Court rejects teacher's claim of lost reputation

This long and drawn out drama has finally concluded, or perhaps, not.

[quote=“The China Post on 4-29-2011”]
Court rejects teacher’s claim of lost reputation

Taipei District Court has rejected the claim filed by a foreign teacher of a university in Taipei for reputation damage. The teacher was fired because of sexual harassment allegation.

The teacher filed a lawsuit against the school for the harassment accusation with a claim totaling over NT$700,000, including one-year salary and NT$100,000 moral damage compensation. In addition, he demanded that the university publish an apology for its layoff decision.

He said that the sexual harassment charge was groundless as the girl who accused him neither screamed nor reported his move to the police.

The decision of his dismissal and disclosure of the grievance case to the teacher grievances committee were not appropriate, he added.

The girl was said to have felt “disturbed and afraid” by the teacher’s inappropriate conduct. She first brought up her experience to counselor in the campus. The director of her department later reported the case to the teacher grievances committee, which decided that the teacher had to go.

According to the court ruling released yesterday, several witnesses saw the teacher embrace the female student’s waist and whisper in her ear in a school event. The teacher lost his case because the decision of the teacher grievances committee was valid and the school disclosure of the harassment investigation did not break the law.

The teacher can file an appeal against the ruling, said the court.[/quote]
Here is a link to the former teacher’s blog where you can read the entire story from beginning to its current end. If you follow the link to his personal blog, you can read his response to this most recent court ruling. It’s very long and drawn out, but a worthwhile read if you are interested in the Taiwan judicial system and the laws which govern our lives while we are living here.

[quote=“Pow3hatan’s personal blog”]

I’ve been teaching English off and on since 1992 in Taiwan and have experienced many of the highs and lows of life here. Unfortunately, the most dramatic of my experiences involves one of Taiwan’s lowest lows - false accusations and a justice system rife with discrimination against foreigners, injustice, incompetence and recent reports in the news of longstanding corruption that goes all the way up to the High Court.

Read my new blog [color=#FF0000]"Taiwan’s Injustice to Expats (& Other Foreign Guests)[/color] for more about my nightmare experience and related stories about the judiciary.[/quote]

Do you have any links to the original story? This is the first time I’ve heard about this.

[quote=“tomthorne”]Do you have any links to the original story? This is the first time I’ve heard about this.[/quote]I don’t have any links to Taiwan news stories if that’s what you mean. I’ve followed this story off an on for the last couple years. It’s been a real long, drawn out drama. The best I can offer is to go to Pow3haten’s personal blog and go back to the beginning of his story and read it all. Believe it or not, I have. It’s a good read, but not the Reader’s Digest Condensed version to say the least. Better get comfortable and get a nice bottle of scotch whilst reading it. :laughing:

Yikes. I’m not surprised that his case was rejected but I admire his tenacity in seeking justice. I probably just would have thrown up my hands and walked away. It’s through people like this guy that the system improves, in my opinion.
I’ve had a few altercations over people mistreating my dogs on the beach, and I’ve often wondered what would happen to me if things got more heated and someone took me to court.

forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic … sc&start=0

Wow! She made a complaint that he put his hand around her waist, he countered that he only touched her shoulder to get her attention. 4 years of their lives wasted.

[quote=“tomthorne”]
Wow! She made a complaint that he put his hand around her waist, he countered that he only touched her shoulder to get her attention. 4 years of their lives wasted.[/quote]
Nah, she made a complaint that he put his hand around her waist he lost his job for this then four years of their lives got wasted… :s I wonder if there were any other complaints/some other reason that he really lost the job…? I do believe employment should be at-will between employer and employee, but if this was the only allegation against him, his dismissal was unjust, and he was right to fight it.

[quote=“tomthorne”]

Cautionary Tale: Unscrupulous admin & student = BIG trouble

Wow! She made a complaint that he put his hand around her waist, he countered that he only touched her shoulder to get her attention. 4 years of their lives wasted.[/quote]
Ahhhh, that’s right…I initially read about his plight at Dave Sperling’s ESL Cafe. Thanks for reminding me. Good find. :bravo:

No patty fingers, if you please!

:no-no: :no-no: :no-no: :no-no: :no-no: :no-no: :no-no: :no-no: :no-no: :no-no: :no-no: :no-no: :no-no: :no-no: :no-no:

[quote=“NonTocareLeTete”][quote=“tomthorne”]
Wow! She made a complaint that he put his hand around her waist, he countered that he only touched her shoulder to get her attention. 4 years of their lives wasted.[/quote]
Nah, she made a complaint that he put his hand around her waist he lost his job for this then four years of their lives got wasted… :s I wonder if there were any other complaints/some other reason that he really lost the job…? I do believe employment should be at-will between employer and employee, but if this was the only allegation against him, his dismissal was unjust, and he was right to fight it.[/quote]

I totally agree. The uni decided not to renew his contract over complete nonsense. However, while it wouldn’t have been the right thing to do, taking it on the chin back in 2007 and getting a job in another uni would have been the sensible thing to do. Don’t you think?

