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Nuance and lawsuit - wiseoldwoman
Posted: May 20, 2012
If you don't wish to hear anything further about the lawsuit, please stop reading now.
For those of you still here, it is my understanding that Nuance has used the same tactics as Transcend -- asking you to alter your time cards, reviewing your QA on your own time, "hands-only on the keyboard," etc.
If this is the case, PLEASE contact the attorneys that are assisting the 'Grand 13.' You have a case as well and do NOT let this opportunity pass by to make your statement loud and clear!
Your understanding is incorrect. I am a current employee - of Nuance. No altering of time cards...yet. nm
[ In Reply To ..]n/m
incorrect - wiseoldwoman
[ In Reply To ..]I do believe you're a fortunate one, then, because I have heard this from a Nuance employee. Good on you if you've not had the "pleasure."
Looks like I'm not the only one now. Sounds like the - "other employee at Nuance" is trying
[ In Reply To ..]to stir the pot or is in the minority at Nuance. As others have said, there is no time card altering going on at Nuance. Haven't been there a long time but long enough to clock in and out every day with actual time worked whether it be typing, editing, researching or adding to my shorthand macros. Not once have I been asked to cheat on it or reduce it so that it agrees with my production for that day (like Transcend does).
I have no idea if there is a case, but you can only - work on the time clock if you are
[ In Reply To ..]typing on a report, and you are logged out if typing stops for a certain period (15 mins?). There is no on-the-clock option for necessary miscellaneous employee tasks, such as reviewing QA evaluations, reviewing and approving company-kept time records (as officially required), reading and answering e-mails, reviewing client and company specifications, reviewing new training modules, working with tech support, and so on.
A significant time issue is actually expander development. An MT/ME simply cannot be competent these days (unless a phenom typist) without extensive use of an expander, which are still purchased as blank slates and developed personally.
Line rates are calibrated to the reality that we should be using them to greatly increase our speed--and that many are and have increased their speed considerably with them. HOWEVER, they require continual development, with entries made as we work. Or, as a previous supervisor suggested, writing them down and entering them after hours--no answer at all because it would be outrageously time consuming. There have also been other statements that time should not be taken away from work to tend to expanders.
Again, line rates these days are based on expander use, but both officially and unofficially they do not cover this Catch-22 of our work: That we have to develop them but must consume significant work time doing it.
I'm not sure what should be done about this, other than bringing line rates up, because my expander is my own asset and I won't consider anything that would allow a company to claim ownership OR control, but for sure we should not be penalized for time spent on what they themselves consider necessary work. We should be able to claim a reasonable amount of time for this task on our time cards if we need.
Perhaps the answer is that we should be lobbying for a law requiring a BASE HOURLY PAY for everyone who gets paid on production, with production pay on top of that.
OMG, stop calling yourselves GRAND! - you all are just MTs like everyone else
[ In Reply To ..]Get over yourselves already, this is so old.
Agreed. Smacks of self-righteousness. - nm
[ In Reply To ..]nm
Funny, so do your posts. - Pot vs Kettle
[ In Reply To ..]
Grand? - wiseoldwoman
[ In Reply To ..]I did not refer to anyone as grand. Do not put words in my mouth that I did not utter.
Your original post clearly says "Grand 13" - nm
[ In Reply To ..]nm
learn to read, please - wiseoldwoman
[ In Reply To ..]My OP merely said to contact the attorneys assisting the 'Grand 13.' I did not coin that phrase.
As for employees at Nuance experiencing timecard altering, I DO believe it is going on. If they choose not to ID themselves or come out of the woodwork, so be it. Just offering options is all. You're free to disagree all you would like but sometimes, as the quote says, "thou protesteth too much."
Did not say you coined the phrase. Said you used it. - sm
[ In Reply To ..]And you did.
Also, the correct quote is, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks."
From Hamlet. Act 3.
Learn to read, please.
So what? Why does it upset you so much? As an - MT, dont you have bigger things to - sm
[ In Reply To ..]worry about? Like how small your next paycheck is going to be? About paying the rent or mortgage AND keeping the utilities turned on for another month? About whether you'll have any work this week? About how much of your pay that you should have earned was stolen?
