A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

Can someone explain to me how it's legal for them - sm

Posted: Aug 23, 2013

to REQUIRE us to make up hours when they don't have work available during our scheduled shifts? How can they take away the option of taking off without pay when they haven't provided any work during our shift? That's like requiring us to be on 24/7 call for free to try to get our hours in when work is low. HOW IS THAT LEGAL?

This is about my last straw. I have a life outside of MT. I can't - sm

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sit here day in and day out trying to make up hours because there was NJA during my shift. It seems like that would violate labor laws.

Though you'd have more work now that I and others were fired - Laid off Thurs

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So, really? Still NJA going on? That is scarey. Thought other people would have more work with all the layoffs. And I totally agree that you should not have to sit around all day waiting for work. I thought Nuance was or is being sued for that reason, a class action suit....read something on the Internet. Forget what I was goggling...actually I think I searched "MModal sucks" and then came upon that.

When MTs are laid off, their work is then sent - to INDIAN, not American, MTs.

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They - are

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doing that so if you do not make up hours and they can take your benefits away and/or get rid of you for not doing your 40 hours.

Simple answer - Alice

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It isn't legal! I don't have the link to the Department of Labor website right now, but they are supposed to pay you minimum wage for any hours you work or are required to work. I believe that is called "being engaged to wait." While the DOL doesn't have rules for how a company administers benefits, I'm sure there's a rule against requiring you to be on call 24/7. There might even be some overtime rules attached to that scenario.

I wish it were so that anyone working under those conditions would feel comfortable just quitting and refusing to put up with it. However, I understand that's easier said than done. Unfortunate and very, very sad.

Call - it

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what you want. If this goes into effect, you wait and see that people will start losing their benefits if they don't work 40 hours and start getting let go due to not working 40 hours. I'm not real confident in labor laws since they pretty much say a company can do what it wants to its workers, so we shall see. I'll let you know, cause I for one won't work 24/7. Sure they want you to quit, but I'm not.

So isn't this basically a "forced" reduction in hours - since it has to be known that

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there is going to be no possibly way that those hired to work FT and who have benefits will not have enough work to meet the benefit requirement. They really need to spell out what exactly will happen when work is not available to make up, which they conveniently leave out.

All these layoffs and now this work availability policy is clearly in anticipation of the Obamacare changes coming up in 2014.

I wonder how much they pay the team that came up with this plan. Truly sad and MModal should be ashamed of themselves.

Here - we

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go again with the Obamacare thing. This has nothing to do with Obamacare and everything to do with sending all the work to India.

You are wrong. The next round of changes to take - place in 2014 are clearly being addressed

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with ths policy and recent layoffs. Taking away the option for unpaid, no work, guarantees that your documented timeclock hours will now without a question be reduced, thus, relieving them of their duty under the new insurance changes set to take place in a few months. India is nothing more than their backup plan in all of this.

The plan to send the majority of work offshore was set in motion - looong before Obama. NM

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x

I'm - not

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going to argue with you. You believe what you want, but I, along with many others who have been here a long time, know better. This would be happening with or without Obamacare.

It would but not to this degree and this quckly. They are - running out of time. The changes

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and expense that will come with the changes are coming at them quickly.

In the townhall meeting, they said that - sm

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the way our health insurance is now, Obamacare will have no effect whatsoever on us. They are already in compliance.

Yes currently in compliance by offering with the hours worked - but now looking to reduce those hours so as to

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not have to offer/cover so many employees as required under the guidelines. Either you don't carry insurance here, or you aren't following the changes to take effect, I'm not sure, but these changes are clearly taking place with these changes in mind.

I am - quite

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aware of the changes taking effect, but also know this has nothing to do with this company doing what they can to eliminate US jobs and send more to India. They are merely trying to be creative in ways to eliminate us. If your logic was true, even though I know it isn't, why are they mostly laying off part time employees? Wouldn't they be laying off more full time employees? I'm actually sure they don't want to pay benefits to people who can only manage to get a few hours in a day, but it has nothing to do with Obamacare. They want people to get mad and quit so they can deny unemployment, though ones I have heard have fought and won anyway. It is all about the same plan they have had for many years to offshore most, if not all, the work to India and now the Philippines.

Wow - you

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must be one of those people that is not in tune with how this company works. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH OBAMACARE!

No kidding... - nm

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x

none so blind as those not willing to see - nuf said

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Nm

Obamacare - FT/MT

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She is right. It has everything to do with Obamacare. You are the one who needs to open her eyes and very widely! MModal is self insured and even though I don't myself understand all the ins and outs, I do know one thing, if our employment continues as is, it will cost MModal a fortune in penalities.

They don't provide insurance for PTers anyway, which is who they've - been laying off. NM

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x

Okay - you

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believe what you want. I'm not saying anything else. Most of us that have been here for years know what is going on, so you go ahead and blame it on Obamacare.

Have a good day. I'm going to go enjoy the rest of my day since I ran out of work after a couple hours of my shift and there is tons of work in India.

Are you new here? This has been a growing problem for years and years. - sm

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For the last decade, it has been no secret that they are trying to send as much work as possible to India and the Philippines to maximize corporate profits. Obamacare has nothing to do with this. This is pure corporate greed and not caring about their employees IMHO. I don't think they're taking into consideration that India has plenty of supervisors and CEOs and upper management, so they won't be needed either when enough of our work is in India. JMHO of course...

