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

Min wage means more minimum lines per day - Disappointed

Posted: Jan 28, 2015

So, I probably missed this in another post but just got an e-mail from our admin ass't saying I didn't make the minimum lines for the past pay period so will be getting paid minimum wage. Had not realized my state raised their minimum wage for 2015 (my fault for not reading that somewhere) but that just means I now have to up my minimum lines by 20. Cripe, 2000 per day was bad enough. There are only so many hours in the day people. Plus, I got "scolded" for having 83 hours this past pay period and so will be paid OT too. Lordy, when will it stop ?

Does this rule apply to both IC and employee? - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Does the minimum wage law apply only to employees of a company, or to independent contractors, as well?

Rule ? - Disappointed

[ In Reply To ..]
Not sure about the IC. I am an employee and have never done IC work so am not familiar with how pay goes.

Is this VR or straight for 2000 per day? - NM

[ In Reply To ..]
.

VR or straight - Disappointed

[ In Reply To ..]
It's VR thank goodness.

Minimum wage laws do not apply to IC...SM - Anon

[ In Reply To ..]
Your wage or line rate is governed by what is specified in your contract. Minimum wage is for employees. IC is an independent contractor NOT an employee.

Report to your State Labor Board - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
If you were required to do a certain number of lines per hour, I do not believe they can increase required lines because the minimum wage went up. THE EMPLOYER NEEDS TO INCREASE THEIR WAGE SO THE SAME NUMBER OF LINES WILL QUALIFY UNDER THE LAW.

I agree with your post. sm - Anon

[ In Reply To ..]
My state's min. wage went up on Jan. 1 and now my lph requirement times the rate they pay me DOES NOT equal min. wage. The hitch though is that I produce more than their lph requirement which brings me just a little beyond my state's new min. wage. So, essentially I am working a min. wage job, whereas BEFORE my state's min. wage went up a few times over the past couple of years, I was making a couple bucks above min. wage. I think that our base pay rate times our line requirement should equal min. wage. The problem I see is if I ask for a rate increase, they are probably going to say "well you have to produce more lines to make more money." which is the standard reply these days. I'm going to start making some inquiries with my state's DOL to see what their thoughts are regarding how piece-work employees (which is what we are) should be paid and whether our base rate should equal min. wage and the pay would go up from there. Because every state has their own min. wage and wage and hour laws, there might be a legislative angle that can be pursued here also. I'm going to look into that too.

Some states minimum wage was pretty high - CINDY

[ In Reply To ..]
I can't remember which ones, but I would like to live there.

Totally agree, the intent of the minimum wage increase - pinky

[ In Reply To ..]
Is to lift the base wage, and others who are above minimum wage should be lifted higher, too.

Many years ago when there was a previous minimum wage increase and I did not understand the law yet, I was told I was getting quite a large raise. I recall the business manager explaining to me that with the minimum wage increase, I was now at below the minimum wage and that they were going to match that and give me an extra dollar an hour. I was thrilled. A few years later I was given a $6.00 an hour raise. I wish I was making money like that now! That was back in the 80s. Talk about current wage stagnation and corporate greed! We sure have seen it since Reagan was president.

State labor board - Disappointed

[ In Reply To ..]
Hmmmm, I will have to look into doing what you said. It just doesn't seem quite kosher to "penalize" employees because the minimum wage increases. I usually am jumping back and forth between 2 accounts (depending on how busy each is and how close to TAT each is) and that slows me down some (especially one of the accounts with MANY really bad dictators that VR does not "get"). I would think that the answer would be to give people like me a slight raise so hitting below minimum wage wouldn't happen. However, I just got told that I need to increase my lines .... for the SAME pay (3 cents a line and that sux).

State labor board - Disappointed

[ In Reply To ..]
So, tried finding any info with labor law online....what a nightmare. Finally gave up and have e-mailed my congressman to ask him for help to at least point me in the right direction.

What state do you live in. SM - Old Anon

[ In Reply To ..]
I'll do a search later on tonight and post a link if I find anything. My state has a whole PDF file with the complete Wage and Hour handbook. I used ****(my state)DOL wage and hour law, or something like that, for my search.

I found mine by typing (state name) Dept of Labor - pinky

[ In Reply To ..]
and then there is a "contact us" page where there is an email form.

