Oh… this is bad news. I was happy all day because I have an interview at this school on Thursday 
Anyhow, I’ll go and check it out anyway. Beggars can’t be choosers and so forth…
Ivy League in Yilan City, treats every their workers unprofessionally and rude, most foreign teachers leave within months after finding a better job or just go back to their country after being fed up by the owners, Ann and Kenny Liao, I don’t know anyone work there anymore, but I did knew a couple who worked there for a few months that left the night of pay-day, they were also BS’ed by Kenny Liao by charging them somewhere around $12,000 (without utilities) to live in the school dorm (a old simple apartment above the 7-11 down on the same road of the school, when Yilan’s housing rent price is only about $2,000-3,500 per person. They also told me after the contract is signed, the school will force them and other teachers do a lot of unpaid works (triple) that is not included in the contract’s unpaid work activities section.
Sanctus School in Taichung:
*No matter how long one works there, they will never get holidays(as stated by law)
*Government holidays- tried to make me work one day of CNY, when i said no, they took my attendance bonus
*very low morale, lots of gossip, fear mongering, negative environment
*frequent visits by the authorities
*don’t follow their own contract
*no grasp of guan xi
*incompetent management
*deceitful
*employees not respected or valued
*Labor Day- held a secret meeting and let all the local teachers choose one day off to make up for this day, foreigners were not granted this day off and were not supposed to find out
I worked in Taiwan for 2 years, and did find a great kindergarten to teach in that paid well, just outside the city limits of Taipei. But looking back at it now, it was pretty crazy. I was teaching illegally and working with kids. Its just wrong on so many levels. I had no background check done and the kinder gave me a job without any legal status. Imagine if a child fell and died while I was teaching? I and the school would have been in deep sh… to say the least. The director of the school could have been up for criminal charges, as they were the person who employed me so recklessly.
My point is, don’t accept something just because everyone is doing it. Would this be acceptable in your own country? There is no way. And I think you would find, if there were ever a legal dispute, that the courts would still follow the same rules that we do in other countries.
If a school cant give you a visa, then walk. There are lots that do. If you are so desperate for a job, then maybe there is something else going on with you, and working illegally is the least of your problems.
Re: ‘battery’:
[color=#804080]“Someone posting bad stuff about a school, that they don’t even work at, fishing for responses. First hand experiences at any school is valuable information, but insuations about schools shouldn’t be allowed.”[/color]
I’m writing to detail ‘key’ points of personal experience resulting from assault and battery carried out on behalf of employer at a bushiban in Yilan who not only fired me that same day, but wouldn’t stop short of endangering my life to evict me from apartment I’d rented from them and had already paid up my rent on. In the school/apartment manager’s presence, I was tackled from behind trying to escape down the staircase by his ‘friend’ who only wanted to confiscate my only key and effectively repossess all my things inside the apartment at the same time.
I was not hurt too badly to make it over to the district police station on foot (but still wonder what would have happened otherwise).
The problems got worse as captain of local police district is another of his friends and has been refusing to submit my police report to the district prosecutor. Now, I’m being informed my ARC has been cancelled and I have to leave Taiwan before due consideration for what happened on April 13th comes to the attention of any higher authorities.
This wouldn’t happen to a Green Card holder physically attacked by an employer/landlord in violation of outstanding contracts with the ‘attackee’, I don’t think.
Can’t I get an extension to have my day in court?
[color=#408040]mallard in nantou[/color]
That’s the guy - Kenny Liao - who had me beat up and attacked by his thug on the staircase of that same apartment building, just trying to get out of there in one piece. It was also an illegal eviction - according to both law and rental agreement in contract form.
Now they seem to have the whole local police district on their side too, while I have to leave the country, largely because my police report is being blocked from reaching the Yilan prosecutor’s office. Just swell these people. Not much I can do about it at this point. Unbelievable.
Glad to read your post! It was getting ‘lonely’.
I am not sure if this is possible or not, but you should consider take your case to Taipei or contact your country’s local foreign office for their advice, just because he can buy the police in his local town, that doesn’t mean the Taiwanese government wouldn’t stand up for you.
By the way, are you teaching in Nantou right now? How is that town different from Yilan?
“[color=#800080]I am not sure if this is possible or not, but you should consider take your case to Taipei or contact your country’s local foreign office for their advice,[/color] [color=#0000BF]just because he can buy the police in his local town, that doesn’t mean the Taiwanese government wouldn’t stand up for you.[/color]”
“[color=#FF8040]By the way, are you teaching in Nantou right now? How is that town different from Yilan?[/color]”
Thank you for this kind advice! Believe me, I’m trying every avenue which I can afford. Yilan Immigration dept knows much about the problems foreign teachers have had at Ivy, and they are the ones who required inclusion of a rental agreement contract as part of my ARC application. That has now turned out to be an extremely relevant document.
