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

Wage theft article - we all need a good lawyer

Posted: Sep 02, 2014

I read this excellent article this morning (see link below) and these few paragraphs struck me: In essence, the quotes (with their owners below the ____): “The reason there is so much wage theft is many employers think there is little chance of getting caught.” “My agency has found more wages being stolen from workers in California than any time in history. This has spread to multiple industries across many sectors. It’s affected not just minimum-wage workers, but also middle-class workers.” “I’m amazed at how petty and abusive some of these practices are. Cutting corners is increasingly seen as a sign of libertarianism rather than the theft that it really is.” ______________ Michael Rubin, one of the lawyers who sued Schneider, disagreed, saying there are many sound wage claims. “The reason there is so much wage theft is many employers think there is little chance of getting caught,” he said. Commissioner Su of California said wage theft harmed not just low-wage workers. “My agency has found more wages being stolen from workers in California than any time in history,” she said. “This has spread to multiple industries across many sectors. It’s affected not just minimum-wage workers, but also middle-class workers.” Many other states are seeing wage-theft cases. New York’s attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, has recovered $17 million in wage claims over the past three years. “I’m amazed at how petty and abusive some of these practices are,” he said. “Cutting corners is increasingly seen as a sign of libertarianism rather than the theft that it really is.” _____________________ It would be nice if we could find an Erin Brockovich out there who knows our industry and its abuses, have us document the many ways these companies abuse our time, make us do unpaid work, and cut our pay in any which way imaginable. Good to see that some are getting caught and being made to follow the law.

Here is the link - for the article above

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Sorry, I put it in the wrong box and then it would not let me edit the post as far as the link is concerned.

"More Workers are Claiming 'Wage Theft'."

NY Times Business section 09/01/2014.

Interesting article. - I believe a few months ago

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several people did contact Erin Brockovich's website to tell her about our industry. Guess she never answered or we would have surely heard about it here.

Please read the comments section of - this article

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Many personal stories about how much wage theft is happening across all spectrums, and not ONE comment in favor of companies committing this.

I guess it would be very hard to defend the practice of wage theft, so those perpetrating or defending (I can only imagine highly paid scumbag lawyers) would rather not, until they get to court that is.

Reading those comments I have to hope that things might be swinging our way, that maybe greed for the sake of greed is NOT so good after all. Very interesting and sad to read how so many have been taken advantage of or have known others to be taken advantage of, yet heartening that people do seem to care.

Expecting Erin Brokovitch to appear ... - sm

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Instead of waiting for Erin Brokovitch to ride up and save you, you could do it yourself.

There is no reason you can't.

Okay, how do you suggest - I save myself?

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Besides the obvious, which every other post on this board says, get OUT of MT and start flipping burgers?

As Bobo pointed out on the Nuance board (see Wage Theft thread there), the US is the ONLY place where MT has turned into this undesirable minimum wage position where we are actually being forced to compete with Indian employees head to head almost, and you know we will never win against the pittance they are allowed to pay them.

I know for a fact other countries still employ MTs as qualified professionals and still pay good money.

So what do you propose (other than quitting MT)?

I sometimes wonder, with all these get-out-of-MT posts, if Nuance and other MTSOs who wish to offshore even more and stop worrying about their pesky US employees actually hire posters to try to convince us all to quit, I really do, and I am not going to comply with their wishes.

I'm sticking it out for the long haul and if your suggestion is to get out of MT, not interested. If you have anything else to offer, please do so.

If you are being abuse-- LEAVE - SM

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Seriously. You voluntarily take a job. If you are being abused in it, why are you staying in it? And I'm not blaming the victim, I'm telling you, STAND UP FOR YOURSELF. Stop waiting for the White Knight or Erin Brockovich or some other savior, NO ONE IS COMING TO FORCE YOU TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.

Sorry, I would rather stay - and fight for my rights

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Some of us don't have a lot of choices as far as jobs are concerned, and some of us like this job and want to keep it.

This thread is about wage theft. We are victims of this and others described in the NY Times article have filed suit and been rewarded back pay and better working conditions.

I would like this for our profession and make no apologies. So you see, I AM trying to take care of myself. I just don't happen to think I have to quit my job to do it.

I think we really have to TRY to make conditions better for all MTs, and if the MTSOs would rather have us quit and send the work to India, let's expose them for that in the media and not let them get away with it.

