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

There is another option..... - Really POd

Posted: Oct 24, 2013

Our lives have become totally ruined by this company. Unfortunately, commiserating with each other, while helping to alleviate anxiety, will not solve the problem. I have thought of this option, and some friends have suggested the same thing, Class Action Suit! There must be a way we can recoup our lost wages. I cannot believe that what this company has done to us is legal. It may take awhile, but aside from finding another job that pays better (which is just not available), I believe our only recourse as a group is to file a Class Action Suit against the company. I do not know how to do this, but if anyone has any experience or knowledege in this area, perhaps you could share with us. This company has RUINED too many lives to be allowed to get away with this! Perhaps the Atty General will agree....

Nuff Said....

But over what? - Frustrated

[ In Reply To ..]
I think we need to take a stand and do something. Whether that is a class action lawsuit, I don't know. But I am curious as to what you think we could sue for?

you can sue for - curiousMT

[ In Reply To ..]
mandatory time spent without compensation. This has been brought up before but the ball was dropped. You can sue for our so-called "paid 15 minute breaks" which they claim to be included in our CPL pay. Say WHAT?! Yes, true. and also time on Fiesa. I was told that this too is "included" in our CPL pay although they refuse to call it mandatory job requirement. They of course can't provide a formula to break down the CPL pay but just want us to accept it as so. If I'm not producing lines I'm not paid - period. How can Fiesa and our 15 minute breaks be paid by our CPL? Let's see, based on minimum wage of $7.25/hr, two 15 minute breaks per day x 5 days per week x 52 weeks = $942 per year x how many employees? Multiply that by how many years you worked for them. I could sure use that money now.

Mandatory time - burnedoutco

[ In Reply To ..]
Feel kind of beaten down today. Was informed that I got $1.70 MUP (make up pay) and this was just not good enough and in so many words threatened with termination if it happened again. At the hospitals I worked for over the years,we had required lines per hour but there were allowances for two 15 minute breaks. So if the lines per hour were 150, then that was multiplied by 7-1/2 hours (actually 7 as we got time allowed for e-mails, research, etc.), not 8 hours. I often don't take breaks, would really not get enough lines if I did this often. I do sign out for bathroom breaks though. I guess no one is forcing us to work at this company, but something seems wrong here. It helps to know you are not alone. How can we get together to form a support group maybe outside of MT stars? Feel very down and depressed today.

burnedoutco can you explain please - Pauline

[ In Reply To ..]
I am with a company that Nuance recently bought and trying to see what to expect when the changes start taking place. What do you mean by make up pay and it was not good enough and threatened with termination if it happened again. If what happened again?

Thank you or anyone else who can give me some insight. I have been reading the Nuance board since we were told the news and I understand there is no worse company to work for. That I already know. But I don't understand why you would be fired.

Make up pay. - burnedoutco

[ In Reply To ..]
Make up pay (MUP). Each state has their own minimum wage. Where I live it is almost $8 an hour. The company has to pay you minimum wage for your state. So I have to make around $8 an hour average. Unbelievably, if I get a lot of ESL dictators and/or short reports in voice recognition,and just have a really bad week occasionally, I am a little short (one week $1.70). That is the one thing they absolutely hate you to get is MUP, so I think if you get it three times or maybe three times in a row, I have been told you would be terminated. On the other hand, if you make any kind of mistake, miss a comma where they think it should be, or even if you don't make the mistake and the QC makes it and then you have to get it reversed, it makes you kind of jumpy. Not a good company to work for. Try it for a while but have some options lined up is my advice.

At-will employer - sm - screwed

[ In Reply To ..]
Every time I have contacted anyone about this, labor board and DOJ, they have told me since it was an at-will employer I had to either comply with their requirements or I could quit. I think we're just screwed. I only hope that karma will indeed bite them in the backside.

Being "at will" does not mean you have no rights. - curiousMT

[ In Reply To ..]
Whoever you spoke with was incorrect. You should not have to quit your job when you are lied to or taken advantage of. I, unfortunately, live in a state that does not require mandatory breaks so I can't sue for break time. But if you do live in a state that requires breaks sue-away!

I think the only grounds.... - just me

[ In Reply To ..]
that would stand up to a lawsuit is the ridiculous amount of time we spend on our own dime because of Fiesa, plus the fact that we never actually get paid for our "paid" breaks. Unfortunately class action lawsuits rarely get those who file them much money - and in the case of when there was the one in the past with MedQuist all that won was the lawyers and AAMT who managed to get their greedy hands on money due to the MTs by promising to offer free subscrptions to them - which most people didn't want. However, if there's a lawsuit I'd sure fill an attorney's ear full! If I didn't despise lawyers so much I'd talk to one about all of this.

I completely agree, but also I question the legality - of the 3-month no bonus

[ In Reply To ..]
I ask you, what if you work at McDonald's and drop a hamburger and they say, whoops, you are going to be docked for 3 months $100 a week for that. What? Or even if a nurse makes a minor error in a medication or messes up an IV? He/she will get disciplined verbally, perhaps made to take a course or two, but financially? I doubt very much whether they would be able to reduce a nurse's compensation no matter what the mistake. Fire maybe, cut your pay, no.

I personally find that part of Nuance employment the most heinous and questionably legal. Already my salary has gone down $10,000-$20,000 a year, now I have to contend with the fact that one "major" error or a combination of many minor ones (thanks to the huge increase in personnel which seem to be there to expressly do us out of a bonus) I will literally be making minimum wage.

What other profession has to deal with this harsh financial penalty for making an error? What other MTSO does this to their people?

That's what I wonder. Why is this legal? It's hard enough to budget with the shrinking income. To have to witness it reducing even more, especially when even checking and responding to these errors is unpaid, we are being forced to consent to our own undoing and I can't see a way to fight this without legal help, not even sure with legal help.

But can this really be legal? Because I really can't think of any other profession where you get penalized financially for mistakes, not a warning, not a plan for improvement, just by them picking out mistakes on a daily basis and then you are not eligible for the "bonus" which should have been part of your salary anyway. Is it the piece worker thing or what? I just don't see how this is fair and it really should not be legal.

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