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

Winston-Salem Journal article re Transcend lawsuit - read all the way to the end

Posted: May 14, 2012

regarding Novant Health outsourcing to Transcend in March:

Whoever posted this....A BIG THANK YOU!!!! - Boosted Mom

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This is exactly the kind of thing we're hoping and looking for, to get the word out to the media, not just about unfair labor practices, but about what has happened to this industry as a whole, with the cut in pay for editing while the companies grow fat off our sweat! Rock on!

before you thank me - read all the way to the end

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and digest the implication of the 3 questions, especially the last one, and their effects on the ability by the former health system's employees to collect unemployment benefits or the potential to be denied UE in the state of North Carolina.

Well, I read it and wish it was in every paper in the country. - mt2

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I would be happy with being paid per hour. I would comply with sitting here working instead of getting irritated/bored/annoyed/disgusted with this job and getting up/looking at Facebook/getting a snack/surfing the web and WORK.

I would enjoy my work again. I would glady work OT and be a team player.

This insane way of paying us now will come back and eventually bite the MTSOs in the butt. More and more experienced MTs are leaving this field. Soon, it will be newbies (no offense) and foreigners. The hospitals will see they get what they pay for. I've seen sme of my husband's hospital reports and OMG - unbelievable. I can imagine across the country what is going on.

We are not paid what we are worth. That's obvious the way the work is coming back. I look at sample reports and there are reports with more than 1-3 blanks, misspelled words, etc.

We have bills to pay, families to support. I personally will give 1 to 2 minutes to research. Then it's a blank. Incentive pay? You can keep it. I busted my butt in a 2-week pay period. Sent 1 report to QC. I wanted to see what kind of incentive I would get and hey, maybe that'll entice me to work harder. Well, my incentive was $38. Big fricken whoop. That was 47 cents per hour extra. Stick that where the sun don't shine.

4 months to go and then we move and I'm outta here as far as MTing.

The reporter who wrote that will hear from me - suethemall

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yep, more to this story - maybe they'll want to do a series...

I am still waiting for someone to engage in a discussion - read all the way to the end

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Regarding the 3 questions brought up in the article. I'm wondering why that is. Do you all need to consult with someone to gain insight because you have no independent thought with which to debate the subject?

go figure.

Discussion - Skeptical MT

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I don't know why you want to discuss this, it's pretty straightforward. Your comment about people having no independent thought was rather snarky. In regard to UE, in my state a person does not have to accept just any job that comes their way. If the pay is a certain percentage less than what they currently make, they can turn it down, or take the job and draw partial UE, that's the only thing I saw that was even open for discussion. I thought the article was well written, the author seems to have done their
homework. Thanks to the OP for sharing.

#1. They are not helping the employee. They are trying to get cheap labor. - mt2

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#2: In my state, if I turn down a job, my UE would be cancelled. Not fair but my governer has told Floridians to go pick fruit if you can't find another job.

#3: See #2. It does. If it didn't, I would never have taken this job with Nuance.

go figure.

Cheap Labor - Skeptical MT

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That is why most facilities outsource in the first place, to save money, hence "cheap labor," in addition to the fact that they save a bundle because they no longer have to pay benefits. I thought most people understood that.

Still doesn't change the fact that the lawsuit is about minimum wage - mtmom

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It is a real eye-opener for people to see what we used to get paid for this job. We don't have to like or accept the big paycut; we can leave the career. This is about new and old receiving at least minimum wage for work done. The rest of the story is just to let people know that we've gone from potentially making up to $40/hour to making $7.25 if we're lucky.

Thank God my IC position I now have after leaving Transcend and their illegal pay practices does pay me what I'm worth... which is a hell of a lot more than minimum wage. I'm doing just fine now. But I'll still fight for all the ones out there that aren't making what the law says they are supposed to make.

What really stood out to me....sm - Duchess

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was the comment about trying to bring the patient's expenses down while still giving them quality care. What a bunch of Hoo HA! Quality care includes so many errors to the patient's record because of voice recognition technology.

lol - I have balls, do you?

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umm... I am not a sheeple.... dont have to consult with anyone as I have plenty of independent thoughts, would you like to know what one of those thoughts is right now? LOL

Transcend lawsuit - beatendown

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It's going to take a lot more than 13 people to get together and file a law suit, but it is a start.

