A school in Muzcha made us sign a contract. In this contract, they stipulated what we were and weren’t supposed to do. Now, they want us to sign a new document with more restrictions and penalities which fine us for various violations of their rules. These rules weren’t stated in the first contract.
The issues:
They didn’t give us a copy of our original contract after we asked for it.
Now, they have added new rules with various fines for the violations.
On the old contract and the new contract, the rules are illegal; the additional ones on the new contract have stipulated fines for the violation.
Some of the new rules are:
We have to get to the school 30 minutes before our classes or we will be fined. (We’re not paid for this time.)
We have to stay after class to sweep and mop the floor.
Everything must be done on our own time. This includes writing the material in the communication books, test making, student evaluations, etc… (In the original contract, this was supposed to be done during class time.) If we spend any of the class time for doing this, we will be fined.
In my understanding of the law, they are illegal on four accounts. They cannot deduct money from our wages and cannot force us to sign a new contract. Thirdly, they must pay us for any time that we work because we are paid hourly. Fourthly, they are breeching the first contract by having us sign the new contract.
Does anybody have any ideas about how to handle this situation?
Don’t sign the new contract. Insist that your continued work be under the original contract. At that point they either produce the contract or not. Up to them. If they can’t/won’t produce the original contract, then you can walk (get it in writing that you are not under contract).
You have a JFRV, so you shouldn’t care one bit what they may or may not tell the CLA. It’s completely irrelevant in your case. You have unlimited work rights, so there’s really nothing they can do to compel you to sign a new contract.
I agree with you about the JFRV, but they also know that I am not going to leave the island very fast. This means they can simply file suit against me for specified damages and probably win. Why? I’ve personally seen foreigners lose court cases because the judge didn’t feel the Taiwanese’s confession was reasonable. This point worries me.
Even if I could win, it would mean that I would have to go to court numerous days and lose a lot of money because of it. Then, it would be very embarrassing to tell that employer why I needed to take the day off.
What kind of penalties are specified in the original contract and for what cause? How long is left on the original contract? Ignore the second contract. You haven’t signed it, so it is irrelevant.
Also keep in mind that a suit would be expensive to your employer as well. Don’t let that intimidate you too much.
The original contract that we signed didn’t have any penalities stipulated on it. The only thing that it said was that if we didn’t do certain things we wouldn’t get a monthly bonus.
In regards to a confession, the judge asked the defendent, “Did he pay you the money?” The defendent replied, “Yes, he did.” This same dialogue had been repeated in several of the court sessions. In the verdict, they sided with the Taiwanese. It stated, “Her confessions were unreasonable.”