I gave my employer 10 days notice even if I worked less than 1 month in that cram school and we part without any bad words but my pay was due on Dec. 10th and he still refuses to pay me. What are then the steps to take? I want my money !!!
Thanks in advance!
Complain or threaten to complain to your local labor relations board. This has been posted before.
What are his reasons for refusing to pay you?
The only reason he gave me is that I broke the contract, by quiting. He would say anything else. According to info found on Tealit, withholding the pay is illegal whatever the reasons are… I’m sorry if this as been posted before, I’m sure it’s a quite common problem, but just saying that it has been posted is not very helpful to me… The cram school, Amigo, is in Kaohsiung city, I already tried to threaten to complain to the Council of Labor Affair without any effects. So now I have to move on from threat to actual complain. How does it work? What are the steps to take and to who exactly do I have to address my complain? What about the hearing they talk about on tealit?
It’ll be a lot easier if you have copies of you contract, or time cards, or any proof of the hours you worked. Ring the Labour Bureau.
Well don’t just stop at their name, what’s their phone number and address?
What about the hearing they talked about on tealit? Isn’t there any info there about how to contact the CLA? If not then maybe you could try going to the Foriegn Affairs Police and ask them? You do have an ARC, don’t you?
But the bottom line is that you broke your contract, and 90% of the time there’s nothing in contracts that says you can give ten days notice and expect to get paid.
Did you try going there while classes are in progress and gradually becoming louder and louder - bad for business - until he either gives you your money or calls someone to beat you up or arrest you. You could hang around outside making students/parents uncomfortable, again bad for business. Accost the other teachers as they arrive for work, and badmouth the boss. Ditto.
Or you could give up and go away, because if you broke your contract and he really doesn’t want to pay you then the only way to get your money will be by being bigger and stronger than him and all his mates.
If you quit because he’s a bad boss, then there’s no surprise that he won’t pay you. I quit my first job here with months of “pay me properly or I’ll quit” warnings, and even after smashing stuff up in his office I didn’t get paid. I did manage to get blacklisted though.
If you quit for your own reasons, then he has every right to be upset. What does it say in your contract?
Legally, you did the work, he has to pay you. If he can’t keep his employees, that doesn’t say much for him, in all fairness.
We know nothing about why aleks quit his job. Perhaps he’s one of those shiftless useless bastards that can’t hold down a job? Not being able to keep someone who’s unemployable doesn’t reflect badly on an employer - except that he’s guilty of making a bad hiring decision. Actually, reading the first post again I don’t think aleks is even a native speaker of English. He certainly doesn’t write like one. In that case he’s an illegal worker and has no rights at all.
But that’s just speculation, perhaps the job was intolerable and aleks did the right thing, but that doesn’t mean he’s owed any money in law.
Legally, you might find that you get paid ONLY if you complete what you have agreed to finish. If you don’t do what you agreed to do for the money then why are you owed any money?
You walk out in the middle of doing something then YOU broke the contract, which makes the contract invalid. In some cases it can even make you liable for penalties, if that’s what the contract stipulates. On the other hand, legal contracts usually include a ‘trial period’, during which you can part ways without giving a lot of notice. I’m not sure if this is applicable in aleks’ case, as his post isn’t clear.
In any case, enforcing a contract in Taiwan is virtually impossible. You can make life so unpleasant that it’s cheaper and easier to pay you off, if you have the stomach for it, and threatening legal action may have the desired effect if your boss believes that you’re serious and have a good case. But if you broke your contract, and he’s cancelled your ARC, then you’re fighting a deportation order while sueing him for money he doesn’t owe you, and he won’t be liable for your costs even if you do win.
It’s a non-starter, especially if he has good guanxi. If he’s not well-connected (or even if he is) he may not welcome attention from the CLA, and may not want the trouble, but don’t bet on it.
You walked out of your job, and made the mistake of giving him notice. Personally I’ve never quit a job here without warning, but I know quite a few folks who have just waited for payday and then disappeared. Not nice, not always necessary, but understandable given the way some people do business here.
Put it down to experience, and get on with your life.
Well, if you’re a guy you might try beating him up. One of my bosses in Korea refused to pay me, until I punched him in the face. Then he paid me half of what he owed me - the other teachers got nothing.
The school is Amigo Language Institute, they have a few branches in Kaohsiung city. The physical address I’ve only got in Chinese at the moment… The boss is called William Hsieh. His e-mail is : amigouncle@yahoo.com.tw they’re phone # are: (07)332-2822 (07)3300069, the fax # is : (07)3323806. His cell phone # is : 0930047777