Transcend Lawsuit - currentunhappytranscender

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I agree this is a good start. I am so tired of there being no work and yet we have to have a "minimum" to be considered employees ($900 for FT and $450 for PT). I am tired of stopping the clock to do research because that is not what I get paid to do...seriously??? I would so love to pend a report with a million blanks and for QA to tell me that I could have found the blanks in a past report only to reply that I don't get paid to research past reports. Unfortunately, I am very passionate about the work I do and just because I don't agree with their policies I am not going to let my level or profressionalism slip. Transcend is the reason I am currently going back to school because I am tired of not being paid for the work I actually do and tired of not being recognized for it. I really hope these 13 people make their point and companies wake up!!

Lawsuit - me

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Somebody should let the lawyers know about how much work is outsourced so American MTs are treated like this.

Lawsuit - me

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There are so many companies guilty of this. I did QA for Futurenet out of California and they paid QA by the report, less than 2.00. The problem was nearly all of their accounts are the worst of the worst ESL so they couldn't keep MTs, so you were constantly doing 100% QA on new MTs with 20 or more blanks being the norm. So if you got a 7-page discharge summary and it took you an hour to QA, you made less than 2.00 an hour and it's STILL going on. Transcend has horrible quota goals for their hourly QA as well, 80 per shift. So how are you supposed to look up physicians, medications, do 100% listens, log, and send feedback on THAT many reports, and they tell you if you don't reach your quota during shift you need to stay on or come back on every day of the week to get the quota; however, you cannot just log off and come back when the work is there, then you might miss something. Phoenix Medcom lets their ICs work 7 days a week, as many hours a day as they want with absolutely no mention of OT. I hope all this gets to Fox News about the oursourcing and these practices.

There are many more than 13 now - mtmom

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I have signed on, and I know of others who have as well. I spoke with the attorney and he is having a hard time getting back to everyone because so many are signing on. Just like the "13 original colonies" who said enough to the big British, so say the Original 13 and now others who are added to the Big Trascend. :)

I spoke to the attorney this morning - RF

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The attorney is a very pleasant gentleman, and very aprised of the plight of MTs. I got the impression that he is very overwhelmed by the number of calls he has received from many transcriptionists and . . . I assured him this kind of disregard is standard in the industry.

He took my contact information to comprise a database of others who are expressing the same concerns. I'm confident when they assemble many with the same concerna about specific companies, other suits will be forthcoming.

My major grievance is with ARCHIVUS, and I would encourage anyone and everyone who is unhappy about the disregard of labor law by their company to contact this law firm.

winston salem article on Transcend - workingonit

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The article is no longer available. Could you summarize please for those of us who were not able to read it? Thanks.

summary - mtmom

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It talked about how a hospital in NC sold out to Transcend, how the employees had three days to decide if they would go with Transcend or quit, how they were making base pay plus production pay, with some making up to $40/hour, and how they would be making half to 1/3 of the pay with the Trascend buyout, and what were the employees supposed to do if they decided not to. Could they collect unemployment if the refused to be part of Transcend? Would the hospital be required to pay unemployment for those who left before the buyout, etc. Definitely showed how much we all lose in pay

reposting about the Journal article plus more info from March - read all the way to the end

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Here are the 3 questions the article asked:

"The Novant case raises at least three significant questions:

If employers arrange for an outsourcing company to hire the employees â�� most likely at a reduced pay and benefit rate â�� are they helping the employees or just trying to retain their skills at a lower cost?

If employees turn down the outsourced job offer because of the pay cut, should their current employers provide that information to the N.C. Division of Employment Security in responding to the employees' claims for unemployment benefits?

If employers do provide that information, could it play a role in disqualifying the employees from unemployment benefits?"

Now if you care to look at the link below, you can find out about a meeting Novant held with their 69 transcriptionists on March 15 and gave them until Monday to decide whether or not to take a job with Transcend.

The link is for the search page with Transcend as the searched item. There are 5 articles on the first search page.

Interesting reading, which is why I encouraged lots of reading in my first post...

Here is the FULL article - from Google Cache

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By: RICHARD CRAVER | Winston-Salem Journal
Published: May 14, 2012
Updated: May 14, 2012 - 10:04 PM

The company that Novant Health Inc. outsourced its medical-transcriptionist work to, Transcend Services Inc., is facing a class-action lawsuit filed by 13 employees.

None of the employees came from Novant, according to the lawsuit filed Friday in the U.S. Northern District of Illinois.

Novant shifted the medical transcriptionist work of 69 full-time employees on April 1 to Transcend, based in Norcross, Ga. Novant said it did not know how many former employees went to work for Transcend or currently work for it. The work typically is done at home.

The Transcend employees accuse the company of not paying a federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour for hours worked and requiring them to perform overtime work without proper compensation of 1Â½ times their hourly wage. The lawsuit says Transcend has been in violation of both pay requirements for at least three years.

