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SLP salary and raises
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amother
OP


 

Post Tue, May 17 2022, 11:27 pm
Why is it that my agency only pays $62 an hour (im a SLP in bk)

with the rate of inflation you would think our salaries would go up.
I read of all these other threads of women asking for raises every year. ive been at my agency 6 years and havent received a raised once. Actually I was $60 as a CF lol and then $62 when I got my Cs bh...
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amother
Slateblue


 

Post Tue, May 17 2022, 11:57 pm
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amother
Maroon


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 12:00 am
Same here, OP, I think we work for the same agency Smile

It is absolutely mind boggling to me that there are zero increases ever. I will be making the same rate the day that I retire as I do now. What other field works this way?

I really regret going into this field. It was such difficult and intense schooling, I took out loans that I am still paying back, and it really does not have such a high potential. Even working in public school only gets you so far.
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amother
Ultramarine


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 12:03 am
It's time for all of you SLP'S to band together and demand a pay raise. People are constantly complaining about the low salary certain agency's are getting away with paying.
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amother
DarkGreen


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 12:18 am
There are definitely many agencies in Brooklyn who pay way more than that. You should really call up other agencies. Especially these days with enhanced rates...
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amother
Hosta


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 12:57 am
The real question is what is the Medicaid reimbursement rate and has that increased. Your agency is going to pocket as much of the money as they can, but the reality is taht your rate is going to be primary dictated by what you bring into the agency. Without therapists, they can’t take on work (or get paid) but without agencies you are not going to have work, unless you are a participating practitioner with a contact with EI/whatever population you work with, and insurance provider. You need to realize that your pay and value to the agency (like mine as a RDN) is based on reimbursable rates-which have not increased with inflation. Remember that they also have office/computer program/billing/receptionist expense and the owners of agencies are often greedy and they first to fill their pockets at the expense and off the backs of their employees.

Good luck getting your raise. I genuinely hope you have success but I am personally burned out and disgusted with the system. I love what I do and care about my patients but really detest agency and ECF owners and resent how little the insurance companies value our work.
(Sorry if this ended up being my vent)
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amother
Cognac


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 1:57 am
I am an agency ‘owner’ in Lakewood, NJ, and am sorry if you ‘detest’ me. You have no idea how little money I make for living and breathing my work. Insurance companies often pay less than the private pay rate, require a lot of paperwork that I need a secretary for, and oftentimes deny payment. I pay my therapists $70-$75 per hour, based on experience, and am probably going up to $80 next year because of inflation. I also pay a certain amount for clients who don’t show (ie I take the loss instead of the therapist). After paying their hourly rate plus tax, I make about $30 per hour. And out of that comes all the expenses of running a business. So yeah…you can do the math. I’m sorry if your job doesn’t pay well and doesn’t give raises. Maybe you want to run the agency instead. But I don’t think wanting to make a living wage after working so hard is really ‘greedy’. It’s always easy to count someone else’s money….
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amother
Peachpuff


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 6:58 am
If the reimbursement rate for your services doesn't go up, of insurance/EI or whoever don't pay your boss more then he may not have much more to give you. In the last 10 years the only word I have heard in healthcare is "cut" especially with medicare or insurance based services.
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amother
Pearl


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 7:00 am
Because the doe reimbursement rate hasn't gone up.
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amother
Winterberry


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 7:24 am
I'm an SLP OOT and the agencies here pay $46 an hour. It's criminal. $62 sound alike a dream.
(And before you say the cost of living here is lower, it's not. I live in a very expensive city. Homes for rent in my neighborhood are 4k a month right now!)
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amother
Pearl


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 7:50 am
Many slps also work five hours a day, 4 days a week and not even 10 months a year. They have off every Jewish holiday, and many other days. Their job has flexibility so they take off for appointments, when their kids are sick etc....in reality they are working very part time. $62 an hour can make a decent salary if you put in enough hours. Yes I agree it stinks there is no raises, but if you work hourly you really need to calculate how many hours you are actually working before you complain. Office workers typically put in many more hours and aren't off every other minute. I don't know many office workers making $60 an hour. Other professionals with a masters also typically put in more hours than the part time speech therapist does and therefore brings home more money. Slp is a great job in terms of flexibility, but if you don't work enough you will obviously see it in your paycheck.
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amother
Chambray


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 8:20 am
amother [ Cognac ] wrote:
I am an agency ‘owner’ in Lakewood, NJ, and am sorry if you ‘detest’ me. You have no idea how little money I make for living and breathing my work. Insurance companies often pay less than the private pay rate, require a lot of paperwork that I need a secretary for, and oftentimes deny payment. I pay my therapists $70-$75 per hour, based on experience, and am probably going up to $80 next year because of inflation. I also pay a certain amount for clients who don’t show (ie I take the loss instead of the therapist). After paying their hourly rate plus tax, I make about $30 per hour. And out of that comes all the expenses of running a business. So yeah…you can do the math. I’m sorry if your job doesn’t pay well and doesn’t give raises. Maybe you want to run the agency instead. But I don’t think wanting to make a living wage after working so hard is really ‘greedy’. It’s always easy to count someone else’s money….



