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

40-hour week definition - MT

Posted: Nov 09, 2010

I work in the medical transcription industry. My employer is in TN. We are required to work 40 hours per week, and we are paid on the basis of lines of dictation we transcribe per day. Many days there is not enough work during a shift (a shift given us by our employer) to complete our 8 hours of work. This means that in order to comply with company request, we have to work 2 to 3 hours at night to complete our 40 hours, even though we have sat at our desks and continually checked to see if there is work in the hospital systems. If not, our platform times us out after about 10 minutes. This way we are working, on hold checking for work, but we are always informed that we must continue to work until we have 8 hours for a day. In some cases, this could take an extra 4 hours of work outside our shift to complete this request. Is this legal? Thanks for your time.

Probably not but (sm) - Long time MT

[ In Reply To ..]
Unless you report them to the Federal Wage and Hour Board, who will investigate, they will keep getting away with this sort of thing. The MT companies only get away with what we LET them get away with.

I was in that situation for months on end. - See Message

[ In Reply To ..]
I was actually looking for work for 14 hours a day, having to work nights and weekends in addition to my shift. When I contacted the Labor Board in my state they did tell me it was illegal. They said it was like asking a shoe sales clerk to clock out if there were no customers in the store. When I told my employer that I wanted to bring in a third party on this because I just could not do it any longer, I was promptly laid off. Since that time, I absolutely refuse to do that anymore. I do not mind a little flexing here and there, but if you do not have enough work to constitute a full time job for me, I am gone. When we run low at my company (smaller) around the holidays or bad weather, this down time is forgiven and they are reasonable about it.

I know exactly what you are speaking of though. I went through it for a very long time. I even asked that I be placed on another account where there was work. Nothing doing. I did not want to continue to give them unlimited time, not to mention that my income suffered greatly. They were the ones who over-hired in the first place. I did not quit because I had a lot invested as far as benefits and 4 weeks PTO. I was paid a nice severance package, and was granted UE without question, so I took my time and found the perfect fit for me. Hope you can do the same.

It is a total shame that this practice takes place at many companies. No work means no work and there is nothing the MT can do about that. What do they do about your full time status? You're part time and then you're not, part time and then not? You have benefits and then you don't, benefits again and then you don't. You have PTO and then you don't? BTW, I absolutely refused to use my PTO for those days when there was no work!!! Never!!! You need a company who does not play with people's lives like that.

Well said!!! We all really should stand up to these companies who - shortcake

[ In Reply To ..]
expect us to be available 24/7 even though we have to adhere to a schedule. I'm only PT but find myself sometimes struggling to make my line count during my shift. If the hit in the pocket is bad enough, the stress if you have something else going on after your shift will really kill you. There is power in numbers, and we are all alone in our home offices not being able to really communicate with coworkers and express our concerns for being treated unreasonably as a group and therefore we, with good reason, are afraid we will lose our jobs if we step up. I so agree with your post....

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