Contacting your Congress representatives is a very good idea too.

Similar Messages:

Jan 02, 2013

So I have been very careful not clocking in when work is low because I don't want my LPH to suffer, BUT.....Is there anyone out there who just clocks in and takes the reports slow as they come and accepts the minimum wage? Do you get "naughty" emails from your lead telling you that you need to pick it up or clock out? I hope this makes sense. It just occurec to me that minimum wage would be better than no wage when work is low. ...

May 29, 2013

Too bad we can't just type our way to $16, $17, and upwards of $20 per hour anymore. Shoot, with the amount of work available, I guess I should consider myself lucky to even get MINIMUM WAGE. (Wish I was)! ...

Dec 20, 2014

Does anybody know which column companies look at to decide if you are meeting the minimum 250 requirement in Escription? When I look at the metrics there are 2 columns...median lines per hour and average lines per hour. ...

Mar 14, 2010

I'm worried if I suffer another .03 cent decrease I may drop below minimum wage. How do we indicate that to somebody? Is it calculated per pay period - or what? ...

Nov 20, 2013

Massachusetts may well pass a minimum wage of $11 (over 3 years). It's passed the state senate. Parts of WA (Seatac) actually have a $15 minimum wage. Wonder what Nuance will do about MUP now, since so many in those states will be getting it. Could get interesting. ...

Dec 18, 2013

Okay, so I read by 2015, DC wants minimum wage to be $11.50 an hour. I'm assuming by that time Nuance will make our minimum line count reflect this increase - approximately 280 lph, especially since WE NEVER GET A RAISE. ...

Oct 29, 2014

just wondering if anyone knows...is there any kind of rule for paying you a minimum wage if your income with MM drops below the minimum wage? ...

Dec 17, 2014

Bottom line is, regardless of the new pay rules, it's hard to even make above minimum wage before or after the new rules. So at least federal law guarantees minimum wage. Beyond that, my goal is to get out of this field and leave this MTSO company ASAP, though it won't happen overnight. ...

Jan 25, 2015

A $15.00 minimum wage would equate to 375 lines per hour at .04 per line. That's 3000 lines a day for an 8 hour day! The best I have ever done was 2700 lines editing in an 8 hour day and that was only once and someplace where I had been doing the same doctors for 6 years. Guess I would get fired for always getting MUP. And by the way, that's 428 lines per hour (3424 lines per day) at .035 per line and 500 lines per hour at 0.03 (4000 lines per day). If more cities raise the ...

Mar 02, 2010

Are we supposed to report this to someone? Plus, since our earnings may fluctuate from pay to pay, what do we do then? ...

Mar 15, 2010

My ASR rate x 100 is less than minimum wage. My transcription rate x 100 is just slightly higher than minimum wage. I wonder if MQ is planning to increase the minimum lph to 150. ...

Apr 05, 2010

With the last spate of "changes" including institution of the latest version of DocQScribe -- the blossoming of the "swap board" and the "waving bye-bye" of accounts of 8-years' duration -- as they switch to using TEMPLATES (God Bless Electronic Medical Records) --my income has dropped more than 50% in the last 6 months. But hey, I'm not concerned. After all, I'm an idiot to begin with. I have no intellect, no language skills, no research skills, no "shorth ...

Jun 10, 2010

On today's check I had 0.25 hours at minimum wage, and I have no idea why. I have always produced my 150 lph minimum every day since I started. I am not making a ton of money, but my hourly average is more than minimum wage. Now I am getting really paranoid. Of course, I am in the over 10 cpl category. This just can't be right, but I fear it has put me on some big-wig's termination radar. ...

Apr 25, 2011

I am just curious if we are entitled to minimum wage since those of us who are employees are required a minimum to keep benefits and yet not making minimum wage and just sitting here not making any money while accounts are over staffed? ...

Nov 14, 2011

I have heard in various places on these boards that if you are supposed to work full-time and your pay (by the line or character) doesn't equal minimum wage for those hours, you can get unemployment even though you still have a job. Does anyone know if that is true? Does it apply to part-time work? If anyone has a link to valid information, please let me know. I don't even know where to look, but I'm dying here with NJA when I'm supposed to be working, getting no response ...

