Breaching your contract in the trial period

Breaching your contract in the trial period.
Need to pay a fine, which is more than the earned salary?

Somebody I know signed a contract with a school for 16 months, with a 2 month trial period.
During the second week of her trial period, she realized things were not going to work out as she had hoped for. The school is a nice place to work at, but she thinks she is not able to find herself there. So, she resigned. She has a marriage-based ARC and she offered to finish out her last week.

Now, here is the catch! She has to pay a 3 week salary penalty for breaching the contract and she has only been working there for 2 weeks.

  1. Does she have to pay the 3-week salary penalty?
  2. She is willing to forego her earned salary (of the 2 previous weeks), but does she also need to pay the third week?
  3.      The employer can terminate the contract at any given point of time.
    

Is the employee also entitled to terminate the contract in the trial period?

She will also assist the school in their search for a new teacher and hopes to find a peaceful solution, which satisfies all parties involved.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Trial period means exactly that. The employer can cancel the contract in that time, as can the employee. That’s why its called a trial period.
As for the money, she can take them to the small claims court if she wants. She’ll win. If she just wants away from them altogether she can forego the two weeks salary. If they ask her to pay them a week’s salary, she can say OK. Next week. When next week comes around she can say tomorrow. When tomorrow comes around she can say she’ll pay them in the next month that contains the letter X. Or she can tell them to kiss her shiny red arse.
The school doesn’t have a leg to stand on. Its simply trying to screw her.

Thanks for your comment.
She is trying to settle everything in a peaceful way.
She is afraid to be blacklisted as an English teacher
and preferably willl look for other work opportunities in Taiwan.

Won’t happen. There is no blacklist of naughty teachers as far as I know.

Don’t worry. Cancellation in a two way period works both ways. Say goodbye.
There are many posts about blacklists and, as far as I know, it’s all bullshit. If it isn’t as advertised, or as you expected, walk away as profitably as you can. Shed no tears. They have been there before. You are just the last teacher in line. There are many schools out there that will welcome your talents and also pay for them. Find what you like and enjoy.

Won’t happen. There is no blacklist of naughty teachers as far as I know.[/quote]

Yeah, I remember when I worked at one of those large chain crams chools, during our first week we were all told about the big bad blacklist, that if you broke your contract and left early, that no other school in Taiwan would take you on… despite this I’ve known a few teachers who’ve broke their contracts and joined other large chain cram schools.