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Fortunately my account is out of state, because in my

Posted By: not for me on 2006-06-29
In Reply to: Holiday slow down? - MTing

state we have a lot of manufacturing facilities and they all close down the week of July 4th.  I used to work for a hospital in NY and was told by MTSO that July 4th is a big deal there and things are very, very slow.   I'm actually doing an extra 500-600 lines a day, but that could be because some MTs may have taken vacation. 


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Fortunately, not all companies are so greedy that they
use VR to cut the line rate for MTs. Hopefully these experienced MTs who make more money doing straight transcription rather than the pay cut that comes with VR will find a better company to work for. For those like you who apparently never made that much doing straight transcription & enjoy VR, then more power to you, but why freak out on those who don't want the pay cut? Let them find a company who isn't trying to screw over the MTs by cutting their line rate for the same amount of work.
It caught me by surprise too -- I'm right there with you. Fortunately, I have a 2nd job sm

so that helps take the sting out a bit.  I love the people and love the company, but I do not think maybe they realize what a big shock $30 can be sometimes.  To me, the more fair thing to have done would have been to say something like effective next check, we will be taking out double premiums until we catch up or whatever.  However, cannot unring a bell.


And I have always been a bit disappointed that they wait until the following Monday to pay us instead of that Friday, but for the most part it is a good company.  Seems like all of the MTSOs hang on to their $$$ as long as they can -- guess the interest is better in their pockets than on our paychecks.    I was stupid and am now waiting a month to get paid for work I did for a woman in Virginia.  Chalk it up to lesson learned.


Good luck to you (and me!). 


Fortunately, I work for a company that does not refer to their
employees in derogatory terms, as you seem to do. I would judge, based on the above letter, that you are from from being the perfect boss. Obviously you feel you should have time to have a family and a life, but no one else is entitled to that luxury because they are beneath you.

I think you would be much happier if you packed your bags and moved to India and the Phillipines and ran your company from there using slave labor. I am certain there are enough hospitals in those countries to keep your not-so-wonderful company in business while you pay line rates that will ensure you keep the peons in their proper places.

I can now see why there are derogatory posts about your company. Ordinarily I would ignore such comments and apply if I were looking for a job, making up my mind after that point if it would be a good job for me, but your post has convinced me that I would never want to put myself in any type of relationship with you.
I had the same situation this morning. Fortunately, a few jobs have sm

trickled in, so maybe it will pick up later.   My primary account is 2 hours behind me, so I guess people there are just getting startd.  I recently picked up 2 part-time jobs in addition to my FT position at TT, so I am hoping that maybe between the 3 of them, I won't experience a drastic reduction in income during the holidays. 


I have been a Transcriptionist for over 30 years and have come to expect a slowdown around the holidays, but not Halloween -- that was a surprise to me.  Regardleness, I love my job at TT and think the people I work with are great.  I guess it is worth toughing out the bad times in light of all of the good



In defense of poster with typos...Sometimes when you use so many expanders(fortunately = fty for me
so I bet she is a high producer 'cause she has awesome expanders... don't typos happen to you on the boards sometimes?  Or you hit enter too soon and your post looks like a first-grader typed it out...
Fortunately, I haven't had any problems getting call-backs...sm
I have been in contact with 3 companies within the last 6 weeks. I do have 18+ years experience, but just needed to find the right fit. There are good jobs to be gotten so don't give up.

Good luck!
Unless something has changed, health insurance rates vary state by state, so we may not have the
info you need.  I'm an IC so I don't have benefits.
You are correct. The state that rules is the state the employee lives in.
My state laws has is spelled out in their Code. If another state does not withhold, they are fined heavily and if they don't withhold for years, their fines are pretty bad. I worked for a Florida co that did not withhold income tax for my state even after I brought it to their attention in the state code. They kept saying that they would eventually and never did. After two plus years and when I left, I made it known to my state all the conversations, the state refunded me all late fees they charged me and then said they were going after the company in Florida because they had many employees in our state. They deserved it. They knew better.
The state you live in or the state where the MTSO is located? nm
nm
If company is in state that has no state taxes
they are not required to take out state taxes.  It's enough to keep up with your own state tax law code, could you imagine having to stay abreast of 49 other state tax codes?  The cost would be huge and ultimately passed on to us by lower line rates.  Regardless of who owes the tax, someone has to pay it.  Just a matter of convenience I guess. 
Not state by state, federal labor law - sm
and you don't have to be asked. If you work it, asked or not, they have to pay time and a half OT rate for hours worked over 40 in a week.

