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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

Do all MT employees have to abide by 40-hour week law? Always been a SE

Posted By: Dixierose on 2007-12-09
In Reply to:

nm


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40 hour week
I was told by my supervisor to "work off the clock" as much as I needed to get my quota.

I remember being told several times in the past that this was NOT allowed. Of course, it is okay now as it is only paid as line count and not OT.
At a 40-hour week (sm)

What did you think I meant?


Happy MT week. 


how many lines per hour/day/week do you do?? NM
???
Hired to work 40 hour week, 9-5 and then...
Then your computer goes down or you have a doctor's appt or a responsibility taking you away from the keyboard. The other two MTs on your acct have to work like crazy to keep up with a 3 MT work load and they do so like champs. Then, back you come and grab work off your schedule. This means the two MTs who covered you while you were off are not going to be compensated for working strenuously but instead, end up sharing their shifts work with you.

This is soooo frustrating.
Lines typed an hour or a week?

I know this has been talked about a lot, but I was offered a chance to test for an IC job, and I'm required to type between 2,500-5,000 lines per week.  Since I'm an employee and haven't been paid by the line for about five years, approximately how many hours does it usually take for some of you to type 2,500 lines per week?   


TIA.


Geez I was making $20 an hour after 1 week as a newbie and now
average $30-$35 an hour. I transcribe 2000 lines a day acute care in no more than 6-7 hours a day. I refuse to work for these companies that expect you to actually transcribe 8 hours!! Talk about a quick burnout!!

You have to find the right company, account, and platform. Simple as that. Well I should not say simple, it definitely takes some digging these days..
Most doctors do not abide by. . .

the BOS.  It was created by AAMT, who is the only entitiy to profess its acceptability as the standard in MT.  It has been a moneymaker for them.  Period.


Actually, only the AMA Style Guide is the "official" standard for any/all medical writing, including transcription.  There is a new version of it coming out soon as well. 


RE: Most doctors do not abide by. . .
You did not answer the original question. Your personal feelings were not asked for in this instance.
you still have to abide by the doctors' requests
if they do not like it. The exception to every AAMT guideline.


Working 6/hour days, 5 days/week I make
$42,000.00, but the work is there to make more if I want to.  I'm in the southeast. 
Is there engineer week? Astronaut week? Veterinarian week?
x
Depends on the pay and account. My lowest average is $15.52 an hour (roughly 182.6 lines an hour) w
;'
1850 lines per 8 hour shift. 15.00 hour - no real requirement
x
Typically this week is a slow week in lots of places

because it is a big vacation week.  Typically things slow dow a bit in the summer too because people are putting off elective surgery, but at the same time lots of people going on vacation so it should balance out.   


 


 


Lowest runs $900 week, highest $1400 week (sm)
Get paid 12 CPL. Been doing transcription for about 12 years.
if it is feasable, split that 6-hour shift into two 3-hour shifts. sm
i work a split shift and find that i am much better able to stay focused and get more work done that way. also, being 3 months pregnant you have gone through the very tiring time of pregnancy and you should start seeing an energy perk before long.
I start an hour or 2 early and then take an hour or 2 for dinner -nm
x
At 200 lines a day for 6 cents, you are making $1.20 a day or 0.15 hour for an 8 hour day!!!--cm
Did you mean 2,000? Even then you would only be making $1.50 if you work 8 hours a day.
$32/hour? You said $36/hour on an earlier post. Either way would be great. n/m
xx


I work 6 days a week every other week

Due to my company's payroll (it runs Sun-Sat), I'm able to work a rotating schedule with every other weekend off. Week 1 I work Sunday through Thursday with Fri, Sat, Sun off.  Week 2 I work Monday through Friday with Saturday only off.  Then I'm back to week 1 and get that following weekend off.


I've found that I'm more productive with shorter shifts and I have kids in school anyway, so I work a lot of split shifts during the week.  If possible, you might want to consider cutting back your hours to 30 hours and just work five 6-hour days in split shifts, 3 in the morning and 3 in the evening. 


10 reports/hour or 25 markers/hour
NM
I appreciate your responses. I had an option of line vs hour ($14/hour) but if line pays more...nm
nm
65 to 75 an hour comes to $15 an hour if u are fast
nm
Yes, they have a lot of employees
and no offense but all newbies because anyone with a brain and has a pulse runs, and runs fast.
So what does this mean for HIS employees and how do you know this? sm
How did you get this information?  Is everything finalized and signed between Spheris and Heartland?  What happens to those of us who work at Heartland?  What's this mean to us?
What about all of the employees out there
who adhere to a regular committed work schedule only to find there is no work available for them?? Sandy--what about all of the people who are forced to work later and later (beyond their committed shift schedule) just to find work?? We ARE paid by production. It sounds like you are the princess in this scenario. You're speaking to a lot of experienced loyal MTs out there who KNOW that working from home is their only option because of all of the outsourcing over the last 10 years especially. It works both ways. I would think a Transcriptionist looking for work would find you a bit on the pristine side. All of us MTs want is just to work. I just left a national company because there was NO WORK for over a month. At least 30-40 other MTs left this company and went to a smaller company because of the work readily available to them. Take it down a notch, Sandy.
Only to employees
.
New employees on it?
I've only had that happen when new employees aren't following the account specs...and sometimes when it first does a new "upgrade" on the docs.
They don't have any employees, just ICs...sm
And I have been on that account longer than any other transcriptionists there. Usually they said what they do is take the jobs that come in on that account and divide them between the MTs. So I don't know. These docs have a bad habit of not dictating daily. Sometimes they will wait till they absolutely have to dictate and then BAM hit you with a load.
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!
Do any Med-Quist employees
know whatever happened to Mark Forstein?  He used to be the president of Transcriptions, Ltd. before it was bought out by MedQuist.  He was Dave Cohen's cousin, I believe.
Go for it. HR needs to know if their employees are being "threatened". (sm)

They are having to offer huge bonuses to entice new employees, I don't think they would want their current employees walking because someone has no tact or ability to communicate with others. 


