Legal Question in Employment Law in Virginia
I work for a hospital as a medical transcriber. The new director of our department brought in an outsource service, which I have learned she is on their manager payroll - those of us employed by the hospital have a set schedule to adhere to, in addition to an hourly quota to meet, however, the outsource service is allowed to work 24/7, thereby at times leaving no work for the employees of the hospital to do. We have been told that we have to "work to the workload" and that we are required to meet our quota "even if you have to log on outside of your schedule". This in essence means that I could be tied to my PC 10-12 hours per day competing for work to make my quota. I am paid only by production, per line rate, but I am a full time employee. Is this legal in Virginia to give employees schedules but provide no work during that schedule requiring employees to work longer hours to maintain a quota standard set by the hospital?
1 Answer from Attorneys
If you are in fact considered an hourly as opposed to a salaried employee of
the hospital, then any hours which you work exceeding 40 in any given week
must be compensated to you at the rate of time and one half according to
U.S. Department of Labor rules. And, if that's not happening, you could
file a complaint with the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) and
request an investigation.