You sound like a great boss! I have a specific niche that hardly any SLPs in Lakewood had. I interviewed by an agency that really could use that niche and she told me the MOST she can pay is 65 an hour. I beleive her but I'm wondering how you pay so much. Do you take medicaid clients?
I didnt take the job and I do EI which pays more and which I enjoy a bunch.
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amother
Hosta


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 9:07 am
amother [ Cognac ] wrote:
I am an agency ‘owner’ in Lakewood, NJ, and am sorry if you ‘detest’ me. You have no idea how little money I make for living and breathing my work. Insurance companies often pay less than the private pay rate, require a lot of paperwork that I need a secretary for, and oftentimes deny payment. I pay my therapists $70-$75 per hour, based on experience, and am probably going up to $80 next year because of inflation. I also pay a certain amount for clients who don’t show (ie I take the loss instead of the therapist). After paying their hourly rate plus tax, I make about $30 per hour. And out of that comes all the expenses of running a business. So yeah…you can do the math. I’m sorry if your job doesn’t pay well and doesn’t give raises. Maybe you want to run the agency instead. But I don’t think wanting to make a living wage after working so hard is really ‘greedy’. It’s always easy to count someone else’s money….

Clearly I have offended you and if you are one of the few yashar owners, I truly do apologize. To be honest, I am thinking of a a few specific agency owners I know/know of and an ECF chain. They provide inferior food, are short staffed and underpaid their employees. They complain and state it is due to poor reimbursement, but then in the community they live in mansions, are dripping in jewelry, are major financial players (and show offs) have over the top simchas…..
(And I had Shabbos lunch with one who couldn’t stop taking about how lazy the therapists and nurses are, but it is ok as at the end of the day they make peanuts and she is making plenty of money off their backs)

Yes, there are good and bad people in every field. Ones that are in it to help and make a living, and those that are in it to get rich off of the backs of others. You are clearly in it for the right reason.
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stillnewlywed




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 9:13 am
Why is $62 an hour not a lot of money? Is there no option to work full time at $62 an hour?
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amother
Pearl


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 9:45 am
stillnewlywed wrote:
Why is $62 an hour not a lot of money? Is there no option to work full time at $62 an hour?


There are options. But many women don't want to work full time. And they want to be off in the summer. And whenever their kids are off. And to have flexibility. They just want to get paid as if they are working full time. LOL
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stillnewlywed




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 10:01 am
amother [ Pearl ] wrote:
There are options. But many women don't want to work full time. And they want to be off in the summer. And whenever their kids are off. And to have flexibility. They just want to get paid as if they are working full time. LOL


I will never understand this. Either you work full time and get paid for a full time job ($62 an hour x 30 hours a week is about 100k) or you work less and get paid less Banging head
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amother
Maroon


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 10:41 am
Many posts here are unfair to SLP's. Let me explain:

1. Saying we works 5 hours a day is not true. A school day goes from 9-4. We are FORCED to take an UNPAID lunch break (how can you force me to do something that we are not getting paid for?!?). So the most you can work in a school day is 6.5 hours. Friday only goes from 9-12. Many speech therapists (including myself) work evenings and sundays in addition to bring in more income.

2. Saying we have off for Jewish holdiays - um duh, everyone I know has off for jewish holidays. And most get paid for it. My agency gives us a calendar in the beginning of the year with a list of dates that we are NOT ALLOWED to work. Why are we not paid for those days?

3. It's true we have flexibility. But most of us rarely take off, because we cannot afford to. I have forced myself to work even when I was sick (yes, even when it may have been covid, I did not test) because I could not afford to take off.

4. Remember that we do not get paid for student absences. I lost out a ton because of student absences due to covid/flu (remember this past December when everyone had the flu?). Agencies got so much govt funding due to covid. They should have designed some sort of system where they paid
us at least partially due to student absences.

5. We have an insane amount of paperwork at home, all on unpaid time

6. Therapy is an extremely draining job, physically mentally and emotionally. I currently do over 60 sessions a week and have a caseload of approx 25+ students. But I'm not a robot and I cannot churn out session after session after session. I do it because I need the money. But many days I am not functioning at my best. I've heard complaints that school-based therapists are great. You know what? Treat us better and we will do a better job. Pay us for a lunch break. Pay a higher rate so I don't have to manage a massive caseload. Pay for student absences.
Right now, the only way I can increase my income is by taking on more sessions. There was one year when I did close to 80 sessions a week because we were not doing well financially. It was awful. And my sessions were definitely not great. But what should I have done?
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stillnewlywed




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 10:48 am
amother [ Maroon ] wrote:
Many posts here are unfair to SLP's. Let me explain:

1. Saying we works 5 hours a day is not true. A school day goes from 9-4. We are FORCED to take an UNPAID lunch break (how can you force me to do something that we are not getting paid for?!?). So the most you can work in a school day is 6.5 hours. Friday only goes from 9-12. Many speech therapists (including myself) work evenings and sundays in addition to bring in more income.

2. Saying we have off for Jewish holdiays - um duh, everyone I know has off for jewish holidays. And most get paid for it. My agency gives us a calendar in the beginning of the year with a list of dates that we are NOT ALLOWED to work. Why are we not paid for those days?