Stay and fight - Dotty

[ In Reply To ..]
Stay and fight, really? I used to like my job but no one cares about us, not the hospitals, not the doctors, not the media, not even friends and relatives because it is not particularly interesting to anyone. Most people think transcription is done electronically anyway. You are kidding yourself that anything is going to change. The low wages of transcriptionists are of no interest unless you are one. No one really cares if it is outsourced. Anyway, doctors more and more are doing their own reports. It is a dying industry. I used to like my job but the job I knew is gone forever.

It is true that in other countries - who DO NOT offshore

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This is still well paid and still a profession. Also, from what I see they seem to be resisting SR in these countries where this is the case, maybe because they do not offshore?

Even if things don't get better, I don't see why they should be able to get away with the OOW situation meaning we get no pay, that is not what an employee is. I definitely think it's worth fighting for basic standards so even if we are lowly paid, it is a job at least.

I can't call it a job if I am sitting in front of a monitor 18 hours a day and end up with 2 hours work, and they should not be able to call us employees if we are scheduled to work 8 hours a day and if they don't have 8 hours work that's on us. They should pay us 8 hours, that's what being an employee is. If you went into an office and, through no fault of your own, they either ran out of work or had to send you home for some reason, they WOULD have to pay you because you are an employee and you were there. Why should it be different working for MTSOs?

Maybe if we were at least able to get them on this one issue it would stop the overhiring, the forcing people into MUP because they are forced to type garbage because their accounts are changed or done by others.

I don't really care if anyone cares about us, but WE should care about us. It may be a dying industry in this country, but I intend to see it out. Nothing wrong with seeing what we can do to force the MTSOs to stop stealing our wages, is there?

If you are an employee, your company has to be sure you at least make - your states min. wage. If not, call labor board. n

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x

That is true if you make under the - required line count

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With Nuance 186 lph, they call it MUP - make up pay I think, but what about if there is no work?

We have been told to notify our supervisors and after 15 minutes if there is no work, you are free for the day! Oh wait, except you don't get paid.

So what if you don't want to use what little PTO you have left, what if you don't want to work all hours because there is no work on your shift? According to Nuance, we are not supposed to be logged in for that, just "flex" when there is work.

The next thing you know, there is plenty of work at night and they offer OT, and again we have no work again in the morning. I am about at the end of my rope and considering filing for partial unemployment at this point.

Shooting yourself in the foot - reality bites

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But this is what so many of you just don't seem to get. IT IS NOT GOING TO GET BETTER. What will get better is technology, offshore labor, and job hunting.

Not every company is involved in wage theft. So if your rationale is you want to make YOUR company bend to your will, then that line of thinking is faulty, IMO. Staying with a company that you blatantly know is stealing your money makes ZERO sense. Do you think the "BIGS" donâ��t have attorneys who are already covering their butts?

How successful has ANY lawsuit been? How many years do you keep having your wages stolen while waiting on that White Knight (whomever that may be, the government, the law, I'm not clear on who you think will be saving you and frankly you don't have the power to change the bigs)? I've followed the lawsuits and even if a company is found "guilty" the consequences of that finding rarely benefits the MT and the company is back doing what they've been doing all along.

I've done this a long time and would love to do it another decade or so. But I won't do it working for a company who abuses me, steals from me, or otherwise makes it so I'm unable to earn a living. If staying in that situation is your definition of taking care of yourself, I feel sad for you.

I think you are misunderstanding my point here - I am earning a living

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Probably half what I did 5 years ago, but enough to squeak by and, unfortunately for me, not a lot of other options where I live.

What I am saying is that the practices of the MTSOs EQUAL wage theft, though, such as when there is no work we have to use PTO or simply not get paid AND the methods of knocking down our pay through bogus QA audits. These are common practices with MTSOs that would not fly in the physical workplace.

I don't know why you would feel sad for me, it seems like you are kind of in the same boat, but would rather appear above it all. Maybe you have found one of those wonderful smaller companies that don't rip you off?

I do like my job and I also do intend to do it for another 10 years or so if it doesn't totally get overtaken by technology, but doesn't every MTSO abuse you, steal from you? They leave you just enough so you can make slightly more than minimum wage, in my case, which is still better than any job I could get out of MT.

