Are they even giving raises yet Last I heard there was a wage freeze. NM

min wage [2008-11-30]
This was for 10/10 and 10/25 paychecks, the ASR rate has not gone down until the 12/10 paycheck right? They must be having to pay minimum wage if you don't make it with your hours and line count then, think that could be it. I asked payroll and have not received an answer yet.

minimum wage on paycheck [2008-11-29]
I noticed that on my last paycheck I had 34 something hours paid at $7.95 which is min. wage for my state and also on the 10/10 paycheck the same thing. Is this because of the low ASR productivity and not making minimum wage with the hours I am doing. Does anyone know about this? I asked payroll. I hope it is not some mistake they are going to deduct from my paycheck.

i think you get minimum wage [2008-11-27]
according to no work policies, if you get no jobs available and get a ticket number, you receive minimum wage for your scheduled time?

Scheduled to work T-giving also [2008-11-26]
If you are scheduled to work T-giving, you already gave up that holiday to work for them and should not be expected to work Saturday and change or give up your plans you already made. I think they need to pay us anyway if we are scheduled on a holiday and there is no work, nor should we have to sit there all day and night waiting for work to come in. After all we gave that day up for them and we should be compensated.

I managed minimum wage the second week. I'm right behind you! nm [2008-11-25]
xx

Kansas minimum wage is $2.65, but [2008-11-25]
this job is covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, which means Federal Minimum Wage applies here. That is now at $6.55/hour and will go up to $7.25/hour on 7/24/2009. I guess if you hang in there you would get a raise anyway if you are producing at minimum wage. It sucks, but it is funny in the end because they will have to give you a raise then, huh?

minimum wage chart [2008-11-25]
Nice chart, shows minimum wage per state with any caveats. http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm

If you make below minimum wage, does MQ automatically [2008-11-25]
x

What state? Minimum wage is 6.55 in Texas. [2008-11-25]
(And not everyone in the south is backwards, ahem...)

They are not legally allowed to go below minimum wage. nm [2008-11-25]
xx

I'm not working T-Giving or Christmas [2008-11-25]
Send my job to India? I'm on my way out of here anyway, so I'm not giving up another holiday for the MedQ DE sade

I don't know that for a fact but that is what I have heard [2008-11-25]
xxx

I think I heard Indian MTs average about 600 lines a [2008-11-22]
nm

Raises [2008-11-22]
Yeah, I got a raise not long after starting at MQ - this was not a line count raise, but the hourly one that counts toward my PTO and such. Needless to say, I got a pay cut back in March for not meeting my line count because of the unfamiliar counts, ASR and whatever other hurdles I was jumping at the time. This cut was $2.00. THE GREAT OZ GIVETH AND THE GREAT OZ TAKETH AWAY.

AAMT/AHDI disgust me. I quit giving them [2008-11-21]
money (dues) years ago. IMO, they have done nothing for us MTs in the trenches and instead have been and continue to puff up their feathers.

RAISES [2008-11-21]
I was told by my CCM that in order to get a raise, we can send no more than 15% of our reports to QA....has anybody else been told this?

IMPORTANT- - - Labor Board, Wage and Hour [2008-11-21]
Okay guys. I received a call back from my State with Wage and Hour Division. The very nice person I spoke to stated she knows all about what companies are doing to medical transcriptionists. In fact, she has received about 4 calls already with complaints from transcriptionists about MQin my state. She looked into it and stated there isNOTHING we can doas long as MQ is paying minimum wage which is about 8.00 an hour for my state and some states are much less. BUT, I have been told I can file a complaint because if you work 6 hours straight, you are allowed a 30 minute lunch break UNPAID AND A 10 MINUTE BREAK THAT IS PAID whichshe believes MQ is not allowing. If you work 8 hours, you are allowed a 30 minute lunch break UNPAID and (two) 10 minute PAID breaks which is a total of 20 minutes that you are allowed to get paid and have a break which she believes MQ is not doing. Some states might be different. I thought Arizona was a 15 minute break. Anyway, if that is the case with any and not getting paid your breaks,then you have to go on line to your state and look up Labor Board Wage and Division complaint section and down load and file complaint or you may call and have them mail you out a form. Hope this helps. Good Luck. By the way, the nice lady also stated we should get out of this field as more companies like MQ will probably lower our wagesto near minimum wage. She agrees it is unfair and she understands where we are coming from, but we are basically screwed. Also do not forget, this company is an At-Will Company.