Nov 27, 2011

On a post below about SGS, an MT states that she is being paid minimum wage. She states she had to 'fight' for it, however, they are paying her minimum wage on the accounts where she is scheduled, and expected, to sit in front of her computer when there is very little work. I have asked several coworkers about this, and some of them are being paid minimum wage, as well. Not all; only the ones who requested (demanded) it. THERE GOES ALL MTSO CLAIMS THAT SINCE WE' ...

Dec 02, 2011

I was reading a post placed earlier today about minimum wage and calling employment lawyers, etc. Why can't we all get together, hire someone to represent us (like a lobbyist) or start our own organization since AAMT bailed on us. There is power in numbers. We just need someone who is a leader to step forward and make this happen. I would be willing to pay a small sum of money on my part to get something started for us to have some type of representation to get our i ...

Dec 24, 2011

Am I reading the policy correctly? Even if I choose to take PTO, I'm going to get minimum wage? I've never run out of work before. ...

Apr 04, 2012

I LOVE working from home. I love my CCM, she is extremely understanding and flexible, which is what I need! Due to this, a few weeks ago I decided I just had a "bad attitude" and needed an adjustment. So I put my nose to the grindstone and produced almost 5,000 more lines than normal or required (80 hours). I had quite a few straight transcription jobs, and was confident my paycheck for the last pay period would be awesome! Although it was approximately $70 more than normal, I still figured ...

Jun 25, 2012

I decided to drive to the Labor Department and ask them directly about this issue, with respect to the fact that MTs who work as employees are paid "per line." The guy said, "It doesn't matter what type of work you do, by federal law you must be paid mininum wage." --- Even if the agreement is for "per line," it must equal mininum wage. So folks ... start keeping very strict records of when you're working and ONLY when you're working. That means, if you get up to go to the ...

Feb 25, 2013

I graduated last year from MTEC. I've been working since November at a national company and am earning minimum wage of $8.00. Many recommend that you earn a certificate--starting with the RMT and later the CMT. According to my research, each test costs about $200. In addition, it is recommended that one keep up with the field by attending conferences and the like occasionally, which also tends to cost some money. Now, I can understand the "overhead" if being a ...

Mar 18, 2013

I had a couple of ASR reports that were stellar, being of the quality we were promised (of course, not from my usual accounts), and yet, the lph was still around minimum wage (hovering around 200). What's up with that!? The new statistics graphic shows the proof. Geez, they keep handing us more and more proof that earning a living wage doing ASR for MM is hopeless. Anyone doing at least 300 lph without having dictator standard reports? ...

Feb 10, 2014

If minimum wage gets raised to over $10.00 an hour - I'm leaving. I don't care if I work at Wal-Mart or McDonalds!! I'll get paid for chatting, meetings, breaks, going to the bathroom, etc..... ...

Jun 22, 2014

Did you know that minimum wage will be raised from $8.00 to $9.00 next month, at least in California? So I wonder what that means for Nuance. Does that mean that the minimum line per hour will now be mmore than the current minimum of 186 lines/hour to meet minimum wage without having the company pay MUP or make-up pay? Or does that mean that they will give employees a raise and leave required lines at minimum of 186 lines? I wonder. ...

Apr 05, 2015

Has anyone been paid minimum wage on times clocked in and out, even if you got no work at all. We cannot be on-call, that makes no sense. ?? ...

May 09, 2015

If our skills are valued the same as fast food workers, then why do they require at least one year's experience as an MT to be hired? Why do newbies have to have gone to school? Why the lengthy testing before being hired? Any 16-year-old with no work experience can be hired at Burger King, so why not as a medical transcriptionist? I don't understand the reasoning behind lowering our income to minimum wage and making it next to impossible to advance beyond minimum wage, even for peo ...

May 15, 2015

Checking the new compensation plan, I will make minimum wage if I continue doing the lph I currently do. I need to double it to make close to my former pay; my quality is already at/near the top so can't really improve that way. Even if I could do many more lines and stay at high quality, THERE IS NO QC WORK! There hasn't been enough work for weeks now. How can they require this line count when they are fully aware there is not enough work to even do a minimum-wage level li ...

Jun 13, 2015

anyone out their getting city, not state minimum wage? ...

Jan 19, 2010

nm ...

Dec 11, 2010

I hear often that you only get paid per line. I was curious if any of these MT services supplement your pay up to minimum wage if your line count pay falls below it. ...