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Can anyone explain the situation when you are OOW - you get minimum wage?


Posted: Mar 05, 2014

Every week on certain days there is no work so I am having to flex flex flex PTO PTO until all used up, etc.

I have read of some of you getting minimum wage due to OOW, can someone tell me how to achieve that? I am so fed up with this. I am pretty much out of PTO and don't want to use it for this anymore.

I work a second job because my pay has been halved with Nuance, yet I still have to also work around the clock just to get my hours in with Nuance.

I think we all know if this were a real job in an office and there were no work that would be their problem, not ours, yet here it is, our problem. Not TSMs, not QA/QC, but MTs. And the TSMs and QA people do NOT get their pay cut if they make a mistake either like we do.

So if there is a way to get minimum wage for the many hours you are sitting in front of the computer waiting for a job to drop off and everyone scramble for it, please instruct us and maybe we can all do it at once.

When they say you don't have to use PTO, what they really mean is you won't get paid if you don't use PTO, which I can't afford since they've cut my pay so much already.

Also, I wonder what happens to the rate you get paid when you take PTO if you are in a MUP situation, which I imagine if you are signed in for hours with no work your lph would go way low, so is that why OOW is considered a MUP situation?

But then if you took PTO your hourly rate would go way down and you'd probably only get minimum wage anyway, am I right?

This is why I have always tried to flex and use PTO, but I am just about at the end of my rope and I need every cent, as low as my pay is, so if anyone can provide any experience with this, help trying to get justice here, please do so.

Could you file partial UE? - hmm

[ In Reply To ..]
That's the only thing I can think of is to try to file partial unemployment for any pay less than minimum wage per hour for your total hours worked. Also file a complaint with the Dept of Labor. Maybe if enough MTs do that, "something" will change.

I think the real problem is - I do not want minimum wage

[ In Reply To ..]
The only reason is I am so sick of having no work and sitting here for hours trying to make 40 hours, but of course I would rather have 40 hours of actual work, but remaining logged in with no work is definitely a no-no I have been told.

Do you know if they are informed who complained against them if you file the DOL complaint? Since they have made it crystal clear to me I am one of many worker bees and not very valuable to them, and as bad as this job is, I do need it, this gives me pause.

I believe a DOL complaint is anonymous. I did it against an ex-MTSO and never heard a peep from them - but I lost n/m

[ In Reply To ..]
x

Partial UE has nothing to do with min wage. You can - apply for weeks when work is low

[ In Reply To ..]
or nonexistent and your earnings are lower.

OOW - Craig

[ In Reply To ..]
Since working at home (about 5 years), and with Nuance (about 2 years), I have yet to have a full week of vacation. My PTO is withered away with OOW situations, so I sympathize. However, I was told there was nothing that can be done about OOW other than try and make up the hours.


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