I think as long as they guarantee min wage, [2008-11-21]
It is covered there.

if I really were Q, I'd give us all raises [2008-11-21]
x

Raises [2008-11-21]
Yep, yearly. Putting up with what we do. BUT NO, we have Scrooge. HUMBUG

Minimum wage [2008-11-20]
Are you keeping track to be sure you're getting minimum wage? And contact your Labor Board to apply for partial benefits when you're eligible.

Minimum wage not acceptable [2008-11-19]
Why all the concern about minimum wage? We are experienced professionals. If all we can acquire (other than carpal tunnel, spinal stenosis, kyphosis, etc) is minimum wage, with all the knowledge and expertise we have, wouldn't it be much easier to go work at the local convenience store? They pay more than minimum wage, and all you need to know is how to smile at customers, push buttons on the cash register, and mop the floor.

Anyone figure they'll qualify for mininum wage now? [2008-11-19]
That 10% paycut if you take what was our original ASR pay really comes down to close to a 15% cut on ASR wages. At this point, we have to speed through 66% more ASR (instead of 43% more like before) to get back to our base regular pay. This of course excludes all the money we make on bonuses (Ya, right!) I'm on an account that I do about 90% ASR. Yikes! I'm in Ohio, minimum wage as of 1/1/9 goes to $7.30/hour. Do you think we can all work 3rd shift for the differential?

If you make less than minimum wage in a pay period, [2008-11-19]
are they required by law to pay you minimum wage automatically on your check, or is there some process you have to go through?

i never heard of that [2008-11-19]
but I had the original ASR course a few years ago...but would it get paid as a transcription report if that happened, or still just count as ASR because it came to us as an ASR report?

QA getting paid no matter what [2008-12-01]
I think you misspoke when you said QA gets paid their hourly wage no matter what. QA is also on production, in case you didn't know that, and for them to stay clocked in is as bad as an MT staying clocked in with no work. Check your facts.

ticket # [2008-12-01]
I got a ticket # and I read the policy on it - it sounds like either way within a short period of time, someone is supposed to contact you to tell you they put you in a pool with work or that you should take off and use PTO or make it up later. . But I haven't heard anything back yet.. after 2 hours.

The company I was with before MQ used to pay us [2008-12-01]
downtime when there was no work, not try to make us use our PTO. I read MQ's downtime policy & thought they did the same. Someone posted below that they got paid minimum wage when there was no work....?

okay, well... [2008-12-01]
..i was kind of afraid it was against the rules to post that response, but i tried anyway. oh well. no matter. i tried to get heard, and honestly i don't think being anonymous matters....it seemed like my e-mail was taken as seriously as any i'vesent using the official e-mail system....basically i think they've heard all of this before and they just want to keep on thinking it is an individual MTs problem and nothing to do with anything that they are doing. sigh.

MQ may have sent the account offshore [2008-12-01]
and just doesn't want to admit it. Same thing happened to me 3 years ago but then I heard that shortly after that the hospital did go to another MTSO - very unhappy with MQ. I had been working on that account even longer than you.

Totally frustrated [2008-12-01]
I keep reading these posts and the good part is, I can relate to the issues...the bad part is, we all have these problems and it seems nothing is done about them as far as MQ is concerned... First, I read the policy regarding no work SEVERAL TIMES...it is not very concise...saying they will pay you minimum wage and then saying you have to take PTO or make up the time. I am very angry as like others here, have followed the policy, called for the ticket number, wrote my CCM, CCA and CRC with the number. My reply from one (as the other two are still out of the office) was: Please review and follow the Work Availability Process. You may take PTO or flex your time. I encourage you to work with your CCM's during the upcoming holidays as they have been provided scheduling tools for each holiday and the weeks surrounding these holidays. I responded inquiring as to what these tools were. I was told The tools that are provided to the CCM's for the holiday are forecasting tools that provide volumes for the prior year during the days prior to and after the holiday (no mention of the actual holiday though...hmmm). If volumes are high they need additional hours, if volumes are low they must adjust the schedules for that time period. Then I am asked to please work with my CCM for the upcoming holiday schedule this month. I was told at the beginning of this year, that if you did not work Christmas last year, you had to work it this year. Nothing was mentioned about these tools and volumes. It was all about coverage. As we all know, and have been going through this for years every single holiday. I dont know about you, but this is all BS to me, very aggravating, frustrating, and insulting. I do not like being at the beck and call of a company, when I am ALWAYS there to do my job when scheduled, but they cant be there FOR ME when I am there to produce. I have put up with this too many years. Surely there is something we can all do as a united group? Any ideas?