What I really, REALLY don't understand is this anger whenever there is mention of the abusive practices of the MTSOs, as if just because it is futile and you feel we can't change it, I better shut up or get out. That I don't get.

I can complain and try to find solutions as much as I want, if you don't like it don't read it. I find your attitude much more defeatist than mine.

It's obvious to me I have not a lot in common with a lot of people on these boards, and I also think it's obvious why a lot of us prefer to work on our own (me included), but I think we all should want better conditions and not to be ripped off, and why people feel compelled to jump down my throat when I am trying to figure out a way to compel the MTSOs to treat us better, well, I will never understand that, so I guess you all will have to keep jumping down my throat because it's a free country and I intend to keep trying.

How did your battle with Nuance - end up here?

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I notice that you, in response to the poster who said if you are being abused, you should leave, that you want to stay and fight and that your're not going to let them get away with it. Then the conversation switches to "we" ought to do this and that. If you came here asking for recommendations, you got them. If you didn't like them, too bad. None of us like the way this business turned out. You didn't say how long you've been working in MT, but I'm sure that the ones who told you to get out or leave this work have been doing it a lot longer. "We" may not be interested in taking up your battle with Nuance, a battle that "we" don't think can be won. The best use of a young person's time who has not been in the MT business very long is indeed to leave this "career" and learn to do something else that will pay much better. If you are not making minimum wage because you don't have enough work, then that "burger slinger" is making more than you.

No one is forcing you to work for Nuance, including Nuance. I am not defending them, but you are the one who is making the choice to fight it out with them. Good luck to you.

Okay, to clear things up - I have been doing it a long time

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I am not a newbie. Forgive me for saying "we" - and "battle" or "fight" is really not appropriate either, more like problem I guess.

My problem is not necessarily with Nuance, but with the fact that the job of MT has really turned into a joke, and my point is I am still good at it, still love the work, still make an okay living, it is still more profitable for me to do this than any other job, but I am being taken advantage of as an employee of and that's where the "we" comes in.

Forgive me for thinking that everyone who has a job which is scheduled 7-3 or whatever should have work to do between 7 and 3 or else the company should still pay them. That basically was where "we" came in, nothing else.

So if you don't want to be in that group of people, fine. All you people who seem to have found some better high paying job OR retired OR just want nobody to complain about anything for some reason, why do YOU come on here?

I just cannot get over how many posts on all these pages are from ex-MTs who want to set the rest of us straight about getting out now or getting something better. Have you all moved on, if so wouldn't it be better to tell us what and how much you love it and why rather than spending so much time on an MT board (for MTs) telling us to get out and stop complaining?

My "battle" with Nuance (which is not a battle at all - I am a perfectly good employee, doing very well and have high productivity, as far as they are concerned I am not a "problem" employee at all) as you put it ended up here because this is an MT board and I am trying to see if anyone else has the same problem and how we can fix it.

Again, this is, after all, an MT board. If I become a burger slinger I will go onto the burger slinger board and complain there if I want to.

But just because I have some issues with Nuance I want to sound out and see if anyone else has found a way to make these less stressful, including joining some organization or making a complaint to a government entity, I am really just "fighting" for my rights as a worker and US citizen, NOT a personal battle with Nuance.

So let me clarify, I am really not in a battle with Nuance at all, just wanting to find out if anyone has any suggestions about how to make this abysmal situation any better for us. And I AM allowed to complain, sorry, so I do think you really ARE defending Nuance and they really don't need defending.

Hope this clears it up - for you

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I am still a working MT. We are all in the same boat as you. I didn't say that you were a problem employee, I questioned how your problem with Nuance ended up on the main board, unless I am mistaken that someone else had the exact same post about wage theft on the Nuance board. I realize that what I wrote makes me appear heartless and unaffected by what is going on. Things are not always what they appear. I have been very much affected. I have worked for more than 40 years and have lost every asset I had ever worked for in my life. I went through bankruptcy 1-1/2 years ago that took my house that I paid on for 30 years. I am my sole source of income. I am near retirement, but will be unable to retire because I worked in this industry as an IC until just this year and have nothing to retire on. Until just last month, I hadn't had a paid day off in more than 20 years and had worked every day of the year for the last 10 years. I have to move across the country now to move in with my mother to try to find other work so I can get back on my feet. And I feel like I have failed miserably in life. I thought I had finally found a good MTSO to work for. Within a week of my starting with them, they sold out to one of the rotten big 3 MTSOs. So much for that. And I have been working 3rd shift for more than 10 years now. I'm still good at this, too, but I know enough to know that we can't change the way it is. Unless somebody thinks they have a match big enough to light a 12 foot fire under the hind ends of our congressmen, nothing is going to be done. There are MTs who have contacted their congressional representatives and one of them was told that this is "good for globalization." They've used us up and we are being thrown away. We're on the Titanic and it's going down fast.

