I have been having an ongoing dispute with my current employer. I work for an international school. They have made threats which in my opinion amount to unfair dismal, further they are threatening withholding of entitlements stipulated in my contract.
Anyway, when I spoke to HR they said that international school teachers as foreign white collar workers are not covered by Taiwanese labour law. I find this very hard to believe. Is it true?
Further, is there legal recourse to stopping an administrator from contacting a new employer (I am leaving the school, which they are pissed off about as I didn’t use the head bosses as references)? This has been a treat and I do not trust the integrity of the administration and I think they will just make things up to the next employer (considering I haven’t done anything wrong bar very minor mistakes).
It is not foreign teachers but teachers in regular schools that are not covered by labor standard law. There are other laws governing teachers, though. I will put a link to the laws later if you need them.
That, the way it is written, is . What law applies then? Your country’s law? The Far West Law?
Of course the TW labour law applies, but as mentioned by @tando (who is doing the @yyy’s mods internship), it’s not the Labour Stardard Law but some other that she will link shortly.
Also, if anyone knows if it possible to get ‘cease and desist’ style letter written if I believe that my current bosses will make up things about my teaching (they have already been caught doing this) to my next employer, that would be great. I just want to know if I have any recourse about this type of behaviour.
The official interpretation that the Labor Standards Act also applies to foreigners is so old and so obvious that it almost never gets mentioned, though I suppose they should remind people every now and then.
Your international school is probably registered as a private school, which means whether or not the LSA applies to you depends on whether or not you have administrative duties in addition to your teaching duties. If I were you I would talk to the education department asap to confirm how the school is registered (and also check to see if there’s more than one business entity with similar names) and talk to the labor department asap regarding the nature of the work (pure teaching or also administration), and then get a second opinion on the nature of the work, just in case.
As for your employer’s plan to damage your reputation, talk to a lawyer asap. A properly worded legal deposit letter threatening to sue them might be sufficient.
Here the law governing retirement of private school teachets.
Act Governing the Retirement, Bereavement Compensation, Discharge with Severance Pay Benefits for the Teaching and Other Staff of School Legal Persons and their Respective Private School(s) http://law.moj.gov.tw/MOBILE/lawEng.aspx?pcode=H0150032
Whether or not the school is exclusively for “foreign” students, labor law is (theoretically) separate from education law, so OP should check with the labor department as to whether or not the LSA applies in his/her specific case.
Regulations Governing Educational Institutions at All Levels Applying for Work Permits for Foreign Teachers and their Administration
各級學校申請外國教師聘僱許可及管理辦法
Article 3
In these Regulations the term “foreign teacher” refers to a foreigner who is employed as a teacher at an educational institution in any of the following categories:
…
A teacher at an educational institution for international residents.
3…
4…
Article 11
…
Matters regarding the management and rights and obligations of the teachers at schools for international residents, stipulated in Article 3, Subparagraph 2, shall be conducted in accordance with the related regulations of the particular foreign country whose citizens the school provides education for in accordance with that country’s education system.
The implication is that TAS teachers are subject to US law, TES teachers are subject to…?
Again, that’s a matter of education law, not labor law (strictly speaking), so I still advise OP to talk to the labor department. Also, we can’t be certain that this “international school” is a 外國僑民學校 without seeing the registration – considering for example that there are buxibans which claim not to be buxibans.
I had been assuming OPs school is 外國僑民學校, but if it is a foreign language course of a public or private school, teachers are governed by taiwanese laws.
It is an International Baccalaureate school, so it isn’t associated with a US or UK curriculum. It is also covered under the MOE and nearly all of the students are Taiwanese. So not quite a buxiban, but not a true international school.
I just wanted to check that I do have some sort of legal recourse if shit hits the fan and I will be covered by some sort of industrial relations law, rather than the school just being able to do whatever it wants. Anyway, I only have a month left of my contract, but I wanted to make sure that I have legal recourse if they try to fire me in that time and (more likely) true not to pay me my flight and other benefits stipulated in the contract.
Onto the second part of my question, do I have any legal recourse for the bosses contacting my future employer and saying things that are not true? Are there Taiwanese laws that cover this. Alternatively, if say the boss and I are from the same foreign country, might our country’s civil laws apply to us even though we reside overseas?
. What law applies then? Your country’s law? The Far West Law?