Hope things are better today for you all.


 


 


How do you MQ employees manage
to get in your 1200 lines in only 8 hours? I am having a dickens of a time, lots of ESLs, new account, etc. Just how do you do it? I figure it will take me 12 hours! Do you ask them to approve OT or what? I'm new at this, need to know. Have to have that insurance.
Any other SS employees not received their..
paycheck? I am not looking to start anything, just wondering if I am the only one who hasn't gotten paid yet?
The prison's employees
Pardon my ignorance. I'm still confused. What does the prison system have to do with transcription?  Why would the prison system hire transcriptionists to work in a facility as a transcriptionist??
For any Transcend employees (not ICs)..
Can you tell me if the hours are flexible at Transcend for full time employees?  I think instead of being an IC (I don't want to worry about taxes, being audited, etc.) I would like to be a full time employee; however, I'm in school too and need flexible hours and can't commit to a strict schedule - I need to be able to have more flexibility as my hours are different every semester.  Thanks for any help.
They have to be using overseas employees...sm
So remind her that  while they claim HIPAA compliance, truth of the matter is that  once the records leave the US soil there's really no protection.
I wonder if it applies to ICs or only employees?
I make a whole $9 -$14 an hour depending on the work, sometimes less of course when I get someone really bad.
They rotate employees so that no one
She should have reported those who were not doing very well.

The more times you use them, the lower their rates. I used to have MM come in 3 days a week and it was more than reasonable. Each time they came, one room received a deep cleaning. I loved them.

They are bonded, licensed, and insured. They provided ALL of their own cleaning supplies, didn't use mine. If they were injured in my home, they paid their own medical bills. If something was broken or stolen, MM reimbursed it.

Your friend's private keeper probably has none of that. If the keeper falls on a wet floor, etc., she will have to pay for her keeper's medical bills. If anything gets broken or stolen, she will have to file it on her homeowners.

Plus, with MM, you just write that check out and they pay all the taxes.

Your friend's private keeper probably isn't having any of the income appropriately reported and both the keeper and your friend could be in trouble.

LOL
Yes you can deduct it. Employees get

the same deductions many ICs do particularly since so many companies do not pay for large office space any longer, power, etc.  If you have any question at all about how to do it, ask your accountant but Turbo Tax walked me through it last year and this year too.  It used to be that they did not ask, but now they do and you can deduct your office based on the size of it and the mortgage etc. 


What many offices used to have now belongs to us that work at home and yes, we get that benefit because the offices definitely cannot legally deduct for this. Some companies reimburse for your internet.  Oh whoopie.  Less are providing equipment.  So now we do get to do a whole lot as employees because the costs of these necessities for work have been placed on us by cheap employers who try to get by with as little expense as possible.


 


ICs -- are you being treated like employees? (sm)
I filed IRS form SS-8, and boy did I get results!!

It took months. I had to fill out the very detailed form describing my work situation. The IRS then notified the MTSO and had them fill out the form. I just received the ruling that I was in fact an employee, so the MTSO now has to pay back taxes and penalties!!

It feels so good when something works the way it should, doesn't it?
Are you hiring employees or
In my opinion, independent contractor means you can take the work or you can refuse the work.  If you are employing these MTs, then that gives you the right to dictate statements like "work first then play".  Set schedules and hours are for employees and not ICs.  That is where the trouble starts in this profession.  Small MTSOs want ICs that ACT LIKE EMPLOYEES.  Well if that is disappointing to you as an MTSO owner, then so is only making 8 cpl and then having to make a 24-hour turnaround and be at the mercy of the MTSO.  JMO.       I save this kind of dedication for accounts that I have sought out myself (making 13 cpl) not working for an MTSO that only pays a small wage and wants a whole lot in return.       
that's correct, MQ's BOS is for MQ employees
x
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.
then you need to hire employees ... sm
If you need someone to adhere to a strict schedule then you need to hire employees and pay their SS.  I am finding that more and more employers want the best of both world.  They want to pay like an IC and treat like an employee.  Why MTs are putting up with this is beyond me.  If they report the "employers" to the IRS they can be held liable for back taxes. 
maybe...depends on how many other employees
there are on the IM. It may be that others are bugging them constantly.

Do y'all use email for backup communications? It would seem sensible to me to use IM for things that need "now" attention and email for "later" stuff. Can you do that maybe?
at home employees
Several years ago when I had employees working at home, I was told if I required them to work a certain amount, I had to provide benefits. I was such a small businees, I never asked anything other than for the work to be done. I couldn't afford any benefits even for myself. I work for another company now. Hope this helps.
what the other employees get we dont
Full time employees at the hospital have earned time off, sick time, holiday pay, yearly raises, cost of living raises, and insurance. We only get the insurance and have to meet a qouta to keep the insurance every two weeks. Im just trying to find out what we are entitled to as a full time employee because they are really asking alot of us lately that employees at the hospital would be getting compensated at a higher rate for.
employees w/o timeclocks
just hop on for a few minutes outside your shift to get a few lines? or do you type strictly within your shift hours?
Sorry, but where I work new employees are given
2 weeks at hourly, and then put on straight production. If you are not meeting goal within a month you are let go as they have no PT and to be FT you have to be meeting the minimum.