I have signed a contract stating if I quit before the one year contract period is up i’ll have to pay $20000 nt back to the school, I thought this would only be legal if they sponsored my ARC.
They have contributed nothing to me being in the country so is this still a legal document, do locals/native Taiwanese sign contracts like this?
These documents are fake fake fake and will not withstand any sort of scrutiny. You’re free to leave your job without consequence or penalty, and in fact you can go to NIA and get a temporary job hunter ARC.
They sponsored your ARC or not, local or foreigner, doesn’t matter. And @derpydogs is not completely correct.
If the contract of minimum service period is in violation of Article 15-1 of Labor Standard Act, it is null and void. If the contact is not in violation of the law, it is legal and valid.
Article 15-1 of Labor Standard Act
An employer shall not make a minimum service period agreement with an employee unless one of the following requirements has been met:
- The employer provides the employee with professional skills training at the employer’s expense.
- The employer provides the employee with reasonable compensation to comply with the minimum service period agreement.
The minimum service period agreement referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be considered in terms of the following conditions and shall be limited in a reasonable range: - Period and costs of the professional skills training provided by the employer to the employee concerned.
2.Possibility of replacing the employee concerned by other employees engaging in the same or a similar job.
3.Amount and scope of the compensation provided by the employer to the employee concerned.
4.Other matters influencing the reasonableness of the minimum service period.
Any agreement in violation of the preceding two paragraphs shall be null and void.
If the labor contract is terminated prior to the completion of the minimum service period due to any cause not attributable to the employee concerned, he or she shall not be deemed as violating the minimum service period agreement and shall not be obligated to reimburse the training expenses.
You need to give immigration a document that the school has released you. The school can refuse to give it to you unless you pay the fine. The school can also just take the fine out of your last pay cheque.
inbe4 hurrr they can’t do that, can as in it’s possible not legal.
Everyone: OP has indicated that his ARC is sponsored by his spouse, not the school. As OP indicated that the school did not need to take any steps to make his employment legal (such as a work permit application), I believe his spouse is local. Hence, OP does not need to take any release form of any sort to the NIA.
OP should give notice and that is it. If the school demands an early termination fee and OP did not receive any substantial costly training (examples would be employers subsidising tuition for evening master programs or paid vacation to undergo professional training courses), then OP should simply ignore their request.
I would find it very unlikely that the school would start court action over 20,000 NT, as the related fees would easily go beyond that amount. But obviously some fresh off the boat teacher with his ARC sponsored by the school might be scared enough to comply.
1 Like
I’ve also heard that if they try to take it from your final check you can complain to the labor board who will inform them that’s illegal and order them to pay. They can then sue you but its usually not worth it as Hsinhai already said.
Deductions from paychecks are illegal
2 Likes