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Different view: If we all went to hourly pay to make sure that we are paid during downtime, it wou

Posted By: PA MT on 2007-01-19
In Reply to: Exactly. - anon

what we earn on production. I make upwards of $30 an hour on production. Most hospitals are under $20 an hour. I think we would lose money if hourly and if they pay us for downtime, I am sure that the money would have to come from somewhere, so they would lower rates.




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Diskriter pays hourly wage for downtime

So when you say paid for downtime...

do you mean that they actually pay you if no work available, not just for equipment failure on their part? 


If compensated for times of no work on your schedule (at what rate?  minumum wage or other?), some of the folks on the MQ Board need to hear this, I think. 


Yes, I get paid DOWNTIME when

there is no work around and I also get PTO, paid VISION, very good health insurance with company paying 80%, dental for less than 15 per pay period and a great atmosphere.  Yes, I do have to produce 12000 per pay period.


 


Paid for downtime...
Paid for downtime with Transcend? We don't. We get told to flex out time out.
Do you guys get paid for downtime?

That's one thing about MQ I'm thankful for.  At least we get paid for our downtime.  I don't know if we'll get paid for the jobs we've lost, though.  Some say yes, some say no.  I guess it's up to the PS.


Check out the MQ board - there's a link to check the status of DQS on their site.  The link takes you directly to MQ's DQS, but I would think they offer it for all clients they serve.


Last I checked at 7:30 am EST, it was still down for MQ.  Some MQ MTs are getting work, but I wouldn't until it at least gives you the yellow light (see site). 


It's like a snow day - you're glad to be off unexpectedly, but you know you'll have to make it up!


In our dreams we would get paid for downtime
Kind of like the office staff is still getting paid while the ones producing their income don't.
Last I knew Transolutions paid downtime. sm
It may have changed by now.
Employee. 0.09 cpl, 100s of normals, and downtime paid.
x
No work, no paid downtime, bennies might leave...
.
Forget Diskriter! Bunch of smoke! You will NOT get paid for downtime.

Diskriter made MQ look kind.  Diskriter also has had labor board charges in the past. If it sounds too good to be true, I assure you with Diskriter, it is!  This is the first time I've spoken out against them, but honestly the down time paid claim is bogus.


You make us laff here, girl! Love your point of view! :) nm
s
I was a QA that got paid hourly...sm
so it's more difficult to find another job for me that pays the same. :( If I go back to MTing, I take a massive pay cut.
I am paid hourly.
I have been extremely fortunate to be hourly in both my past and current QA positions, making $18 5 years ago at my prior position and considerably more at this one (not comfortable saying how much, that's my business). My position incorporates more than just QA/Editing reports and I don't have to edit VR and my company does not outsource. I am not exactly sure what my per-line rate factors out to, but I have a high production rate along with my other duties and have been working with some of the same accounts for many, many years and know them well and our MT turnover rate is low also. I have the luxury to take the extra time with those who need it and to just spot edit/fill in blanks on those that don't need the extra help.

Honestly, I had no idea QA were being paid so low until I came across this website a couple months ago. I have had the good fortune to work for two great companies and never had the desire to look elsewhere and see what other companies were offering. I do think more people need to be paid what they are worth, but as long as someone else is willing to be paid less there is just going to be a low 'going rate.' Supply and demand and all that. It is like that in most jobs. Each person has to consider their own needs and compromises, etc. What sounds ridiculously low to some might seem like a great wage when factored into the trade-offs and benefits etc. My husband is union and sometimes has to deal with 'scab' labor. The reality is someone will work for that pay if you will not. There are great companies out there who truly value their QA staff and their MTs and it's a shame to think they are a dying breed.