Taken right from U.S. Dept of Labor -
An employer who requires or PERMITS an employee to work overtime is generally required to pay the employee premium pay for such overtime work. Employees covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)MUST receive overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek of at least one and one-half times their regular rates of pay. The FLSA does not require overtime pay for work on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, or regular days of rest.

Extra pay for working weekends or nights is a matter of agreement between the employer and the employee (or the employee's representative). The FLSA does not require extra pay for weekend or night work or double time pay.

Different state to state. You would be surprised to find

IC can be defined differently state to state.  Even the IRS cannot come up with a definitive set of rules.  You would be surprised how many ICs actually get unemployment in some states.  If the unemployment claim form asks specifically if you are an independent contractor, do not lie, but if it does not, do not volunteer it.  Let the company prove you are a true IC according to the rules of your state.  All you lose is a few minutes filling out the claim form.  I would only do it as a last resort.  If you can find work fast, by all means go for it, but the way things are now with all the VR and off-shoring, it is a backup if you cannot find work.  No one should go hungry because they are afraid to file for Unemployment as an IC. 


 


They should take out state taxes for the state
nm
It varies from state to state
nm
Varies from state to state
My own state recognizes partial unemployment, too, when your work gets cut down to half of your regular workload/income.
They must deduct FEDERAL taxes.. NOT STATE taxes.. if they took out state taxes.. it would be FLORID
which would only have to be refunded to you for you to pay YOUR state what you owe them which is nothing but a pain... be glad they weren't handling your state tax.. and I think in this case.. if someone at the IRS told you they have to deduct YOUR states taxes.. it is that person who is uneducated... they only have to deduce federal income tax

That account in Texas was not a MQ account. They did not use DQS on that account until KS started.
They are moving 3 other accounts to DQS between now and January 1st. I asked. The MQ accounts they have gotten in the past did not go to DQS. I followed my old account, which is how I know, and it was Meditech. The account is still run by KS and is a big account too.
Repeatedly told another new account would come soon, but it never did. In fact, our slow account is.
everyone else's backup account. What a disorganized mess.
Then when we MT's are **thrown on** an account because of lack of work on our account

What is so hard to understand about that? 


Then we have that account info filed away in a folder in our Outlook Express by name of account and can look at past emails sent out regarding that account.  Not fun to be tossed on an account that you have never seen NOR ever received an email on.  Sounds like business to me. 


You are wrong about the account. KS dumped the account for several reasons. sm
It happened quickly and was unexpected but it was really for the best. Keystrokes does not string people along or lie to you. After being with MQ for too long, I am happy there, although it is not for everyone.

I really would give them a call as the other poster suggested. That whole situation was a nightmare for everyone including management but the account pulled a fast one on them.

I have the facts on this because I have a good friend at the hospital and what she told me matched what my manager did.

I know that they are trying to give more when so many companies are giving less and taking away more.
My account has lots of work..ask for another account/nm
**
The account I am on only requires 1200 lpd. Maybe it is that particular account. Ask them if they
have a lower one. Doesn't hurt to ask. I do anywhere between 1200 and 1800 lpd. Sometimes it feels impossible to do 1200, sometimes the 1800 is quick. Depends on the doctors and the day for me. I do average 15,000 per pay period though, which is 1500 a day. Not impossible by any means, and I never go over 40 hours a week. Most weeks, I am closer to 35 hours with lunch breaks and life.
I think it depends on the account. I have one account that pays sm
$2.25 for specials and one that pays $3.50. I was on one previously that did not pay them different at all, but they were all short and mostly PICC line placements.

I worked for a hospital that went to KS and they were not charging extra for the specials. I know what they charged per report, and there was no way they were getting rich on the difference after taxes and all that. I was suprised. I was in on the bid review and the average to charge was between $1.75 and $2.75 per report or 0.13 and 0.15 per line. There were 15 companies that bid on the account, and all were within those ranges.

I went to KS about 6 months after the hospital outsourced to them. When we were displaced, I accepted a different job in the hospital and hated it.
That is not true. It varies from account to account. I have
several internet accounts and on some you do have to input the patient information.
I know the account. It is "hybrid" account that is a version of sm
Meditech that is a cross between Meditech Magic and Client, more like Client than Magic. I have been on it since October now do 1500 lines a day; it took me a week to get up to speed but they really helped me. I only know which one because my lead told me that they are adding 10 people to it because KS is getting the whole thing now, only doing 1/2 before this. I love working for Keystrokes :)
Account wen to speech from almost the beginning of the account --
Don't like ExSpeech at all.  Very bulky and cumbersome.  Much better editing programs.  I prefer to straight transcribe on ExText.  Pay drops horrendously.  But wave of the future for MT's.
The account I am on is internet only. I think it depends on the account. nm
nm
My main account must have been an overflow account. We would
go several many days of the month where we could not pull work, so we all had to go to secondary accounts and there are very few accounts that could absorb the extra people. 
Our account is an acute care account
We are low on work too and have been for almost 2 months.  We know what is happening to our work though as our supervisor admitted that the work is going overseas.  Even though we have 24-hour TAT and we are transcribing reports as they are dictated, they still insist that the work dictated after 7 p.m. has to be sent to the offshore service.  It makes no sense to me as we have coverage starting from 6 a.m. and throughout the day.  I think it all comes down to bottom line and it doesn't matter if we have work or not because it's cheaper to send it overseas. 
I am not sure which State
The person I had E-mail contact with was named "Suzanne". I have no other info.