The plaintiffs want unpaid wage and unpaid overtime compensation, attorneys' fees and other damages. They also want "injunctive relief â�¦ to stop defendant's unlawful pay practices and establish that such unlawful practices within the health-care industry are no longer permissible."

Novant medical transcriptionists who spoke with the Winston-Salem Journal in March expressed concern about the pay and overtime rates when they were told of the center's outsourcing plans.

Donna Rhines, marketing director for Transcend, said Monday the company "did not have enough information to speak about" the lawsuit. Transcend is being bought by Nuance, which has offices in India.

Marilyn Gilliam, Novant's vice president of talent acquisition and retention, said in March that Novant chose Transcend so its employees would "have the ability to transfer to Transcend without interruption in employment or benefits."

Novant said in a statement Monday it could not comment specifically on the lawsuit, since it is not involved.

"Novant is committed to working with vendors who work legally and ethically and we have no reason to believe that Transcend will not work through these issues appropriately," Novant said.

"We believe outsourcing transcription services is the right thing to do for Novant. Many hospitals across the country have outsourced this service. Our responsibility to patients is to reduce expenses without compromising patient care and outsourcing this service is one way we can accomplish that goal."

Novant told its medical transcriptionists on March 15 that they had three days to decide whether to go to work for Transcend.

At that time, most Novant medical transcriptionists worked for base pay of $14 to $16 an hour, along with production pay that often represented half their salary. Before 2008, the transcriptionists said they were paid by production, with some making more than $40 an hour.

Some Novant employees determined that taking the outsourced job offer would mean a pay cut ranging from half to nearly two-thirds. Transcend also offered no base pay.

Similar Messages:

May 18, 2012

of this article as it appears it has been removed from the Journal's website. Would like to read it. ...

Apr 15, 2013

Take a look -- this is regarding issues that most of us deal with on a daily basis. Very interesting. http://mttoolsonline.com/2012/05/11/medical-transcriptionists-say-enough-is-enough/ ...

Aug 08, 2012

Its about time! http://mttoolsonline.com/2012/05/11/medical-transcriptionists-say-enough-is-enough/ ...

Sep 21, 2013

Anyone else get an email from Kevin Dooley and associates re: Transcend lawsuit? It's so hard to remember dates and everything from his questionaire sent. ...

May 28, 2014

Fighting Nuance would be just the same as the current Transcend Lawsuit. For those who are not involved, the latest news did not look good. They are trying to get it thrown out on the basis that because we are independent contractors kind of, the situations vary greatly and we should not be allowed to file as one unit. The attorneys for Transcend feel each MLS should file separately. Well, since we make slave wages, who the hell could ever afford an attorney? So, they have found every way p ...

May 12, 2012

Any other Amphion employees out there want to get involved? I already contacted lawyers. ...

Oct 29, 2012

Anybody know the outcome of this or if it is still ongoing? ...

Jun 08, 2012

us on the lawsuit and companies who are defendants and has SS been added as a defendant yet. ...

Jan 29, 2014

Does anyone have any idea how the above lawsuit is progressing. I received an e-mail a few months ago, informing us Transcend had not compiled all the necessary discovery and they had a second hearing late last year. Maybe one of the original 13 or so plaintiffs has some information ? Thanking you in advance. ...

Aug 01, 2014

Does anyone have any information regarding the above-mentioned lawsuit, plaintiffs v. Transcend? ...

Jan 27, 2015

I received an e-mail today basically saying the attorneys will not conduct a collective action lawsuit but that we are all free to file suit on our own. What a waste of time and what a joke. I figured this would be the case. So, once again, the big corporation wins and the cheated employeees lose. ...

May 12, 2012

Anyone who works for Transcend now or in the last three years needs to check this out. This is the real deal. For all of us who haven't made minimum wage or were refused overtime pay, you may be able to get in on this. ...

Jan 04, 2013

I haven't been to the boards for quite a while, but I was just googling to find out a current phone number for Transcend to put on a resume, and I saw about the lawsuit. What's going on with this? Does anyone know? ...

May 11, 2012

Well, it's done folks! A couple of VERY brave ladies have filed a class action suit for make up to minimum and OT issues against Transcend. If anyone is interested in getting their own going against some other MTSO's, well, it's time to be heard. We're not going to take it anymore! If you would like info on the attorneys who filed this suit, please feel free to email me. A very proud day indeed! ...

Oct 16, 2011

Is it a class action suit? Can anyone join? Someone told me it can go as far back as 3 years. ...