Who really cares what the 13 MTs who had the guts to stand up to Transcend are called? Their actions are what matter, not some dumb catch-phrase.
Oh, for goodness sake. Stick to the issues, this - is petty diversion NM
[ In Reply To ..]x
I am very grateful for what the 13 MTs have done, - but I cringe when I hear grand, too. nm
[ In Reply To ..]nm
Nuance and lawsuit - anon
[ In Reply To ..]There is no altering of time cards. I know nothing about the "hands-only on the keyboard" statement. Yes, you are asked to review your work in FIESA, but a little time invested to make sure you put out a good product is worth a few minutes. Plus, this is a way to challenge if you feel you were incorrectly scored. I have been with Nuance for 4 years, so I guess I should know.
What in the heck do you mean by "hands-only on the keyboard"? - Nuance MT
[ In Reply To ..]What else am I going to put on the keyboard? My toes?
No one has ever asked me to alter my timecard.
GOOD REPLY - Haha
[ In Reply To ..]LMAO!
Smug and uninformed, you won't be laughing when THAT paycheck arrives. - NoLongerAnon
[ In Reply To ..]eScription, MModal, ChartNet, DocQScribe: All are equipped to time-stamp MT/Editor keystrokes by ID, as well as idle keyboard time. The software can even track whether or not editors are using the shortcut keys, and if so, how often.
Your obtuse remark is understandable. Children generally laugh at that which they cannot comprehend.
Guess you're the kind that has to be schooled the hard way.
The part about the shortcut keys is true..... - mt2
[ In Reply To ..]When you check your line counts, at the bottom it will say "Use Alt-whatever for faster whatever" I don't care if I Alt-EVERYTHING. You can only go as fast as the speaker allows intelligibly, meaning you can't rush through reports without making mistakes.
You must be VERY fast. Most of us need all the tricks we can get to - keep up with speeded-up dictation.SM
[ In Reply To ..]I, for one, do use whole bunches of them, company's and my own, to "rush through reports" and do still earn incentive pay (so far).
WMX used to publish our readouts so we could see how - much we were using various tools or
[ In Reply To ..]how much time spent not typing, etc. There were I don't know how many columns--a bunch; you had to scroll right and right again to see them all. This information was passed on to us so we could see where we were doing well and where we needed to improve to speed up. Since they did that for everyone, we could also compare ourselves with what everyone else was doing--very valuable.
In any case, all our keystrokes and our time use ARE analyzed by the computer in some way and information for each of us compiled on a screen, or various screens for groups of us, in various categories for various purposes in various departments, that tell anyone interested what we're doing, how we're doing it, what we're not doing, what's not working well.
Although they can't tell that someone likes to keep an eye on a favorite TV show and stop for the good parts, they could certainly pick up a pattern of stop-and-go keyboarding each afternoon Monday-Friday from 2 to 3.
I ignore all that keystroke-spying garbage. It's a - big time-waster. I use my own macros.
[ In Reply To ..]I just wish that, instead of the company wasting so much of their money on all that useless, fancy software, they had instead used some of that money to pay us more fairly.
That "useless, fancy software" is developed for company use - for informed decisions, not clueless flailing. NM
[ In Reply To ..]x
It means they think using the mouse slows us down, - which they try to translate into - sm
[ In Reply To ..]less money for THEM! Although that may be true for some MTs, it's not true for all. I find trying to memorize and/or find hot keys to be slower than using the mouse and cursor, especially if I have to make multiple moves in short order. It's just one more attempt at micromanaging that MTs could do without.
Also, in some cases the MTSO spyware senses if an MT stops typing for a few minutes. Often this is to Google a phrase, use our reference books, or wade through a plethora of job description minutia. Some of them would like us to clock out while researching, because they don't want research time factoring into our timesheet hours listed. The problem is, even though they don't want to pay us for it, research is PART OF THE JOB.
