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Which is Better, Employee or IC? - sefrost53

Posted: Dec 16, 2014

I am a part time employee of an MTSO. In California the min wage is $9/hr, which means at 0.85/line for editing my LPH must add up to $9, while MTs in other states may only have to make $7.50 or so to remain employed. My Team Leader said that is somewhat unfortunate for me; as a 1 year out-of-school newbie I'm not as fast as other MTs.

A few years ago I was an IC and I recall they did have a minimum line count per day but I don't recall having to produce more than that. The law is that a company must pay employees their state's minimum wage so if I don't produce that amount the company must pay me the difference.

My question is, if I were an IC instead of an employee would I just have to produce the minimum LPH of that company or would it have to add up to the CA minimum wage?

From what I understand - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
As an IC, you will have to meet company requirements, but if you don't make min wage, that's your problem. I guess as long as you meet TAT, you can do the company line requirement in 5 hours or 10 hours, just however fast you are. Have you tried to research how to get faster? There are a lot of tricks to learn.

Fasster-Getting Tricks - sefrost53

[ In Reply To ..]
I am familiar with several "tricks" and getting more so with time, such as using keystroke shortcuts as much as possible and keeping my hands off the mouse (!) using Word autocorrect (I have accrued quite a list of these). We are encouraged to keep a production tracker which motivates us to push harder...My biggest problem is trying to find CC names when they aren't spelled out or that don't pop up when I search for them; that's probably my biggest problem at this point. I lose precious time searching for correct CC spellings, altho I have tricks for that, too! I can always use more!

this is a tricky area - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
If you are an employee, then the company (by law) must pay you at least minimum wage. If you are an IC, then no such requirement exists, since you are basically self employed and should have the "element of control" with respect to days/hours worked and your billing rate.

Could the company have a line requirement? Yes, in both cases.

Depends on your needs and preferences - ICer

[ In Reply To ..]
For me I like being an IC as long as I am not held down to a schedule. If I wanted a schedule, I would be an employee. I have been on both sides and punching a clock just doesn't work for me.

How long have you been with your MTSO? Is there any chance - you will pick up speed soon? See msg

[ In Reply To ..]
I have a full-time employee status and part-time IC and I don't have a set minimum of lines that I am required to produce. However, the company is 100% legitimate IC in that I literally work when I feel like it, no set amount of hours or anything. It is a smaller company though, fairly laid back and we keep the work caught up so they are fairly lenient.

Having said that, my check varies widely with them and because I am IC and do not punch a time clock then minimum wage does not apply in my case.

Is there any chance you will pick up speed soon? Sometimes it just takes some adjusting to your accounts and dictators.

Oops I meant $0.04/Line for Editing - sefrost53

[ In Reply To ..]
In my message above I mistakenly put incorrect pay per line at my MTSO. It is 0.089 for straight typing and 0.04 for editing.

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