All QA should be paid hourly.
Paying per line for QA is skimping on quality and a big risk. QA people will spend less time on the reports in an effort to make decent money, and that's a fact. It's a very stupid and risky practice and most better companies will not do this. As for QA people actually taking that pay, that's even worse. There are plenty of respectable companies still paying hourly.
QA paid hourly
Agree with that!  I for one would never work on production.  This definitely compromises quality just to get the lines out, and I will never do that.  And... whose gonna check behind those QA people.  Nobody!  QA is supposed to check behind MTs.  Put QAs on production and you may as well not have QA , and just let the MTs send work as is, have the MT never learn, and then have them pass that incorrect knowledge down to future MTs, and then what do you have?  Well... maybe they'll figure it out one day.  I don't always agree with what is going on with the company I work for;  but... I can say that they have not gone to a line rate for QAs.  I would say thats a pretty good indication of their views on quality accounting for something.  
QA SHOULD be paid hourly - sm
Otherwise what's to stop them from doing bogus *corrections* in order to get more money.
Being Paid Hourly - QA sm

Suppose you're hired for a QA position at $14.00 an hour as an independent contractor and you work an 8-hour shift on a daily basis.  Are you guaranteed to be for the 8-hour shift even if there is no work available?


What about the same thing as above, but only hired as an employee.  Would you be guaranteed to be paid for the 8-hour shift whether there was any work or not?


Newbie or not, QA should be paid hourly only. NM
\
One quesion - were you getting paid hourly? ; )
x
Paid hourly training SM

Anyone can tell me what companies pay at least minimum hourly wage during training?   I don 't mind line rate pay during this time, but I heard many of them will only let you do several reports a day during training and pay by the line, all along the work you do learning their software and platform, phone calls, conference calls, etc. is per g-r-a-t-i-s.  Anyone?


I understood her to mean she was paid hourly plus
x
At WMX you are paid the hourly equivalent of your sm
production rate. If you are making $20 an hour (averaged) on production, that's what you make when you take PTO or holiday pay.
Don't QA's get paid hourly at MQ? Why abandon jobs?
nm
Not a good way to get paid, plenty of the better companies pay hourly.
x
I'd love to be back inhouse, paid hourly, and
a bad dictator or a report that's interesting, but slow to do. I'm tired of never having money for food, gas, clothes, fun, or anything else. I'm tired of no holidays off, and having to work a 12-hour day to make the minimum line count. And no, I NEVER get overtime, cuz they don't pay it. I think the hospitals should not only first give work to it's HOME BASED employees, but I think they should hire more, instead of farming it out to god-knows-where all over the world.
If your hired at an hourly rate and you run out of work, then you dont get paid anything??
Just saying, you worked a total of 3 hours one day, ran out of work for two hours, then for that day you only get paid 3 hours? That would suck and it wont pay my bills.
Webmedx Editors, how are they paid (per line or hourly)? Do they reimburse for
CMT examination fee or pay part of it?  Do they give any kind of consideration for MTs or Editors with their CMT?
PTO paid out based on average hourly earnings. They typically
do not pay for downtime unless it's an unusual occurrence.
I AGREE COMPLETELY! I'd rather be paid a consistent, respectable hourly rate
nm
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 might add that I make a decent hourly rate doing
QA, but I really earned excellent money doing MT. I cannot complain about my hourly QA rate at all. I earn more than many I know working hourly.
I liked hourly until I found out I could make more on line pay. nm
x
I used to make an hourly rate at a local hospital but s/m

The home-based MTs were on a tiered hourly scale depending on how many minutes we typed daily.  The in-house MTs were not on this scale and I believe they are the reason we lost our jobs to outsourcing.  They made the big bucks and could not even produce 80 minutes of dictation a day.  The home MTs had to produce 100 minutes a day to reach the maximum hourly pay. 


I feel that being paid by production is not such a bad thing because at least the ones who produce get paid for it. 


How do they make a living if they don't get paid for their
services.  I don't know that they get a percentage of the line rate, doesn't make sense that it would be like that, but I'm sure they get a flat fee.   The MT doesn't pay, the company does.  I didn't ask them about getting paid because that was none of my business.   Maybe they don't get paid unless the MT accepts a position.   A lot of companies offer referral bonuses, could be the same thing with TM.  
...would make more if you got paid a cpl rate! nm
s
Don't think any do except for those in-house jobs. Some QA jobs are paid hourly. nm
s
I make far more money on VR. I also get paid a good SM
line rate for it, so that helps. I am paid 7 cpl for VR.
I believe they mean that you have to make $900 per PP to be full time, still paid by line
x
They have created a new position that pays hourly. Anyone know what the hourly rate range is? NM
xx
A combo hourly/incentive or straight hourly rate based on
A platform where MTs have had major input in developing it.