Our former coworkers having been filing for TAA - sm

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since the Bush years. This isn't a new problem that just started because of Obamacare. This has been their plan for many, many years and has been in the works, slowly dwindling our US work force over the last decade and increasing it overseas.

Amen. This is nothing new, just escalating as planned. - nm

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x

My understanding is this new policy is really putting - in writing that you will be required to sit for

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hours UNPAID waiting and trying to get enough work so as not to lose your benefits.

Was this really smart on their part? Also, it would seem they have opened the door to supporting unemployment claims for reduced earnings with this.

When you are hired on as a FT employee but with a written policy in place that essentially is telling you that that schedule really means nothing and you will be required to sit and sit (unpaid,of course)to catch enough work to meet the 40 hours - how is that legal from a dept of labor standpoint? Wouldn't a lawyer have a field day with this one? I'm just surprised they had the gall to actually put the policy in writing.

I agree. Maybe they laid off their legal department as well. Not smart. - nm

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x

Yes - basically

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that is what they did. They don't want to pay benefits to people who are not putting in their 40, so they are holding people hostage for their benefits. As far as the Department of Labor, good luck with that, though someone may want to look into it. I for one have been on partial unemployment for a long time, am starting school through TAA in a few weeks, will get UE/TAA through my time in school, and really don't have the care to do anything with this company anymore.

Many people now and previously tried to get organized and do something and nobody wanted to, saying things like "I'll take your work if you strike," or "A union won't help." Many have fought too long, and I am doing what I have to do now. I just hope nobody works 24/7 and applies for UE instead and TAA. You might lose your benefits, but TAA will help with that. There is not enough work for everybody, as it is too late and it is slowly all going to India, and you need to get going on your other options.

You can still use PTO - Full timer

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They have not taken that option away yet and honestly who can afford to take the day unpaid anyway?

As a full timer I was told that as long as I had a work availability ticket for the week I did not have to hit 39 hours to keep my benefits.

but can't accrue PTO if you don't work....nm - SOSDD

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nm

why - would

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you use PT time for not having work? Don't do it. File for UE and TAA.

Because I make more on PTO than on UE - Full timer

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I also make more working than I do on PTO or UE. UE only pays about $300 a week in my state. I can't afford to take UE and I am already back in school without TAA.

Well - that is

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certainly up to you. You should still file for partial UE and TAA so when you run out of PT time you'll have something to fall back on. This isn't going away. You will find yourself with less and less work. I'm not going to pay for school on my own, I'll let TAA pay for it. I'm not lazy and a government leach, but I also didn't ask for my job to be sent to India. Frankly, I think the company should be paying all the TAA benefits instead of our tax dollars. I bet that would stop these companies from sending work overseas.

Ohio Dept of Labor - Waiting Time - Ex-Medquist

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Waiting Time:
Whether waiting time is hours worked under the Act depends upon the particular circumstances. Generally, the facts may show that the employee was engaged to wait (which is work time) or the facts may show that the employee was waiting to be
engaged (which is not work time). For example, a secretary who reads a book while waiting for dictation or
a fireman who plays checkers while waiting for an alarm is working during such periods of inactivity. These employees have been "engaged to wait."

it's not legal - sm

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It never hurts to call the Department of Labor. Outsourced workers like us don't have employment and labor posters on the walls of our restrooms. The MTSO uses this to their advantage.

These companies are skirting labor laws with smoke and mirrors, and they know it: It's pretty obvious that every time it's about to catch up with them, they just rewrite the rules.

And let's face it. They're in the catbird seat. They can argue that the MT earned below minimum wage because they didn't produce/didn't work their shift/didn't complete the day. In this way, they avoid accountability for tying people to a desk for 8 hours to earn $24.00.

You should check with Dept of Labor ASAP. - Stringing you along is to their benefit...

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The amount you can collect for UE is based on your previous wages, and the lower your wages are the less they pay in UE benefits.

I feel like MM is, first, trying to force people to quit w/the way they treat US MT's (and probably snickering about how much crap we will take) to save themselves $, and second trying to drive wages down w/software issues, impossible accuracy standards and self-serving policies so those that do hang in there end up w/a pittance for wages and don't cost as much when they are ultimately laid off, fired or tap into their UE benefits.

They can say... - avoid accountability

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Aren't people keeping track and documenting when they are getting NJA and they are available and waiting? MTSOs shouldn't be getting away with it and can't get away with it if we don't let them.

exactly; I agree - nm

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Be careful with the DOL though... - ???

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I called the DOL in both the state I live in and the one for the MTSO I worked for at that time about unpaid wages. Through my research, I found out that as an IC then that if I was not making at least min wage/hr then that MTSO had to pay it, so I filed a claim. Never got another penny. Why? Because I couldn't "prove" I was at my desk 40 hours (or more) a week and not just off doing something else. Go ahead and still contact the DOL but just be careful. I documented all hours, all lines, all reports, calculated my $/hr and sent everything, kept copies. I did everything "right" and still was told basically nope, sorry, no one sees you working at home so they can't vouch for you being at your desk all day. Thanks for the help! NOT.

BTW, this was in 2009/2010 with the FL DOL.

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