You’re absolutely right.
I have experienced a few snags with getting a new contract, some related to issues over that firing by Ann and Kenny, others due to my age (52) and the dearth of opportunities here in old Puli - where I came as the first legally permitted English teacher back in 1994.
Tsao Tun or Nantou City are still my best ‘bets’ in this county. Thanks for asking.
I think I have fairly good ‘reason’ to expect the terms of my Resident Visa (in passport) remain binding and that I can’t get in too much trouble for holding out until this litigation garbage gets properly disposed of.
Thanks again,
[color=#004000]mallard in nantou[/color]
Never Never ASSUME ANYTHING HERE. Do not assume that things work like your country, they don’t, do not assume that you are right, you are not. Don’t ASSUME.
Instead cover yourself with documents, paperwork, write everything down, even send it to yourself in the mail. Literally write down what you said to your boss on that day, send it from the post office to your home address in Taiwan. Don’t open it you will have a post mark with a date, if you run into arbitration submit it then. Let a government official open the post dated document of your statement.
DON"T ASSUME ANYTHING. Taiwan is not a western country and their governmental process does not operate like a western one. The courts here do not operate like western courts. Again don’t assume anything.
If you want to Assume then be prepared to assume the position.
That’s the guy - Kenny Liao - who had me beat up and attacked by his thug on the staircase of that same apartment building, just trying to get out of there in one piece. It was also an illegal eviction - according to both law and rental agreement in contract form.
Now they seem to have the whole local police district on their side too, while I have to leave the country, largely because my police report is being blocked from reaching the Yilan prosecutor’s office. Just swell these people. Not much I can do about it at this point. Unbelievable.
Glad to read your post! It was getting ‘lonely’.[/quote]
Hi mallard. I’m very sorry to hear about your experience at Ivy League (ha! what a name) buxiban in Yilan.
I was conned into travelling 5 hours to do a 3 day ‘teaching demo’ which later turned out to be me subbing for one of their teachers who had gone skiing for a long weekend.
The school was dreadful. I had zero support and the curriculum was thrust into my hand the day of class and the female boss acted irritated if I asked any questions.
I had very little money at that time and lived on instant noodles from the 7/11 downstairs. PS: I swear that the school apartment was haunted… Did you experience anything odd there?
They promised me 600 NT an hour but then taxed me the full 20% despite not actually being legally employed there. After travelling all the way from Taichung they didn’t even shout me a 50 NT lunch box for the whole 3 days. Arseholes…
On the 3rd day after battling large unruly classes of junior high students, they acted shocked that I didn’t want to come and work for them full time. The mood quickly turned nasty and they accused me of being a bad teacher, and saying that I would never succeed in life because I ‘gave up’ too easily.
To be honest, I gave up before even teaching a single class. What an awful neighborhood, school and atmosphere. 2 of the teachers that I met there were illegal and deeply depressed. I couldn’t wait to get the hell out.
At least I wasn’t tackled or beaten up, but I definitely watched my back the whole way to the bus station.
Hope things are looking up for you now, anyway. I managed to find a good job in Miaoli county and haven’t looked back.
You wrote:
[color=#000080]“I was conned into travelling 5 hours to do a 3 day ‘teaching demo’ which later turned out to be me subbing for one of their teachers who had gone skiing for a long weekend.”[/color]
I was initially on time, clean and ready at the Yilan train station, but got no help from the only person able to take my call, to try and find the place as though it should be expected and which then, on flustered arrival, ‘qualified’ me as a ‘walk-in’ job seeker. I actually went to an Ivy League school, too, and aim to show Kenny is playing ‘out of his league’, if you will, having had a turn or two with due process of the law along the way. He really broke the legal code this time in having me assaulted, and my paperwork is in veritably fine order. Only thing is, though, I had to leave Taiwan in a rush, with no official notice, just a three-day warning from an anonymous person at the Yilan (Luodong) Nat’l Immigration Agency … who knew nothing of a Mr Liao and was ‘not inclined to learn’ about my situation, or of a police report stuck on it’s way going from the Yen Ping district police station all the way over to the prosecutor’s office, less than 2 km away.
Discouragement in pursuing a lawsuit can quickly turn to rage, especially when the left hand cares not about what the right hand is doing. I was under the impression I could simply count on getting a case number from the court in time to use it as a valid ‘reason for extension’ on that same resident visa, as legitimate legal affairs were (and are) still pending.
You wrote:
[color=#800080]“The school was dreadful. I had zero support and the curriculum was thrust into my hand the day of class and the female boss acted irritated if I asked any questions.”[/color]
Don’t want to get into it, but am not inclined to refute your opinion!
