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Wages / OOW - Labor Commissioner Ruling - Anonymous

Posted: Apr 18, 2013

I had a hearing with the California State Labor Commissioner today. I won the case and settled. Because of the wage issues discussed and OOW rules (“waiting for work”), California State enforced the below and the company was advised to abide by these accounting rules and California State Laws. These were the issues covered. Please pay particular attention to OOW.

MINIMUM WAGE: Even though we are production based, Nuance is required to pay us at least minimum wage for the hours we work, which is according to the state you are in or the federal minimum wage rate. So if you earn less than minimum in production in an 8 hour shift, they must pay you up to the minimum wage. Also, if you make less than minimum wage, they cannot add in your O/T, training hours, administrative hours, or anything that is paid at a different rate into figuring out what your hourly rate is when computing O/T and D/T and then covert it to the minimum wage amount. They also cannot include minimum wage make up into an hourly rate with production to figure out an hourly wage to pay O/T and D/T. Also, administration time has to be paid at the written agreed upon amount unless the employer has notified you of a change in pay rate in writing 30 days before.

OVER-TIME: O/T must be calculated at your hourly pay, so if you only made minimum wage it would be time and a half at your states minimum wage rate. If you had production and made over minimum wage, you would figure out your hourly wage at the end of the week by dividing your production lines into your hours worked to come up with your hourly, then it would be calculated at time and a half of that.

DOUBLE-TIME: D/T is only if you work seven straight days in a row and you work OVER 8 HOURS ON THAT DAY, then the time over 8 hours is double time, but the first 8 hours is only time and a half (O/T).

OUT OF WORK “OOW”: Per California State Labor Commissioner, if we are required to work between a certain time on certain days and are expected to be available and checking for work (checking computer for e-mails from supervisor, checking jobs to see if anything loads), then you are considered "waiting for work" according to the State of California and must be compensated for your shift. If you came to work and say only worked an hour, then had to clock out OOW, but was required to keep checking the computer for e-mails to come back to work or checking to see if jobs load, then you are considered "waiting for working" and must be compensated for this. If you clock out OOW and don't check for work and can leave the house, turn off the computer, not check for work, and are not available to work during your shift schedule (because they had you clock out OOW and you could leave the house), then you wouldn't be compensated for it. But if they called you to come back during your "required shift schedule" because there was work now, then they are to compensate you for being available during that entire shift, because you were "waiting for work,"

I hope this helps some of you. If you are having issues, file a complaint with your State Labor Commissioner.

UPDATE: I had to amend to abide by MTStars posting policies of copies of any info in company e-mails and reps. Sorry.

Next logical step is they will no longer employ people from CA - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
They will fire all of us who live here and only hire people who live in states who could care less about the worker.

In the end, the little guy never wins. I can't say I am pleased to read this, as I live in CA and can now expect to get fired from Nuance.

Thanks.

Wages / OOW - Labor Commissioner Ruling - Anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
Sad you feel this way. Can't make things better if you don't fight for everyone's rights in this field. Guess you'd rather bow down and let them walk all over you. I'm not trying to get anyone fired. I'm trying to get all of us treated fairly. Sorry I ruined your day.

OP: Link not available in original post. - Can you repost it? Thanks!

[ In Reply To ..]
nervous California girl here.

Little guy has never won - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
I care about one thing only and that is feeding my kids. I don't have the luxury of risking my, and everyone else's, job for a cause.

Also, I truly do not believe that you can ever win against a big corporation.

It must be nice to have a safety net so you can tilt at windmills. At least you can sleep at night knowing you fought the good fight. Me, I will be living in my car.

Wages / OOW - Labor Commissioner Ruling - Anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
I don't have a safety net either and will end up in my car. I'm no different than you, except I believe in employee rights and hope I can help if at all possible. Sorry you take it the negative way. Not trying to hurt anyone.

