Currently I am working as an editor in a magazine. My boss havent told me anything about annual leaves. I took a total of 3 1/2 days off for the past 7 mths working here. Does any kind editors out there know how many days of leave am i entitled to? And are they allowed to take away my pay? I did not sign any contracts with this company, thus, I just wanted to know what others are getting out there.
Thanks
You can have 3 1/2 days every 7 months.
Can you have better suggestions than that?
I get nob all after working for the same company for 7 years.
I imagine the law says you have zero days off, and they can take any money off whenever they like, or are you confusing Taiwan with a country where people have rights ?
I get Saturdays off now, so I suppose I can’t complain
Far as I know, you get no paid holidays for the first year, seven days paid in the second year, and one additional day for each subsequent year of service, up until a certain number of years. It doesn’t make any difference whether or not you’re a contract worker.
That’s it, more or less, according to the Labor Standards Law.
The situation may be different for multinational companies.
Matthew, I suggest you take some assertion classes .
I had your problem a number of years ago, until a sympathetic colleague provided me with a copy of the related laws (in English and Chinese) that I was able to slap on the boss’ desk. He knew the score all along, of course, and capitulated immediately.
I suggest you contact Richard, who very probably has up-to-date copies of the LSL.
Sandman did i miss something here.
What does the LSL have to do with this? Go back and reread the post he has “no contract”,their fore is working illegally. he will get what he can out of his boss short of loosing his job.his arc,if he has one name his co. and location. if this is a legal job someone screwup big time.
quote:
Originally posted by sandman: Matthew, I suggest you take some assertion classes [img]images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]
I’ll ask my mummy if I’m allowed to
Well, duuuh! You’re right, Don. Stupid of me. Of course if there’s no contract you’re at the mercy of your boss.
You have no rights to vacation time at all if you have no contract. I suggest that if you want a holiday, you’d better “suddenly have some family problems at home” , but you might as well forget about any vacation pay.
Oh, and Hello? What magazine do you edit for? I take it its not an English-language publication!
I am also wondering how you can work as a editor without a contract. Are you a local? If so, why don’t you know the law?
Just ask your boss or the personell staff!! It’s your rights, and it should not be so difficult to bring up this question to your boss. Actually you should have asked about all the related information when you were offered the job. Even you did not, it’s also amazing that you have not even asked over the past 7 months… Well…
Many local companies don’t sign contracts with employees, but still, every employee of theirs are entiled to the rights specified in their company’s internal bylaws or regulation, including paid leaves. You can ask you coworkers too but sometimes people in the same company have different work terms.
The days of paid leaves vary among local companies. The minimum is (maybe) like what sandman says, according to the Labor Law, but each company have different offers, many may give employees better terms than that.
Ask your boss, (s)he will not bite you, won’t (s)he?
I think Sandman is correct as I have been told this before, too.
May not stop you from taking some emergency leave however but getting out for 2 weeks to e.g. Bali might be impossible with that excuse.
That said I was clever and wrote my own employment contract and thus have 20 days a year annual leave.
I should have been clearer – the LSL provisions should be regarded as the minimum. As Shushu says, many companies offer more than this. I think he or she is probably right with regard to the contract thing, too, but you’re never going to know unless you bring it up with your boss.
The sqeaky wheel gets the grease (or is it the nail that sticks up gets pounded flat?)
I do not have a contract but i guess i’m considered a local. I was born in Taiwan but left Taiwan when young. Thus, i have no understanding of the laws in Taiwan. Before this job, i was a cram school teacher. Everything was in the contract and i knew the days off each year. However, this is my first real full time job in Taiwan. Thus,i don’t really know it.
Unfortunately, yes I am working in the English learning publication line.
Thanks for your advice. I will heed your advice to go ask my boss about it. However, nobody else in our company is asking him questions about annual leave. My collegues and I talked about it. No one asked though. But i will when i need a vacation.
However, this is my first real full time job in Taiwan. Thus,i don’t really know it.
Excuse me, but ‘real’ jobs in Taiwan don’t require an employment contract!? I can’t believe this … then again … ah, let’s not go there.
If he has no contract then he is covered by the labour standards law. That’s why they have the labour standards law to begin with.
If you have a contract you can negotiate something other than whats governed by law.
Rascals says:
quote[quote] Excuse me, but ‘real’ jobs in Taiwan don’t require an employment contract!? I can’t believe this … [/quote]Rascal,
don’t be suspicious, this is Taiwan.
If you apply your German logic to everything in Taiwan, you will have a lot of troubles…The minimum of 7 days of annual leaves in Taiwan is very inhumane since many companies adopt this standard. I heard that in France the minimum of annual leaves is 35 days. Wow, no wonder their economy is going nowhere!