[color=#800080]"I had very little money at that time and lived on instant noodles from the 7/11 downstairs. PS: I swear that the school apartment was haunted. Did you experience anything odd there?"[/color]
[color=#804000]Added as of 8/3/09:[/color]
[color=#400040]Some of absolute scariest nightmares of my life in that room, right after arguments with management, visited by ghosts … trying to kill me … ‘purely’ for … demented satisfaction over my own suffering and demise.[/color]
…
I felt like I was being watched. I think it was mostly how they left you ‘hanging’, when they let you in, or called you … like a child or pet … or like how Ann just barges right in with her own key the morning I got back from Hong Kong from the visa run (at my own expense and unnecessary in the end, had the secretary only checked with Taipei on the day I went out) saying she had no idea I was inside, even though I told her personally on a phone call (my expense again) from Hog Kong the previous afternoon. She insisted on maintaining that LIE which ios what set me into overtime trying to ‘save’ myslef from her anger … from Day One.
[color=#0040FF]“They promised me 600 NT an hour but then taxed me the full 20% despite not actually being legally employed there. After travelling all the way from Taichung they didn’t even shout me a 50 NT lunch box for the whole 3 days. Arseholes …”[/color]
They never shared a drink or meal, and there was no cross-over socially with the Chinese staff, who would ‘edge away’ as if to avoid contact.
One night I’m going up to the fourth floor and decide to take the elevator for a change. Coming up from the garage basement are Ann, nasty snotty husband and a couple of their ‘high class’ friends. Things were working out fairly smoothly again … I thought. Ann’s friend decides she had better exit the elevator as I stepped into it … as if to make the point … that I might as well be a lower form of life! Guess she had to wait a few minutes to rejoin the party … and get their stories straight … on what the heck THAT was all about.
The neighbors weren’t going to complain if I had bonked my head going down those stairs, getting tackled from behind by that big thug Kenny brought to ‘enforce’ the eviction (which did occur) repossessing all my stuff inside by removing the key from my hand (using third party) at base of staircase…
He would have had little better option than to snuff me had I really been hurt. That’s the plain fact of that ‘scenario’, arsehole or … spoiled brat idiot small-town rich-kid bully. That’s what he didn’t see coming but was nearly in his face, and I’m sure … played for a moment in his mind, regardless of its contents or absorbtion capacity.
[color=#408080]“On the 3rd day after battling large unruly classes of junior high students, they acted shocked that I didn’t want to come and work for them full time. The mood quickly turned nasty and they accused me of being a bad teacher, and saying that I would never succeed in life because I ‘gave up’ too easily.”[/color]
It’s a ‘conspiracy’! The real losers are those kids and the bad programming they’re being trained on … especially as to when to cut off all civility … ‘en masse’. The next on the losers’ chart are the parents who are expecting positive results, one might at least imagine. Their kids should actullay be doing some sort of academic work in the evening, in my opinion - like their actual school homework, for example!
[color=#408080]“To be honest, I gave up before even teaching a single class. What an awful neighborhood, school and atmosphere. 2 of the teachers that I met there were illegal and deeply depressed. I couldn’t wait to get the hell out.”[/color]
I displaced a tatoo-covered thug who had sat on the counter of the 7/11 for twenty minutes, when no-one else said a thing. It got me both beat up and on the distrct police captain’s doo-doo list (for not fighting back, basically) way before he would block my police report regarding April 13th from getting forwarded for higher review.
So now I know more about who you are, even if I only found one receipt you’d left behind. Thanks for sharing your impressions.
[color=#400080]“At least I wasn’t tackled or beaten up, but I definitely watched my back the whole way to the bus station.”[/color]
I know that feeling, believe me.
[color=#BF0000]“Hope things are looking up for you now, anyway. I managed to find a good job in Miaoli county and haven’t looked back.”[/color]
Very good to know this, James, and to meet you, too.
I have Hawaiian ‘talk story’ for ya next time, all about trying to make it through the airport ‘normal’ (June 6th), and ‘somehow’ still being allowed to keep my ARC card (for now). Visa was NOT canceled at customs!
I was about to cry when I found it in my passport at boarding time. There ought to be a huge ROC flag flapping away in the Taoyuan wind, all lit up, at Terminal One. I don’t get it.
Regards, [color=#0000BF]mallard[/color]
Chumphon, Thailand
[color=#FF0040]Related info and tracking of continuing attempts to seek legal recourse in this case relocated to thread titled, “Unpleasant work experiences; pretty photos” - under “Living in Taiwan”.[/color]
I think that’s the dump I mentioned in this thread (my “C’thunhu K’eelung!” comment from a while back).
IIRC, it’s surrounded by a wall and gate, painted green and has a covered walkway outside.
If it’s the same one, I’m glad I turned that place down, even if I was desperate for work at the time.
I think Go2Teach was also the “recruiter”, located in an alley just off Minquan Road near the Zhongxiao Jr. High School MRT station.
What justifies a blacklisted school or agent?
