I removed much of the most recent part of this thread. Please keep responses on topic; that is directly concerning the school in question, and not about any posters’ perceived motivations, etc.
I’ve been saving this update about the American teacher because I wanted to hear more, but given the recent resurgence of interest 
in Jump Start, I’ll share it now.
He lost the final appeal, and the Supreme Court’s reasoning is basically a condensed version of what the High Court said (nothing unusual).
I was looking forward to this because it might have shed some light on the 1946 Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation Between the Republic of China and the United States of America, Art. 2 Par. 2 & 3 of which are rather interesting:
There’s an inconsistency between Art. 52 of the Employment Service Act and Art. 9 of the Labor Standards Act, so even though an employment* contract can be for an indefinite (permanent) term, a foreigner’s employment contract cannot, unless the foreigner is subject to ESA Art. 51 Par. 1 (including permanent residents). Mr. American Teacher’s contract had no visible expiration date, and he was married to a Taiwanese, but nonetheless he was not a permanent resident and not subject to Art. 51 at the time of the disputed resignation, so the contract was deemed a fixed term contract in accordance with Art. 52. Presumably, he argued that this is inconsistent with the Treaty, yet the Supreme Court merely stated that Art. 6 (not Art. 2) of the Treaty is inapplicable because it concerns due process, protection of life and property, and so on, not employment rights.
*(the distinction between “labor” and “employment” is irrelevant in this case)
The SC also said Interpretation #726 of the Council of Grand Justices is inapplicable because it concerns Art. 84-1 of the LSA, to which buxiban teachers are not subject. Presumably, his point in bringing up Int. 726 was that he was claiming the work permit issue of the ESA is purely administrative and that therefore a contract can still be civilly valid even if it’s administratively invalid, but the SC did not directly address this. (The full text of Int. 726 including concurrence & dissent is quite long, and I haven’t read the whole thing yet.)
The SC also found the Consumer Protection Act and the Fair Trading Act inapplicable because the two sides didn’t have a consumer relationship. Iirc the point of bringing these up in the first appeal was that consumers can withdraw consent in a timely manner, the claim being that this should apply to employment contracts and disputed resignations mutatis mutandis.
He also argued that the contract’s loss of validity upon completion of the term (the term being set by law but not disclosed in the contract itself) constituted obvious unfairness and was therefore invalid due to Art. 247-1 of the Civil Code. The SC found that loss of validity upon completion of the term was the “natural result” of the contract, so Art. 247-1 is inapplicable.
His case seems to have been doomed anyway, because he simply didn’t have enough evidence to prove he was coerced into signing the resignation letter. The SC (which of course merely reviewed the facts found by the first two courts) did not find the inconsistency between statements by different witnesses sufficient to prove the employee was coerced into resigning or fired by the employer (至[…]書寫之具結書，內容與上開證人之證述不符，不足據以認定上訴人係遭脅迫辭職或解僱).
So, the company (or rather the buxiban, technically) wins and can defend its oh-so-squeaky-clean reputation. 
4 Likes
Coercion is tough to prove. I’m surprised he bothered trying.
And for those of you keeping track at home.
Taiwan Buxiban industry: 100,000
English Teachers: 0
Thanks for playing.
Taiwan Buxiban industry: 99,999
English Teachers: 1
1 Like
Many cases never go to trial because they’re settled through mediation. Foreigners face extra obstacles, but at least a handful of buxiban teachers (including foreigners, occasionally) have won in court.
Unfortunately, if he was really forced into signing the papers and he has no proof of that, it’s a “my word vs their words + the signed docs” scenario, which is never ideal.
This is too bad. I was rooting for him. 
I spoke to my friend suing jump start last night. He told me his lawyer refiled back in July.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed for him.
Dan
Too true. Though it’s hard to imagine someone would go through all the trouble of getting a lawyer and going to court if it didn’t actually happen.
Too many shenanigans in this country.
Who is the 1?
Twas I.
1 Like
Yeah, I could say a lot more! They certainly did not tell me anything like that, but then again, what place would?
My point was mostly that there is indeed a lot of BS there, but there’s a lot of BS in general in teaching in Taiwan. A lot of places skirting the laws, especially with regards to tax payment.
If you’re gonna search for a completely legit buxiban job here, you’re gonna be looking for a while and you may not find out any hidden skeletons till you’ve already signed on and been there a while.
Jump Start had its positives. At times it was a lot of work, but it generally felt like the work was at least actually benefiting the students, rather than BS that didn’t actually help the kids.
In the end, it’s a business, and any time you’re dealing with a business, its end goal is to make money. Parents looking at schools would do well to remember that. If you wouldn’t completely trust a car salesman, you may not want to completely trust a school manager that is desperate to increase their enrolment because of pressure from above. Something I’ve long wanted to say to parents of students I’ve taught at many schools!
1 Like
Is this chat still going on?
What chat? It’s a thread. You bumped it. If you have some info, by all means let us know. Welcome.
Yeah, when I started working there at longan it was all new management and CTs and all-new foreign teachers. The manager was hardly ever there, she took sick leave during the thanksgiving activity. If you ever had a question to ask her, she would be busy or say “I don’t know! Why you asking me!”, the headteacher resigned as headteacher the first week. I gave my Christmas show dance choreography to the manager and she said it’s fine. I taught them the choreography for a few weeks. Then she said no! It’s not fine! You have to change it. The FT who was the previous headteacher helped me a lot and I thank her. First rehearsal at the Da-an library, one child threw up on stage and most of the kids were off during the previous weeks. The big boss saw the first rehearsal and on Friday fired me.
6 Likes
Blimey! That place sounds chaotic.
2 Likes
Ok, let me give you a quick rundown of there wonderful mentality. It’s fine, I was fired. It’s not a problem, I can find a job like yesterday. Tuesday and Thursday morning is the park time. Go to school, kids do their morning exercise then upstairs eat their snack and get ready to go to the park. They have to wear their jumpstart uniform. Come back from the park then change again and the FT has to blow dry their hair and help change back to their other clothes and make sure pack it in their bags. THEN when all this is done with a magic fucking wand! If you lucky they all ready by 11:00, you have to teach them to write. So, lunch is at 11:30. These kids have never in their life picked up a pencil and written anything. You literally have like 15 minutes to teach and show them how to write uppercase and lowercase Ee. The book is like 300 pages. So, you like to turn to page 123 please. That takes half an hour for them to just find the page. They just found the page and your CT barges in the classroom and says go to the bathroom! It’s time for lunch! Then you have to watch each child brush their teeth and some kids take photos of them brushing to show the parents. Most of your time is not teaching, when it’s time for class! The kids are like “when’s brake time? When’s park time? Drinking water, and eating snacks. I guess to sum it up, your not a teacher. Your just a nanny, caregiver, looking after rich peoples kids. That’s fine if that’s what you want to do, I don’t mean to be all negative. But, then head office comes to check the writing books and asks why the fuck these kids haven’t finished their writing? Umm… how’s about you check your school schedule and mentality.
3 Likes
I worked at the Taichung Jump Start during my first four years in Taiwan. The way I heard it, the owners of the Taichung Jump Start and the owners of the Taipei Jump Start used to be partners, but had a falling out. The Taichung Jump Start (at least the one where I worked) has since closed.
My most vivid memories of those years are the times we had to hide in empty classrooms or closets when the police would arrive for inspections. Sometimes it would make a boring day more exciting, and hey, getting paid for a half hour spent in an empty classroom ain’t bad.
1 Like