I know, bending over and taking it ain’t going to help any of us in the long run, and guys like this may well change stuff. But, really, if this had happened to me I’d have walked away from it (with a very pissed-off look on my face).

There but for the Grace of God… yesterday it was him, tomorrow it could be any of us…

Keep yer hands to yerself and you shouldn’t run into trouble of the sort.

You may find that there are rules in most countries regarding this type of conduct.

Again, this it true and I totally agree with your sentiment. However, he was given a get out of jail free card. Right at the start he was being told to leave under unacceptible circumstances and suck it up. Take another job elsewhere and put it down to experience. He chose not to.

I’ve only been here 6 years and I can clearly see the undercurrents at work.

As long as it is true, dear. But I’ve seen it many times: do not believe the local press, especially when reporting foreigners in trouble, and things may not be as “everyone” knows them to be. With this I do not disclaim the girl’s statements, but everything should be taken with a grain of salt and context. Do not immediately dismiss his side.

True, they just could have dismissed him. But if -and I remark, IF- a case was set against him, it was to make him an exemplar.

And yes, what bothers me is to know there are many foreigners -and locals- who are what we call octopi- and yet no such battles ensue…

[quote=“Icon”]As long as it is true, dear. But I’ve seen it many times: do not believe the local press, especially when reporting foreigners in trouble, and things may not be as “everyone” knows them to be. With this I do not disclaim the girl’s statements, but everything should be taken with a grain of salt and context. Do not immediately dismiss his side.

True, they just could have dismissed him. But if -and I remark, IF- a case was set against him, it was to make him an exemplar.

And yes, what bothers me is to know there are many foreigners -and locals- who are what we call octopi- and yet no such battles ensue…[/quote]

As you say dear, there’s no clear answer. Some foreigners are habitual gropers, but the press also lies. What is to be done?

Maybe he is guilty but I doubt most guilty people would stick around three years when they might be arrested.

He almost certainly isn’t guilty. The crime is clearly a nonsense, anyway. He wouldn’t be arrested in most other countries because touching a person’s waist would not warrent a criminal charge.

My point is not whether he’s innocent or guilty, my point is, and it’s probably pointless :slight_smile: , he’s been here for over 20 years and he should have realised what was going on. He’s spent 4 years fighting a stupid charge. Nobody within the process could ever stand up and say: “This is a bit daft.” because too many others would lose face after allowing such a stupid case to continue. Why didn’t he realise that he was always going to lose?

He almost certainly isn’t guilty. The crime is clearly a nonsense, anyway. He wouldn’t be arrested in most other countries because touching a person’s waist would not warrent a criminal charge.

My point is not whether he’s innocent or guilty, my point is, and it’s probably pointless :slight_smile: , he’s been here for over 20 years and he should have realised what was going on. He’s spent 4 years fighting a stupid charge. Nobody within the process could ever stand up and say: “This is a bit daft.” because too many others would lose face after allowing such a stupid case to continue. Why didn’t he realise that he was always going to lose?[/quote]

I know this isn’t a good comparison but within my first year in Taiwan I was able to see firsthand some of the underhanded racism in the way foreigners are treated by government and private companies. I tried to fight and argue my way into getting what I wanted but after a few months found it useless and my stress level just kept increasing.

So while normally I would say that this guy is fighting the good fight and to keep it up, I now recognize how mentally tolling it is so try to change what is fundamentally entrenched in this society and just accept it and move on, even if he feels his rights were violated.

Edit to add: However I would definitely keep my hands to myself as many people in Taiwan like to maintain the appearance (note the word appearance and not fact) of being a “clean” culture so she probably didn’t like the insinuation if others saw them.

He almost certainly isn’t guilty. The crime is clearly a nonsense, anyway. He wouldn’t be arrested in most other countries because touching a person’s waist would not warrent a criminal charge.

My point is not whether he’s innocent or guilty, my point is, and it’s probably pointless :slight_smile: , he’s been here for over 20 years and he should have realised what was going on. He’s spent 4 years fighting a stupid charge. Nobody within the process could ever stand up and say: “This is a bit daft.” because too many others would lose face after allowing such a stupid case to continue. Why didn’t he realise that he was always going to lose?[/quote]

Not to mention that he flew back and forth from Thailand to Taiwan several times on his own dime to fight the accusation.

Perhaps someone convinced him, or he convinced himself, that there would be a tidy little pot of gold at the end of his rainbow. He was looking for 700 000 NT. I really don’t buy the idea that the school orchestrated this simply to get rid of him. His contract was due to expire and the school had no obligation to renew.