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

How to calculate what you don't get paid for - wheres_my_job

Posted: May 29, 2012

If you want to keep track of the dollar amount you are NOT getting paid, here are some benchmarks - if you think the amount I'm using for 65-VBC line is off, let me know what you think is proper amount. 1. Not paid for visible black characters physically typed in by transcriptionist in headers, footers and pend notes: $0.08 per 65 VBC line. Example: Typing in address/fax/phone in health care provider database: Jane Doe, MD 1313 Mockingbird Lane Fresno, CA 54003 545-778-4321 545-778-4322 Visible black characters, no spaces: 67 2. Not paid for visible black characters in headers, footers and pend notes verified through database search and/or Internet search by transcriptionist : $0.04 per 65-VBC line; 4. Not paid for VBC's in account specifications and emails [though supervisors use different colored fonts in emails]: $0.01 per 65-VBC line.

I don't - understand

[ In Reply To ..]
fully what you are asking here and do think it is an important question and that you are on exactly the right track. Can you make it clearer?

I also suggest that EVERYONE at Medquist, Nuance, Softscript and other off their rockers employers document EVERY SINGLE last minute you work and are not paid and specifically what you were doing during those periods. Attending meetings, filling out timesheets, checking email, et cetera and track your line counts down to the detail

The 65 visible black character line is UNIT of measure - wheres_my_job

[ In Reply To ..]
that's what we're getting paid in - because the bigwigs got together and decided that was the most accurate, or standardized way to measure what we do, which in turn determines what we are paid.

I'm saying - think about it - how can you translate emails, headers, footers and pend notes into the industry standard - the 65 visible black characters?

It's how we are getting paid (most of us) - don't emails consist of visible black characters (unless you have silly supervisors who like to play with fonts in emails you aren't getting paid to read) - what do headers and footers consist of? When you do unpaid data entry, what are entering in - you are keying in visible black characters.

That's how they pay us - so they need to pay us for ALL visible black characters we manipulate in order to "reproduce and maintain" documents - their terminology - add those addresses up in the headers - believe or not, you can get to one 65-VBC line with ONE address. See how it adds up? It's "straight typing." Multiply these 65 VBCs we're not getting paid for, by 100s of employees - that can get to be quite a chunk of change.

I actually think it should be more like 10 or 12 cents a line for adding addresses into a database. There should be a differential for ANYTHING that takes us out of the main body of a document - I mean, even if you do a search - you've got to TYPE IN THE PATIENT'S NAME - or at least the first few letters - those ALL need to be included in our total of 65 VBC lines that we get paid by - as straight typing, NOT VR. Again, I would say for the frickin' hassle and productivity-decreasing effect that such data entry causes, you should get MORE than 8 cents a line for header/footer/pend note VBCs.

We also do not get paid for cc's. - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
We may be requested to enter up to 8 copies on a note/letter, none of which is paid for. As well, if we have to actually look up any of those physicians to be entered because they are not in the database, we do not get paid for that either, but it is a required part of our job.

Some companies have you enter "canned or normal" text, which you do not get paid for, but it needs to be part of the report. That would be fine, except do you think the MTSO gets paid for those lines?

That's why I'm filing a complaint - wheres_my_job

[ In Reply To ..]
amazingly enough, the statue of limitations in these matters (at least the state my company's in), is 2 years. Yes, you have TWO WHOLE YEARS to get your complaint to the Labor Standards Board together - the company may then be required to pay back pay AND a fine for each instance - now that's what I want to hear!

If I were you, I would start keeping track of all your cc's - you can "guesstimate" the number of characters by making up some fake addresses of various lengths, so you can eyeball how many characters, you know, a 30 character address versus a 65 character address (some of those addresses are pretty long!)

Good luck on getting the pay you deserve.

We get paid for less and less - Texas

[ In Reply To ..]
We don't get paid for any information we enter such as names, social security numbers, account numbers, cc's, addresses to send copies to, etc. It takes time to enter all of that and it's for free.....

That's my whole point - wheres_my_job

[ In Reply To ..]
Start keeping track, for say a 3-month period...then file a complaint with the Labor Standards Bureau of the state your company is in.

Explain that the industry standard (you can google it) is to pay based on the 65 "visible black character" line. Well, all those addresses we input, pend notes, patient demographics we do searches on - they all involve VISIBLE BLACK CHARACTERS that WE are inputting. Therefore, we must be paid for ALL VISIBLE BLACK CHARACTERS we manipulate - so start keeping track, and let the Labor Standards Bureau know. If you type in "rob" (3 visible black chracters) in order to look up a doc's last name, and then you type in "wrob" (4 visible black characters) to try and figure out that name you need, you need to get paid for those 7 visible black characters - by the industry standard THEY THEMSELVES DECIDED UPON!!!!!

7 characters here, 35 there, 18 here, 22 there...all day long...day after day week after week year after year....multiplied by thousands of MTs - just think of how much money that is going to the MTSO AND NOT THE MT!

Anyway, my complaint is almost done, I'll be turning it in on my dad's birthday!!! Tons of fun!!!! Happy birthday dad!!!

ok i get - where you

[ In Reply To ..]
are coming from now. I agree with you. You are coming at it from a different perspective than I have been. I have tracked time spent on email and it adds up. I will think about whether your idea that emails s/b translated to VBC is the way to go or not. I hadn't thought of that just that the time should be compensated and I know exactly how much time I've spent on email and all other tasks. I encourage everyone else regardless of where you work to keep track. Be the change that you want to see in the world as they say

They should be required to pay - Angie

[ In Reply To ..]
There should be a standard program used to calculate ALL keystrokes, no matter where they are used, email, commands, editing, spreadsheets, timecards, URLs to research, etc. That is easy and the only fair way to pay. OR, if we only get paid for VBCs, that is all we should provide (no research, email, spreadsheets, lists, etc).

Won't the time clock requirement screw them in the end? - Angie

[ In Reply To ..]
Easy complaint to the labor board: Just subpeona the time clock for what you should be paid for your time.

Time clock isn't enough - wheres_my_job

[ In Reply To ..]
People are saying, they are paid below minimum wage, based on the true number of hours they work, versus the falsified time card.

Okay fine, then what happens? People start putting down the true number of hours - the pay gets bumped up to MINIMUM WAGE - still not fair to the employee.

Meaning, since when does being an MT, a knowledge worker job, requiring "domain knowledge" (THEIR terminology) pay less than a host/hostess in a restaurant, or maybe equal to (or even less than) what a lawn maintenance worker gets paid?

This job should pay WAY MORE than minimum wage - their should have been NO DROP IN PAY with VR - because that's what THEIR advertising said!!!! Right we'd double our lines. That's false advertising, and partly because of all the OTHER visible black characters we are inputting, eyeballing (in emails and account specs) etc.

Add up the 65 visible black character lines in an acct spec, and every time you've got to open the #$@(!^*# acct specs, charge your employer for the pleasure!!!!! that might reduce the number of acct specs OVERNIGHT - if they have to start paying for our eyeballing them.

Thank you Angie!! I agree completely!!! - wheres_my_job

[ In Reply To ..]
there needs to be an industry standard that all companies MUST comply with - and it must be fair to the employee, i.e., truly and accurately capture ALL THE WORK WE DO.

Thank you, I'll stop with the all caps.

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