3. It's true we have flexibility. But most of us rarely take off, because we cannot afford to. I have forced myself to work even when I was sick (yes, even when it may have been covid, I did not test) because I could not afford to take off.

4. Remember that we do not get paid for student absences. I lost out a ton because of student absences due to covid/flu (remember this past December when everyone had the flu?). Agencies got so much govt funding due to covid. They should have designed some sort of system where they paid
us at least partially due to student absences.

5. We have an insane amount of paperwork at home, all on unpaid time

6. Therapy is an extremely draining job, physically mentally and emotionally. I currently do over 60 sessions a week and have a caseload of approx 25+ students. But I'm not a robot and I cannot churn out session after session after session. I do it because I need the money. But many days I am not functioning at my best. I've heard complaints that school-based therapists are great. You know what? Treat us better and we will do a better job. Pay us for a lunch break. Pay a higher rate so I don't have to manage a massive caseload. Pay for student absences.
Right now, the only way I can increase my income is by taking on more sessions. There was one year when I did close to 80 sessions a week because we were not doing well financially. It was awful. And my sessions were definitely not great. But what should I have done?


Is the only option to work in a school?
Because I work in an office (in a specialized field) and I work erev yt and chol hamoed and I do not get paid for days of yt that I take off. I also work when I am sick because I can't afford to take off whenever I please. I work at night if needed and I have a 30+ minute commute each way. I don't have off midwinter vacation or chanuka vacation or summer vacation so I pay a fortune for daycare so I have coverage for my kids. I make significantly less than you per hour. I don't complain because a job is a job and I love what I do.
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amother
Pearl


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 10:48 am
amother [ Maroon ] wrote:
Many posts here are unfair to SLP's. Let me explain:

1. Saying we works 5 hours a day is not true. A school day goes from 9-4. We are FORCED to take an UNPAID lunch break (how can you force me to do something that we are not getting paid for?!?). So the most you can work in a school day is 6.5 hours. Friday only goes from 9-12. Many speech therapists (including myself) work evenings and sundays in addition to bring in more income.

2. Saying we have off for Jewish holdiays - um duh, everyone I know has off for jewish holidays. And most get paid for it. My agency gives us a calendar in the beginning of the year with a list of dates that we are NOT ALLOWED to work. Why are we not paid for those days?

3. It's true we have flexibility. But most of us rarely take off, because we cannot afford to. I have forced myself to work even when I was sick (yes, even when it may have been covid, I did not test) because I could not afford to take off.

4. Remember that we do not get paid for student absences. I lost out a ton because of student absences due to covid/flu (remember this past December when everyone had the flu?). Agencies got so much govt funding due to covid. They should have designed some sort of system where they paid
us at least partially due to student absences.

5. We have an insane amount of paperwork at home, all on unpaid time

6. Therapy is an extremely draining job, physically mentally and emotionally. I currently do over 60 sessions a week and have a caseload of approx 25+ students. But I'm not a robot and I cannot churn out session after session after session. I do it because I need the money. But many days I am not functioning at my best. I've heard complaints that school-based therapists are great. You know what? Treat us better and we will do a better job. Pay us for a lunch break. Pay a higher rate so I don't have to manage a massive caseload. Pay for student absences.
Right now, the only way I can increase my income is by taking on more sessions. There was one year when I did close to 80 sessions a week because we were not doing well financially. It was awful. And my sessions were definitely not great. But what should I have done?


The answer to all this is to work in a different setting. But as you probably know, every setting comes with its own set of problems and that's why you are choosing to stay as an agency therapist. I work for the doe. Leave my house at 7:15 am. Work till 3 on Friday. Work erev Yom tov, chol hamoed, and when my kids are off. I lose money when I take off for Jewish holidays. I don't bring paperwork home. I get paid for absences. There are pros and cons to every job. You obviously stick with the agency job for a reason. And I stick with the doe despite its hardships and terrible environment because I need the salary and benefits.
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amother
Maroon


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 12:09 pm
I think the bottom line is that speech therapy just isn't the amazing wonderful field it is made out to be, no matter how you slice it.

Even public school (and imas who work in PS can correct me)- it's not like there is amazing earning potential. I think after about 30 years or so, you max at about 120 000? That's not great for a masters level job.

The schooling is so long, intense and difficult. The student loans are exorbitant. Once you're willing to go through that, there are other fields that have much higher earning and growth potential (for some ideas, you can listen to the episode "high paying jobs and where to find them" on the kosher money podcast. Spoiler alert- therapy isnt one of them!!)

If you google "average salary for an SLP" -it's reply nothing special, even in the secular world it's not a super high paying field. I don't know why it's glorified so much in the frum world. Maybe because the frum colleges like touro promote it a lot? The reality is that it's a difficult, draining job with a tremendous amount of work at home after hours, and a mediocre salary with no growth potential.

Our frum life is so expensive, and we should be encouraging our girls to go into jobs that are high paying with significant growth potential.

The only people who should be going into speech therapy are those who truly love the field and will enjoy it.
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