Amen to all the above [2008-12-01]
I would follow my account I have been doing for 12 years in a hearbeat. Hopefully the other company isn't a full off-shore. Also I am dubious about the other company giving a better price. Maybe that is just what the supervisors are told to make us believe they can't pay us any better.

Unfortunately, at MQ our version of DQS does not [2008-12-01]
have those capabilities you are describing. We create the headers, unless it is a preformatted template, and we add dictation or insert it where needed. The system is not capable of independent thinking! LOL!! And let's not even mention ASR and the quality of that thinking! I have always heard that MQ used the latest bestest version of DQS, so I can't imagine them supplying someone else with a miracle version!

I'll bet it is from the ASR pay rate. [2008-11-30]
According to MQ central, they are up to 50% ASR of all dictation. I calculated my pay based on that (50% ASR + 50% typing), and that would result in an approximately 20% pay cut and put me at my state's minimum hourly wage if I only accomplished the 150 lph required minimum for full time. It's so depressing. I worked so hard yesterday and barely made the minimum line count. I had almost 50% ASR according to my line count. None of the ASR was faster than straight typing.

min wage [2008-11-30]
This was for 10/10 and 10/25 paychecks, the ASR rate has not gone down until the 12/10 paycheck right? They must be having to pay minimum wage if you don't make it with your hours and line count then, think that could be it. I asked payroll and have not received an answer yet.

ASR RATE [2008-11-30]
This pay cut starts on the 12/10 paycheck correct? Well I received $7.95 an hour for 30 some-odd hours on my last two paychecks. I did only do like 6,000 lines today in the payperiod, think they are having to pay the min wage to make it legal for those hours worked? I can't imagine what will happen when the new ASR rate kicks in. All they are doing is offering classes on how to get faster on ASR, I don't think they are taking into consideration our feelings and I highly doubt they will change their minds about the pay cut. I need to get a new job. Any ideas on companies to work at home from that provide computers that are hiring?

I think it is high time they start [2008-11-30]
penalizing the ASR software/computer techs for the performance of ASR. I can't continue to spend as much or more time on ASR for less pay. In MQ Central, MQ states they are at 50% ASR now. 50% ASR and 50% straight typing will result in a lot of people hovering around minimum wage. I would rather be flipping burgers for minimum wage. One of the local burger chains here pays more than minimum wage plus gives benefits without holding your benefits hostage.

Here is my theory..... [2008-11-30]
Okay.....MedQuist cuts our pay on ASR.....they know we will try to go faster and, perhaps, send more reports to QA. Now, in order to get a raise (which I hear are nonexistent anyway), we cannot send more than 15% (that is what I was told) of our reports to QA.....so, MQ now hastheir excusefor not giving us raises...we are sending too many reports to QA....sounds logical, doesn't it??

When will anything EVER turn on the suits? [2008-11-30]
with the reality being that the suits at MQ just keep taking and taking and taking and slashing and slashing and punishing and punishing, and taking and taking, giving you all NOTHING, and yet you stay. Its really to the point of embarrassing for you all. YOU are the only ones who can turn anything around on MQ. They are fine, as you all just stay here, whine on internet forums and work, and work, and work. Nothing will ever hurt them as long as you all continue to LET them play their disgusting games. How can you ponder on something that is only in your own power to change? As long as you all stay, you support these games 100%. All the complaining and posturing won't do 1 thing to hurt MQ.

I was doing... [2008-11-30]
50/50 before this change in mid October, and I did well because I was on my primary that i had for a few years...but since the new change, lost my primary, and now practically 95% ASR...I swear I can count on my 2 hands how many reports I TYPED last week....so I've gone below min. wage, as noticed by the min. wage listed on my paycheck! yet before this change I was doing 50/50, on my primary that I was used to for years, and did great. now..ha.

I am just not sure how productive your [2008-11-30]
line of thinking is, and I don't follow it, frankly. You wish and hope for what goes around to come around. I guess that means you wish ill fortune for the suits. Well, to wish them bad karma is basically doing yourselves in as well. If they go down, so will the company. There is also this incredible persisting naivety amongst MQ MTs that somehow management has no clue of how their policy changes or pay scales or whatever negatively impacts the MTs. The MQ MTs just keep persisting with this line of thought, thus thinking that somehow they just have to communicate the negative impact with management, via this forum or email or MT questions, and mgmt will see the error of their ways and fix things. This is just such a waste of what little time anyone has - management does everything for a reason and after much deliberation and an opinion vote. They are doing these things on purpose to all MQ MTs and, yes, they do have their plans. To think that they are just blindly making these decisions, as they have for years now, is just beyond denial at this point. As for how I have no idea what individuals reasons are for staying, or their situations, well, my posts are to the legion MQ MTs on this forum who are claiming absolute disaster at this point = no work, minimum wage, losing bennies, etc. How much longer are those in these dire straits going to hang on here? If their financial lives are in jeopardy, then they have no time. That is what I wish to stress. MQ management knows full well what they are doing - their plans might be counter to your wishes, but they know and are 100% in charge and control. Please don't fool yourselves into thinking they just need to hear your plights. They know your plights and created them and will continue to do so.

