Signed contract as an IC, now want out of it.

[kittykat60]

What is the name of your state? I am in Illinois

I signed a contract to work as an IC as a medical transcriptionist, at home, for a company in California. I was guaranteed part-time work. In the last two weeks, 3 days I received no work, and other days, just a few reports instead of about 10 that I should receive.

I would like to get out of the contract due to lack of work. The contract states 30 days notice on either parties' part. Can I break a contract because they are not providing me enough work? I'd like to go elsewhere.

Thank you

 

[Beth3]

You're asking us to comment on how you can get out of a contract when no one here has read it or can possibly read it. If you want an expert legal opinion, then you're going to have to show it to an attorney. If you don't want to spend the money to see an attorney, then you can tell the employer they're in breech of the contract and that you're going to resign. Then see what happens.

 

[pattytx]

Was this one of those "work from home" ads you see on Monster, for example? I always thought those were scams.

I have no idea of the terms and validity of the "contract", but it's only 30 days after all. What does the agreement say about this "guarantee"? Very few employers "guarantee work". You just never know what the business will bring and guaranteeing any amount of work, especially to an IC, would be a pretty stupid decision for the company. You can always give your 30-day notice and do what little work is sent you during that period, and spend your productive time looking for another position.

 

[Impatiens]

Transcription Contracts

I've worked as a medical transcriptionist/IC for 20 years. I have never seen a transcription contract that specified quantity of work. Many are new doctors to an area in private practice who start with only a few patients and build up to hundreds. Are you requried to pick up and deliver work or do you work via modem or Internet? If you don't deliver, why not just pick up more accounts to supplement? If you deliver, I always added a clause charging them for pick ups where there was no work. I also added a clause requiring notification before doctor vacations so I could predict work flow and meet other deadlines.

Transciption IC work is difficult as we MTs have to guarantee turnaround within a period of time, even if a doctor decides to do a week's worth of dictation on Sunday and bombard you with it Monday. It is good to have subcontractors set up for overflow.

Can you post the contract here excluding personal information?

Impatiens in California

 

[kittykat60]

Answering some questions

Thank you all for your comments. I was not guaranteed in the contract, a certain amount of hours, but was guaranteed in corresponding in email with the lady at the company, part-time,which would be 500 lines a day. I work over the internet, what they do is put work in my queue. Last Friday and Saturday there was nothing in there. I do have another account I can fall back on in times like these, but this work was to be done in the morning and my other account has good coverage in the morning, so I can't depend to much on that.

I wrote an email to them today and told them that I needed to have a job with more steady work and that I was not going to be able to continue working for them, and their reply was accepting my decision and they never mentioned the contract, so I guess I'm not going to have problems with them.

I usually don't work with companies who request a contract because of this type of situation.

Thank you again for all your insights and comments.