This may have been covered before and if so I apologise for bringing it up again but I really couldn’t find the answer to this question.
Here’s the situation: my boss (buxiban) informed me that she doesn’t adhere to the policy of “typhoon days”. In other words, should schools be closed due to the weather, she will open if she so chooses and I am expected to be there " as long as the weather is okay". She will determine whether the weather is okay at any time prior to any given class.
Frankly, I don’t have a problem with this IF the weather is okay. After all, I want to earn the money for that day anyway. My question though, is this:
Is it the law that a closure of schools includes Buxibans or is that a matter of choice for the owner/operator? She claims that the owner has the right to make this decision. Others have said that she isn’t allowed to open when a closure is in effect and that she cannot require an emplyee to come in to work in this situation. Does anyone have any ideas as to the facts in this situation, keeping in mind that this is a Buxiban?
Any info would be appreciated! :s
Thanks,
Tika
I was standing on my back porch having a smoke on Monday and a 4’x3’ piece of siding ripped off and would have decapitated me if I wasn’t caged in. I’d tell your boss that your life is worth more than 600/hr.
Sandman, I believe it was, once wrote about an typhoon-impaled cabbie.
This island is held together with betelnut spit. Stay inside during a typhoon.
I would say that the last few typhoon days have been days when I could have easily gone to work, and would have done so willingly. The government, not wanting to appear uncaring, gives all of their employees the day off and many businesses choose to follow suit. But, as I understand it, they’re not obliged to.
If a business wants to open then I believe that it can. My local 7-11 is open regardless of the weather, why should a school be different? The answer, of course is that few people are going to send their kids out in that sort of weather, not for English classes. So what’s the point in a buxiban staying open?
If she stays open, and no-one comes, then presumably she will charge them for the classes anyway. She’ll have to pay you to sit there with no students too. But if you start charging parents for classes on a typhoon day then the chances are that you won’t keep them. I think she’s probably misguided in her policy, even though I would personally agree with her.
(Of course, she might just want to have you come in and do other work in lieu of classes. If you’re on salary then that might be the real reason.)
Generally, I get paid if classes are cancelled at short notice. In theory I’m supposed to get 24 hrs notice, but I usually accept 12. You might just clear that issue up with her, after congratulating her on her tough, no-nonsense, business-like policy of course.
For me, having a decent life in Taiwan is a question of being in control. If someone feels free to insist that you travel in weather that you think is too dangerous, or to cancel classes without reasonable notice, then she’s being unreasonably controlling. But it’s the end of the typhoon season, so if this is the only issue you have there then I would forget about it.
Buxiban owners are notorious tightarses. Your boss couldn’t give a flying fuck about your safety or the safety of the kids, as long as she doesn’t lose any money. With an attitude like this she’s not likely to have a buxiban too long as parents are tigharses too and won’t pay for typhoon days, as Stragbasher says.