wait too long to get your CTS taken care of.  You could cause more problems with your hands if you wait too long. 
Workers' Compensation and the ER
I thought the correct order of things would be for him to be seen regardless of where or how it happened, and the Workers' Compensation part handled after the fact. What would they have done if he'd been hurt more severely? I thought they'd (WC) reimburse whatever out-of-pocket expenses you have once the insurance claim is settled. The boss was definitely trying to set him up, which is disgusting. The funny part is that he actually gave your husband ammunition for an even more complicated lawsuit, should it come to that.
problens with co-workers

Does anyone know of a good way to get my co-workers to be quiet?  I swear there is this one who if something sets her off we hear about it for the next 4 hours (no kidding).  Then others get involved and come into the office and try to say their piece.  It is so hard to concentrate and get a decent line count.  The quality of my work is suffering.  I got a report back the other day with some embarrassing typos in it.  I don't get paid hourly I get paid on production.  I need to make more than 1003 lines a day to make it worth my trip up there.  I was making 1300 lines a day when working from home but then they pulled me in house because they didn't like my internet connection.  Complaining to the supervisor  doesn't do any good as there was a girl that did that and it just made everyone mad and they talk ugly about her.  help!


Workers' comp for IC? Where to get?
I am an IC and have just been told I need to have WC Insurance. Where do I get it? Thanks for your help. suzq
Any MTs out there w/Workers' Comp. (sm)
eval transcription experience in Ortho, Neurology and/or Neurosurgery?   How many years' experience do you have, and for which state?  I'm wondering if it's a hard transition for someone with non-Workers' Comp Rad experience to transition to Ortho, etc. in WC.
ILLEGAL WORKERS
Good for you, glad your experience worked out. Mine didn't. I got a bid for our lawn, which is huge, from a local landscaper, it (the bid) was huge. Unbeknownst to me, my dh had ordered sod and had a delivery date. Someone called from the landscaper with a revised bid ($400.00 cheaper) and I said okay, and took it because the sod was on its way the following day, no cancellations allowed (it was a whop-load, like four truck trailers). I cold not afford to lose all that money. I took the bid, not knowing what else to do and low and behold a mass of people showed up with the truck and guess who they were? Right! I was totally out of my element and just backed up out of the way as huge machine things sent the sod rolling off the trucks and these guys all grabbed some and started rolling it out. Four hours later, the foreman from the landscape company showed up and these evidently were "his men" who showed up (complete with children and dogs and yes, they did want beverages, etc). These kids ran rampant all over the place with little to no supervision. Seems the foreman was stabbing his employer in the back and did this frequently. He is a citizen, but his workers are not. Most ended up being his relatives. Never again! This is my one personal experience with this and I know that it goes on all the time from a neighbor who is a contractor. So, I still blame illegals and people who foster illegals. They need to go home and leave us to ours. I was railroaded that day and others are too. Be careful who you talk to at landcaping companies.
IC Workers Compensation
Having come from being a workers compensation claim represenatative in my prior life, unfortunately you do need to carry your own coverage as an IC. 
This is what happens to workers when companies
If we just sit on our rears and let them, they'll happily keep on doing it. If all U.S. MTs (AND the editors who fix the Indians' stuff) were to stop work for just ONE week, do you think the offshores alone, without us to do the hard stuff and clean up their messes, could cut it and keep the hospitals happy? I think not. Food for thought.
The construction workers are not all

People in the construction business do require certain licenses.  They are not all uneducated making $30.00 an hour. 


New MTs should be on this board so they can get a reality check.  If you plan to stay in this field, just be cautioned that will not make more unless you transcribe more lines and put in more hours.  That's the bottom line and I'm speaking from 20 years of experience and I'm in my late 30s still raising two children along with my husband.


Did everyone get that email from Frank L. about the new pay plan coming out for statutory employees
this morning. Does anyone have any idea what this is going to be. I hope I dont lose money after all the years with MQ but we shall see.
On this new MQ rewards plan what exactly is it offering statutory employees and I suppose that that

is going to be the end of our quarterly bonus. My concern still is if there is no work how do you get any incentive if they lower the base rate. Sounds like employees will have a larger window to get their work done which means we all will be scrambling around for work at all hours.


It's not the foreign workers who are at fault sm

The fault lies with the big US corporations who are the greedy SOBs that have outsourced the jobs so they can save billions over what they would pay workers in the US. 


So, to be rude to and cuss out these working people is not going to get us anywhere.  What we should do is boycott the corporations who are sending the work overseas.  Maybe if they lose enough business they will get smart to themselves and bring the jobs back to the US workers. 


But how many female construction workers??
nm
I was a workers' comp historian in a
hand surgeon's office for two years. He and the hand therapist always said that regular breaks from the keyboard were important to prevent overuse injuries. I saw many cases of permanent disability in computer users who overdid it, and it's not worth it.
Workers' comp can be interesting
depending on the doctor's speciality, but you could get bored very quickly if it's orthopedics. However, you'll never know if they don't send you any work. I would start looking again. Good luck.
Question for night workers.....

How do you get your sleep?  I generally get to bed around 3:00 a.m., and need at least 8 or 9 good hours of sleep in order to function the next day.  I set my alarm clock for 11:30, but generally am awake before I ever have to turn it off due to some kind of noise outside.  I sleep with my TV on low and a fan on.  Over the last year or so I have noticed more and more noise in the neighborhood, owners renting out their houses to young people who love LOUD music in their homes and cars, televisions loud enough I could be watching the movie if I could see their screen, things like that.  It used to be kids outside on weekends playing ball and what not, but now it is actually adults making all the noise, very unneccesary noise.  Do they think they don't have neighbors?  Or that the rest of us are as deaf as they are going to end up?  Why is it people just don't care anymore? 


I live in a house, not an apartment.  One of the reasons I bought a house is to escape the noise of the neighbors.  My question is, would any of you actually resort to calling the police on a neighbor if they were constantly disturbing your peace?  There is a noise ordinance where I live, and the police are great at taking care of it, it's just the feeling I would have of actually calling the police on a neighbor.  But at the same time, the neighbors are not respecting me, right? 


Last summer I did go door to door trying to see if people wanted to get together a neighborhood watch, told each person about my concerns with kids tearing down mail boxes, the noise, etc., so from that respect I gathered they all knew that people could hear their noise.  Not one person called to confirm they would be at the meeting, and it was cancelled.  Everyone just wants to do what they want to do.  I'm not going to resort to wearing ear plugs. What if the smoke alarm went off, or my emergency phone? 


I guess I'm just asking for opinions or similar stories to help me out.  Thanks for listening.


Transcriptions, you are saying, are unskilled workers?
I spent over a year training for this job. It took my total attention, I spent so much time in books be it the regular dictionary or medical books. I thought I could go right into transcribing because after all, I had worked in hospitals, medical offices and the like and if I were not a trained professional then, I do not know what it was. Very, very hard for me to understand the ESL physicians and most of the hospital dictators just that, training hospital. I was glad I kept it up but I in no way demean the profession I choose for myself but putting a slant on it like you have. I feel sorry for anyone thinking in this day and time they will be able to make a liveable salary because it would take more than 1 job to do that, a full and a part I would think. Our jobs started being outsourced and that is why the really lousy salaries now, I do not think has to do with being unskilled.