I am at the end of a contract but I have had many problems with this school.
I will put the name out there if the following things should be reasons to put the school on the list.
- ARC, One day away from having to do a Visa run because the school didn’t process paper work in a timely fashion. 2.5 months. I ran through my extensions, and the manager didn’t give me the proper paper work, after demands for over 8 weeks(asking for a variety of documents from the school). I had to force them into picking up my work permit and bringing it to me.
"Immigration agent said, “Your boss is doing a horrible job.” This was my 8th trip to MFA .
Employer demanded that pay would be through direct deposit. I couldn’t secure a bank account without an ARC(see #1). So I was legally working with a pseudo or perhaps unprocessed work permit but didn’t get paid. Solution, None offered through the agent or employer. Got paid after 3 months of work(lucky me).
2.Employer asking for work during unpaid work time. Also switched the schedule from the contract, I didn’t have the schedule stated so thats my fault. Also a differentiation from the contract stated hours and responsibilities. I refused to do work without pay. This buggery continued on and off for a year.
-
I asked for my insurance card for 7 weeks. Health Insurance was not paid or claimed for me as an employee, this also happened to a Chinese teacher. 2 months later the employer resolved the situation, when the government called. My girlfriend’s family helped me when I needed medical care. Employer was “fined” because they didn’t pay employees insurance.
-
Falsification of Labor Insurance, the school claimed me as the minimum amount as opposed to the regular salary I received for the contract. They falsified their amounts to try to save money. Again will probably receive a fine.
I didn’t receive the amount of money I should have for the legal situation. School under paid me and I will pursue the issue with Labor insurance.
-
Asked for tax statements and didn’t receive a statement because the employer didn’t file the taxes. They took 20% of my pay and didn’t file it with the government. Assumption: they are trying to steal from me.
Reported this to the tax office and things were cleared up quickly. -
Employer tried to end the contract early, but I cited contract laws stating that the school has to pay me for “wrongful termination” not worded that way by me
.
The agent is well aware of the situations but continues business with the school. So is it blacklist time? If I don’t get my last months pay I will for sure provide the names of the school and agent.
To the last poster, just so you know, this thread is to inform people which schools to avoid, what’s the point to come here, make your complaint, but wouldn’t let anyone know the school’s name/location?
Anyways, I found this post from more than four years ago, no surprise to anyone, Ivy League was one of the many schools to avoid of working in Yilan County.
Not true. You can open a bank account without an ARC. You go to the National Immigration Agency and they issue you a letter with an “ID Number” on it, which would eventually become your ARC number if you ever applied. With that letter, you can open a bank account.
Julia School in Taipei did the same thing to me. I went to help them out because one of their teachers left in the middle of the semester. About the second month, they started keeping 20% saying it was tax, even though I was off the books at that time.
The number of times I hear about schools deducting tax yet failing to file tax returns. The rules for employees are almost laughably unfair. You’re to all extents and purposes self-employed except without any of the benefits. Doesn’t affect me anymore, but even so. It’s just ridiculous.
Hey, I tried to look on the Blacklist/Greenlist website but it seems to no longer work. Does anyone know of another one?
I am currently in Taipei and looking for a teaching job now. I’m familiar now with the main schools like Hess, Kojen, etc., but there are a bajillion others that I know nothing about.
Any info appreciated, Thanks:)
[quote=“Doraemon2008”]To the last poster, just so you know, this thread is to inform people which schools to avoid, what’s the point to come here, make your complaint, but wouldn’t let anyone know the school’s name/location?
Anyways, I found this post from more than four years ago, no surprise to anyone, Ivy League was one of the many schools to avoid of working in Yilan County.
Read the first line of my post. What justifies a school for the blacklist. I don’t recall reading a rule for the blacklist and I am asking if I should be stating the schools name.
Not true. You can open a bank account without an ARC. You go to the National Immigration Agency and they issue you a letter with an “ID Number” on it, which would eventually become your ARC number if you ever applied. With that letter, you can open a bank account.
[/quote]
Wow, Nice to know, maybe you can post that in the other forums. Sure would be nice to do in practice. I got refused outright by banks until I had my ARC number. I tried working it a few ways. Even when my tw gf opened a bank account for me to have the school deposit money. No go. The bank wanted an ARC card and they wouldn’t take anything else.
[quote=“CraigTPE”]Employer demanded that pay would be
Julia School in Taipei did the same thing to me. I went to help them out because one of their teachers left in the middle of the semester. About the second month, they started keeping 20% saying it was tax, even though I was off the books at that time.[/quote]
Frig that B.S. if you were off books then I guess you would have had a problem getting it back. I have learned a lot working 2 years in Taiwan. I think I may decide to stay in my home country after my experience. I would prefer to work for a company that treats its employees the way they should be treated.
Only problem is I have a life here.