Your attitude is exactly why... - Shaking My Head

[ In Reply To ..]
...MTs have been treated badly in the first place. There was a time when MTs had a lot of room to bargain, but it was every one for themselves, even though they could calculate their shrinking pay, never knew what decent healthcare benefits were despite performing a job integral to the industry, watched as QA was used as a punitive club to take more of their pay/benefits, and to demote or even layoff/fire them...all the while telling MTs they would be replaced in a few short years (that was 30 years ago).

You should be thanking this person for making a medical transcription employer either fix their manner of business, or get out of the business rather than simpering about how you don't have a safety net because you choose to work for the industry's worst.

Hah, not hardly - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
Corporations and greed are why we are here.

We have NO POWER. You are going to be very disillusioned when you realize this fact.

The Employer will not "fix" anything, they will simply move on to another state, as each state has different labor laws. Or, as we all know, they will move more off-shore.

I am not the problem, but hey if it makes you feel better, that's fine.

I won't be thanking anyone who makes my life more difficult with fantasy-like thinking that they have the power to "change" things.

WE HAVE POWER - if we use it - wheres_my_job

[ In Reply To ..]
a big part of human history all over the planet, is how people who had "no power" got some for themselves. We can get some for ourselves. It's not FANTASY, it's HISTORY or HERSTORY, as you prefer.

Sorry, in this case history is not on our sides - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
See, here's the thing, in this particular fight we have NO power. They don't need us anymore. We have no bargaining chip.

They will simply do business in states with lax labor laws and then they will off-shore all of it. It can happen, it has happened in other industries. History backs that up. To believe otherwise is pure fantasy.

Yes, we have power - we have to exercise it - collectively - wheres_my_job

[ In Reply To ..]
History doesn't back up your claims. What you posit is pure fantasy. So we disagree.

You are simply wrong... - Shaking My Head

[ In Reply To ..]
The evidence is that there will always be a place for MTs in the foreseeable future as long as narrative documentation is required for billing purposes. This current process of learning that the EHR is not a perfect system will prove this fact.

As I said, MTs used to have the power... - Shaking My Head

[ In Reply To ..]
They were sole proprietors running their business. They didn't have to pay out of their pocket for some inept middle management or money-grubbing CEO salaries. That is power. The quality of the work was also immensely better then as well. The corporations walked in and took over because documenting what the doctors had and had not dictated and where it was in the flow of the process was the problem. MTs were doing just fine on their end of it.

I'm not disillusioned. I'm well-informed and have decades in this field starting out at a much higher hourly rate than I make these days in this field. It's simple micro economics. These labor issues that have become industry wide followed up an influx of under-trained MTs who plunked down several grand to have someone wave a magic wand over their head and *poof* in 6 months one is ready to take on the world of medical transcription. Those of us who had a career once, have watched it crumble into barely a job thanks to the opportunists. You can count yourself in with the corporations on that point.

Wages / OOW - Labor Commissioner Ruling - Anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
Thank you. I appreciate your understanding where I came from and my true intention.

I like the original post about the ruling - medical monkey

[ In Reply To ..]
I am glad that you won your suit. It is far and few between to see that the little man does win. For now, I have chosen to continue working with the MTSO, but this will not always be the case. I am bidding my time and printing out all the time/line papers we have to approve each week. Many of them have a lot of over time that I have not been compensated for. One day there will be a reckoning for that. For now, I must keep my job, but I will keep that paper trail ace in the hole. ;)

A day of "reckoning" for a Corporation?? - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
It simply does not happen. The original post is a "win" for no one and certainly not a "loss" for Nuance.

Again, they will simply move their business elsewhere. They go where the profit is and when we cause more trouble than we are worth, they simply discard us and move along.

Please do enlighten me as to how I am wrong about any of this.

It does happen - all the time - wheres_my_job

[ In Reply To ..]
They move their business elsewhere - they'll STILL have a day of reckoning somewhere down the line. It's inescapable, if excruciatingly slow. People only put up with injustice for so long.