You are all on a slippery slope with this one, and [2008-11-29]
But, I would seriously question my job security with MQ bu filing for something like this. You could end up shooting yourself in the foot big time. Like if you in particular don't type all work types and don't have knowledge in all work types, etc., that could come back and bite you. Its a very odd situation for sure. I 100% believe that MQ should just bite the bullet and pay you all for no work situations. However, they have dodged that bullet to date and are masters at the craft. I don't think, personally, that the unemployment thing would fly in your favor. I don't know any advice to give you all on how to fight it, but if I were an MT, I guarantee I would be getting paid for no work situations, and paid at my hourly benefits rate, not minimum wage. I do believe that some MTs do get paid as I described. One thing for sure, QA people do get paid when there is no work. They get their hourly rates, no questions asked. If there is no work, there is no work. I would NOT do as someone below stated, and stay signed into DQS but just log in and out of etime. I know for sure there are rules written somewhere - good luck finding them - that you must be logged into DQS and Etime at the same time, otherwise grounds for immediate dismissal. And, yes, MTs have been fired on the spot for this. Please don't do it, though, again, I understand your reasoning. I would never, ever go along with the -- releasing -- thing. As others have posted below, that is the magic word for MQ to get out of paying you, and you are agreeing to be released. In fact, since you all have to report the no work situation, it looks as if YOU are the ones asking for the release. Which is MQ's little bag of tricks to cover themselves from having to pay you for no work. I would never ever take PTO either. I would think the only way to fight this would be thru labor boards. But, again, I don't know how that would work for ya. Just to remember why MQ pulls the reasoning that you all have to make up work is that, in the day, therewere lots of MTs who were full time, didn't make up work, and some weeks had no income, even some pay periods had no income. When you have benefits, that becomes a BIG problem. There were lots of MTs who owed money to MQ for the weeks they chose not to work and not to make it up and that obviously didn't fly either. So, on one hand, I understand the logic on that part in order to keep your benefits. If you have benefits, you have to be sure you work full time, or you can and will lose your benefits, as you have to see the bigger picture of that whole situation. I feel sorry for you all, and wish I could offer some solution on how to fight them on this. Somebody needs to take a stand about it - its like the IC versus employee issue. It took a few years, but finally the IRS got them to admit that we were employees and not IC status. Of course, there were lots of things we lost when IC was taken away. Very confusing situation, but it shouldn't be that confusing. Doesn't anybody have that MetLife lawyer plan thru MQ? Somebody should use that benefit -- before its gone - and call for the free lawyer consult regarding this situation. I wish you luck. I chose to go with a company that pays for downtime and pays happily, but I know you all need help with this. Hang in there.

Some people get PAID to be on call [2008-11-29]
My boyfriend who is a nurse gets paid 3/4 hourly wage to be on call. He smugly says they pay him for what he knows, not for what he does AND he gets annual raises. He can't understand how I put up with MQ.

minimum wage on paycheck [2008-11-29]
I noticed that on my last paycheck I had 34 something hours paid at $7.95 which is min. wage for my state and also on the 10/10 paycheck the same thing. Is this because of the low ASR productivity and not making minimum wage with the hours I am doing. Does anyone know about this? I asked payroll. I hope it is not some mistake they are going to deduct from my paycheck.

I looked up the No Work policy and the way [2008-11-28]
I read it is that if they don't release us from work, then they are required to pay us minimum wage according to our home state wage scale. The IR is supposed to call after you open a ticket, but I haven't heard anything from anybody yesterday or today. I was short a little over an hour yesterday and am running about an hour short, so far, for today.

policies to me are clear as mud [2008-11-28]
Then add in what the abcdefg tells you, my goodness. I just take w/o pay as I have a vacation I would like to take with MY PTO. I wish we could at least get mininum wage, but from what I read have to jump through many hoops, calls, emails, left arm, first born, (which they can have mine heee) and my husbands right nut to get it. No time. Have a good weekend, watch the spending, we all know where we are.