You didn't like it when people said to get out of MT and that you wanted to stay and fight. A lot of us have been trying to fight this or find some way to make it work, and I for one am exhausted. I'd like to have a little peace in my life and I don't feel like fighting any more. I don't know what you think we should do. This is definitely one of those situations where there is nothing to do and no one to see about it. The only way to make this less stressful and more livable would be a lobotomy, and I don't think they're doing those any more.

Even if we could bring the offshored work back to the states, it is just a matter of time before point and click (which by the way is advertised here on MTStars) replaces us all anyway.

So, in the end, if not all of us, most of us have the same problem excepting those who have left MT. It is a problem to which the only solution is to find another line of work.

I am the same person who had the - post on the other board

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I just thought when I read the NY Times article that some people who have been abused by their employers (like we have) have actually won back pay and better conditions, so I think the idea of wage theft is something that most MTs (who work for MTSOs anyway) have in common so it should be on the Main board.

It is very easy for the MTSOs to steal our wages since we are all in different states with different laws, and most of those who have won the judgments in the article seem to be from one state, the states like California, where the wage theft legal challenge has been successful.

Hey, you are not a failure! You really are not.

The reason why I stick it out as an MT is because I like telling people what I do, I like doing it, I love using my brain and not having to deal with other people really (I guess I am a little antisocial maybe). Another reason is time - even with having the "flex" and sit in front of a monitor for hours waiting for work, I still get to do stuff in between if I want to, watch TV, etc. I am not spending 2 hours a day commuting to a job that will not even pay as much as this one, I am not buying clothes for said job.

Unfortunately, those same reasons is why the bosses seem to think it is justified in paying us less, overhiring so we have to constantly adjust our schedules, etc.

So I think you are saying you are sticking it out too, but just trying to get by, no more fighting for anything.

I do get that. If, however, we are able to use the wage theft argument to get anything back legally from these parasites, why not at least entertain the idea?

Even if we are replaced by point and click eventually, the shameful way they are cutting everything they can from us without compunction, coupled with the way they are trying to force people to quit rather than laying them off by using QA penalties and over-enforcement until you get harassed enough to quit, are certainly immoral practices, I would have to think illegal as well, but again they have teams of lawyers which they can use to wiggle out of accusations, we have nothing.

From what I gather, you are staying in MT too? I still think the job is better than other alternatives for me, but I do reserve the right to complain about the conditions and try to change things. If you are too tired to participate, I completely get that. I don't think the only solution is to find another line of work. I do think there might be hope. I am probably wrong though, I guess.

If there were something to do - I would be the first

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in line. That's just it. There really is nothing to do. If there were something that I felt truly could be done, I would be willing to try. Others have said it before, and it's true. To them, we don't even exist. How can you think about someone who doesn't even exist? We are bought and sold with the companies. Then we are rendered useless and tossed in the trash.

Imagine you're part of a skit on Candid Camera where you have maybe 10 MTs elbow to elbow inside a large box that looks like a really big computer to anyone on the outside. Now picture doctors sitting around outside dictating, blabbering their fairly unintelligible garbage, it goes into the "computer." Inside the computer, what they can't see are the 10 MTs working in this frenzied state that has their hair standing up on end and sweat pouring off their brow, working at a foolishly feverish pace. Back on the outside, you hear a few rattles, then ding! out pops the pristine reports. Fully integrated speech recognition technology.

As a result of the above scenario, doctors who previously were great dictators have become almost as bad as the ESL, often worse than the ESL, and it has a lot to do with the mentality that computer technology and speech recognition fixes everything. Now most of them act as if they don't have a brain or a place to put one. I'm tired of cleaning up after the doctors who don't care enough about what they're doing.

I used to like this work, but not so much any more. So, when I can, I'm getting out and moving on. I have liked the flexibility that it has offered over the years, but it just doesn't compensate for not getting paid when there's no work.

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