MT, minimum wage, single moms, etc...sm
Posted By: Whorn on 2007-02-26
In Reply to: There are single Moms in every profession. - There are single Mom's working for minimum wage
Medical transcription requires a great deal of skill and knowledge. It is not a minimum wage job, or should not be a minimum wage position. Years of learning and experience are involved to master this profession. No qualified MT, single mom or otherwise, should be working at minimum wage levels, in turn necessitating the help of assistance programs. This is too skilled a profession, and it is a shame that it is not so slowly sinking to the level of a minimum wage-type job.
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A lot of MTs are single moms, or the
only breadwinner in the house. How do these people pay their rent? These are the people who are really suffering. All the way around its a lack of respect for this profession and the companies are screwing us royally. It takes a great amount of skill, many years of learning and the ability to sit in front of a screen for long hours. The way things are rigged now, you can't even afford to take a damn break for fear of getting the electricity cut off.
There are single Moms in every profession.
You can't expect to work for a company holding the cards, and them pay you all of what they make when you want to be at home and it is not your account. It belongs to the company paying you. There's always the pavement to pound if you think you deserve the big bucks. Can't have it both ways. I don't think anything is just handed to anyone. If the electric is going to be turned off, then there are programs out there to help. I think if you fall within a certain salary range, you would qualify for assistance especially being a single Mom or Dad.
Any single moms working as an IC? sm
Any thoughts on this. I used to work from home for the local hospital. I was an employee paid hourly with benefits. Last year, they decided to outsource everything and Ive been left jumping from company to company trying to make ends meet and failing. It seems the nationals all to often have little or no work available on a pretty frequent basis and as such, I can't afford or qualify for benefits. So just wondering if other single moms have just opted for IC status and work for several companies to make ends meet?
Some of us are single moms too. Missing
Doesn't make for putting bread on the table... feeling very irresponsible for staying at TT so long, when I have a kid to care for.. just waiting til the new job kicks in... and hoping the same situation does not happen again!
I believe that would come to a little over minimum wage...
Not good at all! 
Minimum wage at best, probably not that!
I would not take any QA/editing position unless it is a set hourly rate. Again, I have said it before, do not sell your fellow QA/editors down the drain like AAMT has sold us. Hourly is the only way!
They have to pay minimum wage s/m
They have to pay for minimum wage if you do not reach that on your line counts.
Minimum Wage
You have hit on a point that the service owners did not plan for. Pursue this with the DOL office in your state:
USMLSU Initiative
Washington, DC
ONLINE, REAL-TIME CONFERENCE CALLS/MEETINGS BEING SCHEDULED FOR THE FIRST WEEK OF 2009 !
Respect, reasonable compensation, and humane treatment for all U.S.A. Medical Transcriptionists
VR or not, need to pay MINIMUM WAGE--sm
Not just my 2 cents' worth -- that's the LAW in all 50 US states. At 3-4 cents a line, this is hardly possible, especially at the start, to make at least a minimum wage that any 16-year-old kid makes delivering groceries. Add to that all the UNPAID work we are required to do for the privilege of being fleeced by the MTSOs, CCs, researching doctors, endless demographic work having nothing to do with transcription... 
Minimum wage
You cannot by law make less than minimum wage. If you are making less than minimum wage I would tell the company, they have to make up the difference. If they don't then you should call the labor board.
If you cannot make minimum wage with this, then
get another profession. I make over $20 per hour. You are a poor excuse for a Transcriptionist if not able to do. End of message and end of talking about something apparently not everyone is able to do.
minimum wage is $ 7.--/hour.....nm
nm
California's minimum wage is higher than SM
the federal minimum wage, this may be why.
Heck, NO!! I'd never survive on minimum wage. nm
xxx
So you don't mind working for less than minimum wage?
That's what a good Editor would make because most good editors that have 100% listen I know get between 2000-3000 lines a day. I think not. People like you who take these jobs bring all of us who have worked hard down. If you have only been an MT for 2 years, I would not think you would even qualify to be QA
when minimum wage goes up do IC rates increase also?
x
Oh nice..getting late..how about MINIMUM WAGE.. LOL
No, soon the government will increase the minimum wage
and MTs will be the working poor. Sad business this is.
Must be paid MINIMUM WAGE for each hour -sm
worked under 40/wk if employee in the U.S., regardless of work type, job description. In addition, must be PAID FOR ALL WORK PERFORMED - I won't even go there.
Att: Flamers: You can look this up yourself in DOL regulations.
