I tried to read all of this the best I could, so I’m sorry if I missed something. Is it legal for an employer to charge a fine if the employee breaks the contract?
Supposing the fine was written and agreed to in the contract, even if it is in fact illegal, can the employer take any action?
-L
Not according to this:
http://www.tealit.com/fines.deposits.main.htm
and you should perhaps read this:
http://www.tealit.com/leaving.htm
But it could take some time to get the money. Don’t know how long.
There is a way that both the employer and employee can be given the opportunity to do the right thing and reasonably protect the employee from losing out on a month’s pay, but it requires some timing to get it right. The time when you have the least risk is after receiving your pay. When you’ve received your pay, go up to the boss and explain that circumstances have made it necessary for you to leave before the end of the contract, but that you want to give them the opportunity of a smooth transition. You should then offer when you wish to leave, and this should allow at least two weeks of transition. If the boss agrees to this, then negotiate the issues of final payment, such as amount and when it will be paid. Then get it in writing. If the boss says the contract specifies a penalty, ask for a copy of your contract with the penalty clause hilighted, then go get someone competent to translate it immediately. Then do your best to honor the terms of the contract you signed. If there isn’t a penalty clause, then if after your best effort at negotiation, your boss has not shown a willingness to deal fairly with the issue, refuses to document the penalty clause in your contract, or refuses to put the terms of your final payment in writing, then tell the boss that if he isn’t willing to honestly discuss the issues, then you will be forced to leave immediately. I would not blame anyone for leaving immediately if you made an honest effort to negotiate terms of leaving early and failed. And at most you’d lose a few days pay, assuming your boss isn’t one of those chronic late payers.
[quote=“vitalicvision”]Supposing the fine was written and agreed to in the contract, even if it is in fact illegal, can the employer take any action?
[/quote]
Although parties are generally free to negotiate the term of their agreement, they are not permitted to agree to do an illegal act.
From my understanding, yes it is perfectly legal for an employer to exercise their right to institute a penalty for contract breach.
It is however illegal in Taiwan for an employer to require a deposit or bond payment upfront in case the employee does break the contract.
So if you are paying money or the employer is withholding money before you breach then the employer is most likely doing so illegally. If on the other hand the penalty is levied after you notify your employer that you are going to breach then that is perfectly ethical and legal. This is based upon the assumption that you have both agreed to this in the contract of employment.
Again this is just my understanding, but no one can enforce any contract for illegal acts. Your employer can put it in the contract, and you can choose to abide by it, but were you to challenge a clause for something illegal then the clause would likely be considered null and void.
If the clause is a fairly minor one (such as the taking of deposits) then only that clause would be nullified but the remaining contract terms would remain in force. If the whole contract was based upon illegality (an employment contract to act as a prosititute in Taipei) then the whole contract could be nullified.
Hopefully the lawyers here will be able to correct any inaccuracies in the assumptions I have made above. :help:
There is a fairly informative article about Fines and Deposits that I suggest you take a look at.