AMEN! (nm) - Bilboa

[ In Reply To ..]
x

Your attitude is how they are CRUSHING US - wheres_my_job

[ In Reply To ..]
If nobody tilts at windmills, the vast majority of Americans will be living in dire poverty. We MUST tilt at windmills!!!!

Don't apologize - you did a great thing - wheres_my_job

[ In Reply To ..]
I totally appreciate it, and the ruling you got. Just need to make it national, not state, decision.

You nailed the problem. It is a state thing and always will be - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
And if the fed were ever to do anything, which they won't due to the fact that corporate lobbyists run the government, then the MTSOs will simply move the jobs offshore completely and quickly.

So you see in the end we don't have jobs. Is that your goal? I don't see losing my job as a win. Lofty ideals don't feed the kids.

Life ain't fair and the fantastical thinking that it is, is actually the problem.

Wrong, it won't always be a state thing - wheres_my_job

[ In Reply To ..]
The corporate model we have now is NOT sustainable long term. Too much concentration of wealth ALWAYS self-destructs - and history backs this up all over the globe.

We make life fair, and to think otherwise is fantastical thinking, as you put it. You ignore the movements throughout history that created change.

Well, dreams are a good thing to have. - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
The only change coming in the MT world is for all of the work to go overseas.

I don't begrudge you the dream that some day all will be well. It would be grand if you were correct. Too bad it just isn't going to happen.

The jobs are going ever more quickly overseas and already some companies will not hire you if you live in a pesky state with strong labor laws.

This will not end well for the MT. You speak of historical changes that have little or no bearing on this particularly situation. This isn't some big national movement, this is an invisible industry. Most people don't have a clue what we do when they ask what our job is.

Crystal ball time - the future of MT in the USA is that there isn't one.

If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem (nm). - Shaking My Head

[ In Reply To ..]
.

Not necessarily, you can also be neutral and have no - clue whats going on.

[ In Reply To ..]

seriously? - dumbmove_by_you

[ In Reply To ..]
By posting an email from your COM about OOW, you have just reduced the number of possible MLS who work for Nuance who could have re-posted, without permission I might add. That you are from California further reduces the possible MLS. Putting the bullseye right on your forehead is the fact that you showed your hand about a meeting with Nuance attorneys and the wage commission. Do you really think that Nuance cannot track the author of that email? I am pretty sure they have the capability to store all emails coming and going onto their servers. One might think twice before posting such things with identifiers in the topic that could increminate one's self. You may think you have won and that you have the upper hand but I seriously doubt the outcome will be as you expect. This may not be the highest paying job I have had as an MLS but in this age of technology and off-shoring I am grateful to have a transcription job at all but I do want to thank you for further twisting the screws into the rest of us from California by giving the remaining transcription services another reason to exclude us from future employment.

rights - Des

[ In Reply To ..]
Your post literally screams that you might just be an angry suit from Nuance who's trying to turn us all against the OP.

The OP had every right to fight for her rights, regardless of the state in which she lives. The info in her post is meant to inspire the rest of us to do the same in our states. She's showing us that it is possible to fight back... and win.

In summation, you're UNhappy that she won a battle for the rights of MTs, but you're perfectly happy working for unfair wages at Nuance. Hmm.

If you really are an MT and you want to work for pennies on the dollar, that's your business. The rest of us are sick of it.

in case you didn't know - DPMT

[ In Reply To ..]
There is a federal lawsuit on this same issue right now that 13 people, former workers from Transcend (now owned by Nuance) filed. It has been approved by the judge to be a class action suit, so it will soon be open to all employees past and present from as far as 3 years back. It addresses ALL of the issues brought by the original poster as their practices as the MT posted violates federal labor and wage laws. THIS is a national issue, and they will have to change how they do things. MANY other companies are watching what happens as it will affect how they run their business also.

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