Minimum wage only applies to employees.
nm
No, she said 1000 monthly - not weekly. Less than minimum wage! nm
x
LABOR BOARD / MINIMUM WAGE LAWS
Regardless of all the bull dished out by the MTSO companies, especially as it pertains to VR, i.e., We're cutting your pay 50%, so you'll have to work twice as hard - but you're going to LOVE the platform. Also get tired of hearing about Learning Curve and wonder if my grocer, landlord & hungry kids understand this learning curve concept.
However (and the MTSOs can like this or lump it) WE MUST BE PAID FEDERALLY-MANDATED MINIMUM WAGE for workers with employee status - whether straight typing, VR or being required to babysit computer during no/low work. Of course, it's exploitation to cut wages in half from an already insultingly low rate & most MTs are surely feeling the pinch. But whether 2, 3, 4 or 10 cpl ... minimum wage must be paid. (Sorry Suits/MTSOs - the law is there for a reason!)
$1,000 divided by 40 hours is $25.00 an hour. Where do you live that that is minimum wage? nm
:{
Minimum wage laws are for employees only, not independent contractors
Would you pay your plumber or pool cleaner (examples of other IC jobs) more because the minimum wage increased?
Couldn't Amphion be held liable for minimum wage
I'm just sayin'
Our work is considered piecemeal and not subject to minimum wage laws. Just what I've been told
MT
taking a low wage does not lower the pay for a field. The fact that they are offering stated wage
means that is the market. You don't see ads for McDonald's for $36/hour and you don't see ads for A.G. Edwards for $20,000/yr. If they didn't think they could fill a job for $14, they wouldn't post it. Notice MT jobs are now posting at 5, 6 and 6.5. So guess what editors are going to make?
No problems with moms here.
If the only reason you are an MT is because you wanted to stay at home with your kids, then it's probably the wrong reason to be an MT.
I was lucky enough to be at home with my kids but I was an MT before I had kids. When they were between the ages of 18 months and about 4, I had to juggle my schedule around because there was no way I could watch kids and work at the same time. I'm sure that's what most MT moms have to do.
Bare minimum? I make over $50,000 a year in 40 hours a week. That is not bare minimum. sm
Bare minimum would be $8 an hour which is $16,640 a year or $10 an hour which is $20,800 a year. I make more than twice that and that is NOT bare minimum.
I worked to get my typing speed to 80 wpm. I worked to get my Expanders user-friendly and plentiful. I am not the fastest because I look up what I do not know, but I am lucky to have a very good memory so if I type it a few times, I do not have to look it up. I keep notes when I run across something I do not know. I am interested in my profession and read the magazines for our profession and network with other transcriptionists during my free time, devoting a minimum of 2 hours per week to networking and learning new things.
I am not the fastest MT, but I am accurate and boiled it down to simple math. I need to transcribe 250 lines per hour for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. At 10cpl, that is 2000 lines a day x 5 days per week x 50 weeks per year. I take 2 weeks off per year during July to visit my grandchildren (unpaid), 1 week a year to vacation with my husband (paid) and 1 week a year to spring clean (paid). I have worked for the same company for 4 years and 8 years for the one before this.
I treat my work hours as work hours and take 1/2 hour for lunch which I do not include in my 8 hours. I pretend that I am working outside the home and do not answer the door, get the mail, do laundry, etc. If I have a good day and go over the 2000, I bank it in my mind for days that are not as good and make sure that I get 10,000 lines each week.
My W2 each year is consistently $50,000. A few years it was higher, but I worked a few weekends, which I no longer do.
It IS possible.
What is your problem with moms working from home?
It sounds like you have some kind of bias against moms working from home! What is wrong with that? Just because an MT is a mom working from home does not automatically qualify her as someone who puts out crappy work. I am sure there are tons of moms on this board who put out quality work. I put out quality work now and once my baby comes I will still put out quality work. Quit bashing moms working from home.
Plenty of kids of stay at home moms are screwed up SM
I am a single mother whose child was in day care from age 20 months until kindergarten. She is turning out a lot better than most of the kids in her school. She is a teenager now and does not drink, she is an honor student. Come on now.... it depends on each individual case. You cannot make a blanket statement like you just did. That is ignorant.
Working is actually a good example for your children.
Min. wage
That isn't even minimum wage in San Francisco, where it's something like $9.25+ per hr.
Min wage in NY
In NY minimum wage is now $7.15, so that is not min wage here either.