Thank you.
Perhaps not in your state.
NM
State tax
No, I'm sorry, but deducting state tax is a cost of doing business and it is a very small cost to the employer. Medware is a lazy, greedy corporation, and that is why they don't deduct state taxes.

It is very simple to do payroll nowadays - it's all on computer and the payroll programs have all the states' information in them and all it takes for Medware or any employer to pay the individual states is to electronically transfer the money, which is set up at their bank.
can you tell us what state they are in so I that I do not
make that mistake?
My state too...
Of course he wouldn't want to see them. He refuses to see reality all around him. He still thinks we have it soooo good. I agree with you. Heaven help us all if the Haliburton puppet becomes the legal ruler when the present king steps down.... hopefully his health issues will preclude that. Oh, yes, I do wonder if his medical records are transcribed in India?
Don't pay them yourself. I did not and my state says they
are going to take action against MedWare. My state apologized to me for charging me late fees (I refused to send in state taxes to the state because I was an employee and because it was written plain as day in my state law that they should be taken out by the employer). I was with them for 3 years and all those years I got charged like a $10 fee each year for paying state taxes late. My state REFUNDED all my late fees to me and apologized stating that they were investigating the practices of the company. Don't know whatever happened with that, but last I knew they were looking into it. My state did not penalize me at all so by refunding all their late fees, that tells me that they know it was not my fault.
Each state has its own law regarding
this. Some states have a 3 day requirement, makes no difference whether you quit or got fired.
I am not sure in your state...
However, Unemployment Insurance also covers underemployment in my state. That is if you are downsized and can prove you are making less than 70% of what you made before, you are eligible to draw partial unemployment benefits. That may be retroactive (I believe there is only a 1-week waiting period), and may help your immediate mortgage trouble.

The caveat is that you have to be actively looking for work but basically that means you have to have made 2 job contacts during a week, which would be very easy to do in this profession.

It would be worth checking into for you as unemployment benefits are usually paid weekly. You may find yourself in better shape by next week already. Good luck!
What state are you in?
When I worked at home for a hospital in New Jersey, I received state disability pay when I went on maternity leave.
State...
I live in Maine, which makes it difficult because I am not close to any of these companies. There are not many hospitals around here and they outsource to companies like what I already work for! I am just stuck and it is frustrating me...I just find it hard to believe that there are not more people out there in my situation!!! I feel like I have been discriminated against because I am young because most MTs are older (not that there is anything wrong with that) and that is something I have had to deal with in this job a lot!!!
Their state. sm
The state the MTSO is in.
There are at least 2. Which state is yours in? nm
s
But get this, in my state we still have to
file state income tax..... That is why I said that, realize the differences
There are 2. What state are you looking for? nm
s
Think there are 2. What state is yours in? nm
s
I don't think it has anything to do with your state.

 


The premiums depend on family, single, 1+1, etc. 


What state is this one in? Several out there
s
What state was that?
They could not do business in what state?
Their ads clearly state you need ULD, although they
do have jobs that you don't need a C-phone for, just a foot pedal.
You state: sm
Throwing the term demonic around when forewarning someone is just a little unnerving. Unnerving to who? You? Unless you are Ms. Renner, then I would understand. Five grand is HUGE. I'd like to see what adjectives you would post if you were ripped off 5,000, lost your entire business, and were unable to feed your family because of it.

IMO, demonic is a harsh word in comparison to others that could have been posted.
You state: sm
Throwing the term demonic around when forewarning someone is just a little unnerving. Unnerving to who? You? Unless you are Ms. Renner, then I would understand. Five grand is HUGE. I'd like to see what adjectives you would post if you were ripped off 5,000, lost your entire business, and were unable to feed your family because of it.

IMO, demonic is not the harshest word in comparison to others that could have been posted.
Why won't you tell at least the state?

I don't understand this at all!  You warn people about deceitful recruiting tactics of a company, but then you won't tell us who we should stay away from?


Thanks for nothing.