IT'S TRUE ! HALLELUJAH ! - WithYouOnThis - Would like to talk with you

about this as there is strength in numbers...

MINIMUM WAGE - IT'S TRUE ! HALLELUJAH ! - WithYouOnThis

Posted: Nov 28th, 2011 - 2:45 am

I called my parents' lawyer; this post is RIGHT ON! MTSOs have used semantics to rip us off for the past decade.  They DO have to pay minimum wage !  We do NOT work "production", as MTSO's claim. The term for compensation method regarding our work type is "tiered incentive"; there is an actual base hourly rate, which is what PTO 'per hour' time is designated and paid out at (in my case $12.00, almost $4.00 more than minimum wage in my state), and anything over and above a mandatory line rate per day is paid additionally as incentive.

If we let this issue die here, this industry dies and we are all dinosaurs, even those just out of school, because there will be no future.

You MUST check with employment law lawyers, not your state Dept of Labor; the DOL at the state level has been giving out the wrong information since at least 2002, because they didn't have the very definition of our duties.'

If we don't all act on this now, we are doomed.  With the law on our side, any of us who accepts the newest low - which for one company is 0.024 per line for editing for US MT editors - we are cutting the throats of all US MTs in this industry, betraying ourselves, our fellow MTs. We watched editing go from 0.065 to 0.035 in years, and most of us just accepted it.  We have watched carefully for the past 4 years, and VR has proven imperfect even after time.  Therefore, VR editing will not be obsolete for several years to come, the OS companies have proven that they cannot submit work without editing, and now that we know that we didn't have to accept the crumbs they tossed us, it's time to collect our due.

Get 1 free question answered by employment lawyers - you'll find their web sites and phone numbers listed online by Googling Employment Law - then author and send emails to your employers (leads, supervisors and members of the board), include cc's to the Department of Labor in your state, as well as the federal DOL office in Washington, DC.

Only we can do this; we have seen that no one will champion our cause... not since AAMT went AHDI.

We're on our own; we must demand what we have worked so hard for, and that which is rightfully ours by law.

(p.s.  ANYONE who calls me a whiner, disagrees with our need to move fast on this, or states it's not true, is either a frightened MTSO or an MT with absolutely no self esteem, one who would accept 0.024 and sell us all out.)

The point of the original post was - to inform MTs of

Posted: Nov 28th, 2011 - 9:13 pm In Reply to: Who is "upset?" Get over yourself. - sm

their rights even if they've been misinformed by the Department of Labor. Of course we've heard of the DOL. We're not stupid. That's the first place I called when, after coming off unemployment and about a month into my new FT 40/WK EMPLOYEE POSITION, I started running out of work. I was put in a spot where I was sitting with no work and making no money; however, if I quit (that you be taking your advice about why would anyone work for a compnay like that, right?), I would be either ineligible for unemployment or it would have to go through a review process, after which I could still be declined. When I explained the situation to the dunce on the other end of the phone at the DOL, I was basically told that I was SOOL because I was paid on "production." When I explained that I was required to check my computer for 8 hours during a set schedule (actually comparing the situation to hiring a secretary for 8 hours a day and then not paying them because the phone didn't ring that day), I was again told that I was SOOL because I worked from home. When I asked if I would be entitled to partial unemployment if I had to go to an office, I was told yes. When you speak to the DOL, it's like talking to a wall, and I'm sure I'm not the first MT who has been in this situation... getting completely WRONG information from the DOL. They're useless.

The OP has gone out of their way to provide information that will benefit MTs who have gone through this which is greatly appreciated. Your post and the insinuation that we're too dumb to know what the DOL is, however, is not appreciated.

Scat Hit Fan - 2, 3, 4, 5th MTs To Court - ItsSimple

Posted: Nov 29th, 2011 - 10:02 pm In Reply to: Anyone who MT/MEs for minimum wage - is making a terrible mistake.

...today. Apparently, when PTO is paid out as hourly, the wages must be paid in the same manner. Two MTs filed in court today in different states, one was fired for bogus reason without backup documentation, and one had lawyer meet with employer. All the same company.