Min wage
I thought I had read something recently that stated Nuance/Focus was developing some software that would completely do away with transcriptionists in the next few years. I worked for Focus 5 years ago and they were a terrible company then to work for, I see they have just kept getting worse. You are entitled to minimum wage if you are an employee. If your line count does not come to that contact your local DOL and apply for unemployment benefits. if you don't you are hurting yourselves and other MTs who come after you.
don't accept the wage, but I would!!!!
nm
Medware Wage
The most you can expect to make at Medware is 0.08 a line. Medware has some extremely difficult accounts with a lot of ESL doctors. It is very hard to make a good line count. Additionally, Medware watches how many minutes you work during the day. You must work a full 8-hour shift. If you have problems and need to call your supervisor, need to email your supervisor, create samples or go over files from the editors, have a problem with pay or vacation time or anything similiar, you will do it on your time. You have to put in your 8 hours TYPING, nothing else counts.
Is this a fair wage?
I'm a new graduate and I got an offer for 0.75 cpl. Any input would be appreciated.
QA Wage question
If getting paid hourly for QA, let's say $10.00 an hour, do you get paid for every hour whether there's anything to QA or not?
if you are still working there for that particular wage...sm
you are settling. 12 hour days x 6 days per week? You are definitely selling yourself short if you accept this. I was only trying to be honest based on the information you chose to share. I don't want others to think this is the norm in this industry because it most certainly is not. Again, I am basing my comments solely on the information you provided, which in fact saddened me as an MT who has been in this profession for many years. I apologize if you see this as an insult, but I was just overwhelmed by your breakdown of pay. To me this is completely unacceptable. Good luck to you.
GOOD WAGE
If you find anyone that pays 10 cpl to start, let me know!!!
I took me 4 months to find a job as an IC where I would make 10 cpl after 90 days!! and that is maintaining minimum line count of 1000 lines the whole time...
a wage one can live on is no more
I don't know about you, but when I see 7 and 8 cents being offered for independent contractor work, I scream a little scream inside me and then implode for a few seconds, and then I move on as that is too insulting for words. How can a person take out their own taxes with such low pay? It's really not worth it, when you do the math, figuring out 25 to 33 percent is delegated to tax.
If a person does 6000 lines for a 40-hour week and takes out 28% taxes, this leaves them with $8.65 an hour for their effort. My 18-year-old son, whose part-time job while he is in school is sweeping the floors at movie theatres in between shows, makes $7.00 an hour. I am a grown woman with 18+ years of MT experience and would make only $1.65 an hour more than my son if I had this job.
How's that for a come-down?  
Living Wage
I don't know exactly what I would call a living wage for a weekly amount. I can tell you that for my family of 5, the GOVERNMENT says that if I make less than approximately $40,000, that I qualify for various forms of government aid due to low-income status.
$40K divided by 52 weeks per year works out to about 1700 lines per day at 9 cpl.
If you're only making 5 cpl (case in point: That recent ad on the Jobs Bank!), then you would need to type 3076 lines per day in order to keep a family of five above the cut-off for food stamps and free lunches!
I think a living wage is
1 thousand dollars a week.
somebody will do it; hence the wage stays low nm
What is their hourly wage?
I also did not know that they had editing. QA position?
They are offering this same wage to QA people
with megayears of experience. That is my point!
And industry would pay the lowest wage possible
if people are willing to take it! People have to be pretty desperate or just not too bright to even agree to do this kind of work for low pay.
$8.75/hr nice hourly wage?
Yes, that is good for someone who is new to the biz, but if it takes 8 hours to review 2000 lines, that is only $8.75/hr. I don't think that is a nice hourly wage for experienced MTs. Many times the Editor may have no control over the TAT and oops! there goes that bonus. Quarterly bonuses cannot be counted upon as they are just that...bonuses.
Thanks for clarifying.
Wage earners usually get COL raises.
Every wage-paid position I have had was set on an annual increase with the rest of the company. Even at 3%, it was still a raise.
Production, however, does not increase. It is not the same pay structure and, in my opinion, should not.
You cannot have your cake and eat it, too.
You wanted production, so you can (in effect) control your income by how savvy you are, so you got it. If you want to make more money, increase those skills you feel are so valuable that you don't want to work for a set wage.
Otherwise, go to a wage and relax a bit, know that you're going to draw a certain amount of money (might even still get incentive for production, too), and get annual raises and actual holiday pay, etc.
Mark my words down: You will never get annual raises on production pay. Never. And you shouldn't. You are wanting what will never happen and, instead of looking for ways to actually help yourself, are frittering away your time and energy and frustrating everyone else in the process for nothing.
Yes, jobs may be there but is the wage decent?
That's the all important question we need to ask and know, along with what's going on at any of those companies. So many jobs available and we have to wonder why..., with so many of us looking every day.
JUST GIVE US A DECENT WAGE AND KEEP...sm
the token Christmas cards, e-cards, or whatever.
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