The rabble-rousing continues - Le Sigh
[ In Reply To ..]Do you people not even take Sunday off? Geesh...Looks like you may have been off the target with Nuance, though. Perhaps you all should spend a little more time researching to ensure you have a valid point before firing off a post?
Just sayin...
point - wiseoldwoman
[ In Reply To ..]I understand why you would feel the need to defend Nuisance -- just remember these posts when the foundations begin shaking beneath you.
Just sayin.....
THEN QUIT !! - Why sit here and cause trouble?
[ In Reply To ..]Unreal! You think because these 13 are involved in a lawsuit, you want to sit here and stir the pot.
You MTs are unreal!
Rabble rouse themselves. Scum doesn't need help - rising to the top. Certainly not here. NM
[ In Reply To ..]x
Nuance/Wmx side - anon
[ In Reply To ..]They have 2 time clocks to punch in and it is difficult but there has not been the problem with them altering the time cards for me or my friends, so that is not an issue. They WILL give you a warning and then terminate you if you fail to make minimum wage though.
I have since left but it was due to dealing with alpha staff for benefits with contradictory e-mails, difficulty contacting the correct person, as well as no clear communication regarding policies, nothing written down that we could review. An e-mail would come with a new policy or comment, and that would be followed by usually up to 10 more e-mails with corrections to the initial e-mail or amendments. Drove me nuts!! And don't get me started on the I9 fiasco, going 3 times to try to satisfy them with their ever changing requirements on this. I really hope they have learned something from this and it will go smoother for Transcenders.
Then the e-mail about our quality requirements of 99% obviously written by one of our India partners with English syntax errors and outright grammatical errors peppered throughout. That was the final straw for me.
I am not sure they have broken any labor laws BUT they require reading all of these e-mails and reviewing our Fiesa records on our own time. If it were a few e-mails no big problem, but there are a lot of conflicting e-mails to sort through. These are issues that they could correct with better management and I hope they do!
I also work for nuance and this is how i see things - anon
[ In Reply To ..]no, we are not asked to lie about our hours, BUT, when I sit here for 8 hours a week with no work and then have to make up those 8 hours during my off time, that is not fair. We don't get paid for that. If you were in an office setting and went to work and there was no work, you would be sent home. You would not be required to come back once an hour throughout the day to see if there is any work, so why should we be chained to our desks when there is no work? I read this somewhere and completely agree with it:
"In the medical transcription industry, where transcription platforms can be used to track the actual time on the keyboard, it�s tempting to use that as a measure of actual time spent working. However, using keyboard time disregards all other activities, such as research, phone calls related to business, and computer down time. And let�s face it: if someone wants to game the system, they can game the system. Nothing is foolproof. The essential components of successful telecommuting are a clear contract and trust. At some point, companies need to trust the people who are telecommuting to report their time accurately and to be as productive as possible when they are on the clock. Does that mean an MT is going to spend 8 full hours with hands on the keyboard (assuming there are enough jobs in the system)? No, it doesn�t. But that doesn�t mean the MT isn�t giving full value to the employer. Even in an office setting, people take breaks. They go to the bathroom, they get something to eat or drink (even if they bring it back to their desk). Nobody, in any setting, is at their desk and working for 8 hours a day and it isn�t reasonable to expect to compensate anyone only for the amount of time they are; otherwise, there�d be a lot of office workers taking a big cut in pay, and they�d be as unhappy about it as MTs have been."
it also isn't fair to say we're "stirring the pot" sm - anon
[ In Reply To ..]If you don't think you are worth more than what they are shelling out, that's your insecurity as an MT, but I have been doing this for 14 years and in the last 5 years I have lost 20K in wages per year. This is unacceptable. We don't work in a third world country in a sweat shop. I would like a life outside of sitting at this desk 11 hours a day just to make a measly 80 bucks. I'm sure my daughter would appreciate that too. I didn't go to college to make 7 bucks an hour 14 years into what I thought was going to be my career. We're supposed to be going UP the ladder, not down. The corporations just keep taking and taking from us little people. If you want to stand for it, fine, but don't stir THAT pot with us who feel we are worth more than pennies.
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