And I’m really wondering how many days of annual leaves for other countries to offer by their laws.
If you apply your German logic to everything in Taiwan, you will have a lot of troubles…
Yeah, that won’t work, I know, but I also thought after 7 years in Malaysia I had heard it all … How wrong I was!
And I’m really wondering how many days of annual leaves for other countries to offer by their laws.
In Germany it depends on the industry you are working in (= different unions), a hairdresser may get 18 days a year, a technician / engineer around 30. Some companies give more, my friend in Ericsson got 35 or 36 while I got 30 “only” while working for Nokia.
When I was working in Singapore, the annual leave is 14 days. But it depends on the company as well. But still an employment letter will be signed. But working in Taiwan is strange. Cuz no one signs it and no one talks about it till you’re “good enough” to negotiate about it.
Thats the way it works. Unless you’re in a huge company and everything is very professional.Unfortunately, I’m in one the smallest company.
Working for the Taiwanese you will need to learn the art of negotiation. This obviously depends on how much they need you or can empathise with you.
Sandman is correct as far as I know about the annual leave thing. Officially no paid holidays for the first year (from date of contract signing). I wheedled a whole 5 days from my employer this first year by saying I don’t get to see my family at all. I know this is sad compared to some other people but if you knew my boss it was an acheivement. If you bring up the contract issue they will give you the Taiwan Labor Law mantra, you should go to them and tell them it’s different for you than the other Taiwanese. Tell tehm it’s impossible to see your relatives at Chinese New Year, while their all having a great time you’ll be stewing on your own here. Tell them you need it to go at Christmas or summertime
when all your family meet up together. Get a contract off the bastards cos they’ll screw you otherwise. Politely insist on the contract cos you don’t understand how it all works in Taiwan.
Draw up a contract of your own following taiwan labor law but include ten days paid leave. If they give it to you, great. If not they should negotiate it and you should get five days leave out of them. The way that works the best is of course to suck ass to the manager but sometimes often that is impossible cos you hate them so much.
Once you get your contract sit on your ass and write into Oriented all day gaining all that leave at work they’d give you in other countries.
Plus–the argument over so many holidays not being productive was advanced by US corporate managers, they call it the 90s productivity miracle, the productivity miracle seemed to combine minimising benefits with a lot of very creative accountants for profit expansion!!!
The economy may not be great in France and Germany but the fact is there are still plenty of good jobs and good working conditions for most qualified people. 35 hours a week minimum with a few weeks holiday, I like it and I’d be jealous if I were you not mocking it!
Germans themselves will tell you they are lazy people (I’ve never seen it with my own eyes though, there always sitting on the mountain top before me or claimed the deckchairs at the swimming pool with their 6 am starts…)
Wow, don’t know if I misunderstand your tone, but it seems that I should’ve been more serious about this topic.
More points:
1.
quote[quote] Working for the Taiwanese you will need to learn the art of negotiation. This obviously depends on how much they need you or can empathise with you. [/quote]You will need to learn the art of negotiation, obviously depends on how much they need you or can empathize with you, for working not only Taiwanese but also every other international company, especially when you are at higher positions. But if you are a foreigner in Taiwan, usually Taiwanese bosses are willing to give you better compensation and terms, cus foreigner pool is smaller then the local one (demand/supply thing), and some Taiwanese bosses have inferiority complex or they take into consideration the different living standards between locals and foreigners. Taiwan laborers have less power and less courage to ask more benefits than their counterparts in other industrialized countries, and cheaper labor here is one chain of this whole situation.
I don’t agree that longer annual leaves necessarily lead to lower productivity. In the past, Taiwan laborers work 5 1/2 days per week, but now most companies only require employers to work 5 days per week, partly because the management tries to be more competitive to elicit talents, partly because they finally know that longer working hours don’t necessarily enhance productivity. In Taiwan, electronics companies in generally offer much better compensation and annual leaves, to compete with their competitors for talents. Some companies newer of more globalization-oriented offer relatively good terms, too. But the traditional industry usually has the lower-competitive working terms.
Many Taiwanese companies don’t give their employees annual holidays for the first year of employment. That’s very inhumane. Some Taiwanese companies who give better terms let their employees to take paid holidays in the first year in proportion to the working days of employeees that year. That is, if your company gives empolyees 12 days of annual leave, and you start to work in July, then you can have 6 days throughout that year. That would be much better and fairer. After all, employees are not robots. But the majority (maybe I’m wrong) of local employees don’t want to complain about that. Eh, Taiwan miracle.
I knew some might think I was mocking France when I wrote it, but that’s really not what I meant. As we locals say, 羨慕都來不及了