May 15, 2012

I don't want to be negative but do you really think anything will change? MQ got sued and that didn't exactly improve anything. I think we got a discount on a medical reference book and a time clock. I'd like to hear opinions on this. ...

May 20, 2012

If you don't wish to hear anything further about the lawsuit, please stop reading now. For those of you still here, it is my understanding that Nuance has used the same tactics as Transcend -- asking you to alter your time cards, reviewing your QA on your own time, "hands-only on the keyboard," etc. If this is the case, PLEASE contact the attorneys that are assisting the 'Grand 13.' You have a case as well and do NOT let this opportunity pass by to make your statement loud ...

Jul 03, 2012

http://mttoolsonline.com/2012/05/11/medical-transcriptionists-say-enough-is-enough/ ...

Aug 23, 2012

?? ...

Apr 30, 2013

I sold my company to imedx and have not been paid what I was promised. I hired a lawyer and have been told that it would cost too much to sue. Is anyone else in the same position? Perhaps we could join together and share the legal expense. ...

Jun 19, 2013

I was never this depressed when I worked for Transcend. Now, with the hounding e-mail, do this, don't do that, rule change, etc. Oh, and I better not forget about Webclock, Fiesa, etc. They have it all planned out to cover their ass. Now I feel like at least Transcend gave a damn once in a while, unlike Nuance. Every weekly change I see benefits Nuance, not the employee. Sorry, I just had to vent. The last few weeks have been nothing but stressed ou ...

Jun 04, 2014

If you have come here for years as I have you would know about the poster who got sued by a company for what she posted here about the company. I do not remember the name of the company nor the poster's name but I do remember reading the postings and I thought OMG myself. The companies do come here and read these postings. If you post something that is not true they might be like the other company, able to figure out who you are by what is posted or some way. I am saying, I know this to hav ...

Aug 02, 2010

I need advice, please, from someone. There have been many miscommunicaitons with a MTSO and none have been in my favor. I do have documentation of everything that happened. I have a close relative who is an attorney who has reviewed this infromation. He advised that, hands down, I do have a lawsuit and could certainly file a claim against this company. I am hesitant to do this.&nb ...

Aug 19, 2010

Gee, I wonder if our pay is already being affected AGAIN or going too soon by the company figuring out how re-do our pay. Be careful, we might get another survey. http://philly.citybizlist.com/YourCityBizNews/detail.aspx?id=90208ï»¿ MedQuist Pays Kaiser $2M to Settle Suit - cbl Share Email this Article By citybizlist Staff MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. -- MedQuist Inc. (NASDAQ: MEDQ), a medical transcription company, has agreed to pay Kaiser Permanente $2 million to sett ...

Jul 21, 2012

Yet another lawsuit for unpaid overtime by Keystrokes.......anyone have issues working for these people and not being paid overtime? Are you willing to stand up for yourself and get what you deserve? If so, please send a response! ...

Apr 08, 2013

Wondering how/if all of us who work for MModal can start a class action lawsuit against them? What for you ask? Oh gee......lying to us, taking our work away from us, saying they'll pay a certain amount but really do not, bad TSMs.....etc, etc. What all those are called in legal terms, I have no idea. I am 60 years old and not close to retirement age yet.....Michigan does not allow part time UE, so what the heck am I going to do for a living for the next 2 years?&nbs ...

Jul 29, 2013

Just typed a "married lady, lives at home with her husband" (spoken clearly) and ASR turned it into "lesbian, living with her girlfriend." A few days ago, ASR randomly threw in "French porn" out of nowhere. ...

Feb 25, 2014

Here is the link to some new about the Transcend lawsuit. Enjoy. ...

Jan 26, 2010

I have GOT TO GET OUT OF THIS SWEAT SHOP SO CALLED PROFESSION!! Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed the lawsuit on January 12, 2010. In the complaint, Blumenthal alleges that last May a portable disk drive containing Personal Health Information (PHI), social security numbers, and bank account numbers from about 1.5 million customers disappeared while in transit between Connecticut and California. The company did not inform any gover ...

Feb 28, 2010

http://www.leagle.com/unsecure/page.htm?shortname=infdco20100223c10 What kind of big wigs does MQ have running this company? Aww, DO NOT ASK! Have to read it all in its entirety! MUST READ LAST PARAGRAPH. Sounds like MQ is still misleading MT pay. Duh! UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. KEARNS UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, Plaintiff, v. BRIAN KEARNS and BRUCE J. VAN FOSSEN, Defendants. Civil No. 09-3599 (JBS/KMW). United ...