10 annual days of PTO, at average hourly rate.

Affordable, decent health insurance.

QA done by very experienced high-level MTs, with open and respectful communication between QA and the MTs.
Agreed. Could not make any money there. Platform is horrid. I wouldnt matter if you were paid 18 cpl
if you couldnt get a good line count in.
It is a losing game. They make next to nothing, get paid for a warm body count. Losers. Recruiters
x
People at TT have been paid! People who haven't well, maybe you did not make count and your check
after insurance deduction. Maybe your bank is holding it. Maybe anything! But we GOT PAID. This is NO LIE. And I am sick of this board. Nothing but disgruntled exemployees arguing with employees who like their job. Ugggg. I am working. BTW: THERE IS WORK (clears throat) remember that? Work?
Why the view on QA?
I've seen some slamming of the QA dept of OSi here. I'm curious to know why the negative view of their QA? What is the reason that you think it's the worse QA department anywhere?
A different view
I'm not sure where the other poster's info regarding mostly verbatim accounts comes from. Not one of the 4 or 5 accounts I've worked on over the years have been verbatim. Ease of production of course depends a great deal on your individual account. I happen to have a good one, although challenging, and I don't have any problem getting my lines on it. Management has been great to me personally, and I have no problem with the company whatsoever.
Osi and another view

On the other side of the coin, yes, being a newbie there was difficult because they threw so much at me at once, so many specialties, over 100 physicians all at once on a verbatim account.  Yes, I did get e-mails where I had to go back and point out to QA where they were contradicting the account specifics.  They had too much to handle.


BUT -- and this is a HUGE BUT -- I left there knowing so many specialties precisely because I got it all dumped on me at once and it had better be right.  It was not a job, it was more like a school and I was being paid a little bit for doing the work. 


Where I am now, no matter what they give me I can do it.  I've had experience in almost every specialty, close to 30 or more.  I've learned to push and push and not give up and take advantage of the overload to better myself.  My Stedman's books are loose from the covers at this point.  I don't think any school could be harder than OSi because of the pressure, the exposure to so much all at once, and you HAVE to do it as fast as you can because for me at least it was my only income.  Sometimes the worst experiences pay off the best in the end.  But as of the time that I left which was not that long ago, I would not advise a newbie to go there unless they had another source of income and could afford to get fired.  They are VERY strict.  I won't even go into the line counting debate. 


To the one who has a different view
I agree with you. I think you have hit the nail right on the head. As to what will happen in 2 years, I will be happily retired (hopefully in Florida). Two years until retirement and I can hardly wait. If a child of mine ever wanted to become an MT, I would absolutely discourage them from doing it. Anyway, for what it is worth, I completely agree with your opinion and I have been an MT for a goodly long while!
another view
Hi all.  I'm the original poster that caused so much backlash (ss# question).  I am very happy to say that the replies to kitty and at the response I got for my seemingly simple minded question have changed my view.  Just for the record, I understand HIPAA laws and have seen this before, just not as an IC with no background check, etc.  To be honest, I never really paid attention, just did my job and did it well I might add.  I'm one of those lucky ones who has never been without work and has had no trouble getting job offers with a respectable line rate.  I was so happy to have found a place to communicate with others like me and I guess I kind of got knocked off my square a bit with some of the responses.  I'm going to take the advice given and turn the other cheek and stick around.  Those of you who are so helpful, pleasant and kind to one another have changed my mind.  Thanks again to all of you for showing me the positive side of this site. 
Thanks for a different view
You could be so right about this, just was not thinking that way. I am very careful person and I really pick and choose carefuly when I try to do something. I thought she figured maybe I was on a scam which is far from the truth. My daughter tells me I cannot rescue the world (do animal rescuing also) but gosh, I can give a little of myself sometimes. Thanks for the insight!
Hourly?? Where does one get an hourly editing job?
I'm at 5 for VR/8.5 for straight typing.  I know we aren't to mention names, but I'm curious how hourly VR jobs are located. 
curious about your view
Did she not break the law and was it not her own doing?  You make it sound like she has had such a hard life.  If she has because of this, it is her own fault.  She made the choices and now suffers the consequences as we all do.  Why are they bringing all this up now?  Maybe she is into something she shouldn't be again?