Cesspool + CP = probably unhappy client. [2008-11-28]
Shesh, some of the client profiles are so bad. Some have so much information missing and instructions that incomprehensible. So, I just plug along, as my count sinks like the Titanic, giving them whatever they get according to the lack of information.

Procedure for low earnings due to lack of work...sm [2008-11-28]
Filing for partial unemployment You are partially unemployed when you are hired as a full-time employee, and you are still on your employer�s payroll, but that employer cannot give you full-time work. Unless you are claiming Extended Benefits (see Filing for Extended Benefits), you are not required to look for another job or take a job offered by another employer. When filing partial claims, you are to use a special claim form, Initial Claim/Low Earnings Report (LER), which is provided by your regular employer. In all other respects, total and partial unemployment are the same. Once you set up a benefit year, you may file claims for weeks of either total or partial unemployment during that year. The following procedures apply to claims for partial benefits. Your employer gives you an Initial Claim/Low Earnings Report (LER) for any weeks that full-time work was not available. (A LER may be issued for either one or two weeks of partial unemployment.) Your employer is required to issue a LER not later than the payday for the week(s) of low earnings. The LER is your claim for partial benefits. (Do not use the claim form that comes with your benefit check to file for partial benefits.) To file your claim, you must complete the bottom part of the LER and then file the complete form with your local office within ten (10) days following the day you received it. If you delay filing, you may lose your right to benefits. (NOTE: The Low Earnings Report cannot be filed by telephone or via the Internet. Also, do not file until after the week(s) of partial unemployment shown on your LER.) You must report any work you had with other employers during the week(s) on your LER. You also must report any self-employment and any other income not shown on the LER. If you are a corporate officer or have other business interests, you must report such activities when you file. You must have been available for all work your regular employer had to offer. You may be denied benefits if you had low earnings for any reason other than lack of work. Your benefit payment will be reduced by earnings or any other deductible income you had, in the same manner as if you were filing for total unemployment. (See How income affects benefits.) If you have a benefit year in effect, you can always file your partial claim by mail. Whenever possible, you should file a new claim in person, especially if this is your first experience with the unemployment compensation program. You always must file a new claim in person when either one of the following situations applies to you: You worked outside West Virginia during any part of the base period. (You may need to file an Interstate or Combined Wage Claim -- see Filing combined wage claims and Filing interstate claims.) You were on active military duty or worked for the federal government during any part of the base period. See Filing for benefits based on federal civilian employment (UCFE) or Filing for military benefits (UCX). You must file a new claim in person when either of these situations applies because you will not receive credit for such employment unless you bring the necessary information to your local office. (The information we need is explained on the pages referred to previously.) If your claim is processed by mail, your weekly benefit will be based only on wages reported during your base period by West Virginia employers. NOTE: You are responsible for the accuracy of all information on a Low Earnings Report. Examine each LER carefully before you file it. If your employer listed your earnings incorrectly or didn�t include other payments made during the week(s) on the report, do not file your claim until the employer corrects the error. Also, make certain that your name and Social Security number are shown correctly, and that the employer properly signed and dated the form. You are liable to repay any overpayment of benefits that results from incorrect information on a Low Earnings Report

backlogs and schedules [2008-11-28]
you would think that if they are testing this that there may be something else planned. I just wonder why they are giving us the option for us to access the backlog for ourselves. Another thing is that it would have made sense to implement this first and then schedule source as then we can see when our primaries and other accounts that are familiar to us had the most work. Maybe something else will take schedule source's place???

I still care about the quality of [2008-11-27]
my work and that is probably why I am losing money with ASR. I tried to speed up and not fix the little things and found I was missinga lot of stuff by rushing through it,and could not continue to do it as one of the things that attracted me to this profession was that I had total control over the quality of my work, nobody telling me just ship it (I worked in a factory before MT and if production was behind, we were forced to send subpar work tothe customer). I would not like an MT rushing to get my medical recordedited and maybe missing things such as sound-a-like medications being heard by ASR instead of the correct one, 15 mgversus 50 mg,or punctuation that changes the meaning of a sentence.Speeding the audio all the way up is very dangerous to do for these reasons. How many times with ASR have you noticed the word not being put in when not dictated or the other way around? Same goes for with versus without when the dictator fades out at the end of words. I cannot catch these things speeding the audio up to warp speed like some say to do. Maybe it works with the good dictators,but certainly not with the motor and mush-mouths and some ESL, which I get a lot of on ASR. Talk about motor-mouth, I need to put the coffee down and get some sleep.