Giving Notice of Resignation

My friend has just signed a contract and wants me to come work for this company as well. But I don’t like the bit about giving notice. I’m wondering what the legality of this is:

Party B is required to fulfil this contract. If Party B wishes to leave his position, a two month
WRITTEN notice is required. During the two-month period, Party B shall still perform all duties
agreed originally wilfully and willingly. If fails to give at least one-month notice, Party B needs to pay one month pay to Party A to compensate Party A’s loss.

乙方需履行這份合約。若要離職必須在二個月前以書面告知甲方。在這二個月的期間之內,乙
方仍需要樂意並願意履行原同意合約內容。乙方如無法給甲方一月以上的書面通知,乙方需付
給甲方一個月的薪資賠償甲方損失。

Thoughts?

That’s an “illegal” clause that they will try you to agree with, but that in a trial doesn’t mean shit.

I have heard, but never verified (how could I anyway) that it is illegal for your employer in Taiwan to withhold anything from your check, including these silly contract breaking fees - that they have to pay you, and then sue to recover the fee.

There are some minimum legal working conditions that government sets… by law. The company could try to argue that you agreed on that, but they can NOT offer anything worse than the legal minimum conditions, because otherwise there would be no point on issue rules like that.

Def not signing this 'til I meet with the CLA people.

OK, but they will tell you the same than me: “this contract is not legal”. And if you keep asking, they will tell you that if they want to make use of that, the law will be on your side.

The problem with that is that when you leave, you have severance (or whatever) payment to receive from them, and if you don’t want to follow their rules, even if you are right, that means you will have a dispute with them.

You can try to talk openly about this issue with your employer.

It’s illegal to make any deductions from your salary. There is a heavy fine if they do.
Even in the event that they have the right on that money, it’s illegal for them to deduct this from your salary. If they do, report them and they’ll face a heavy fine.

They can sue you for the compensation though.
However, the money is in your pocket and what are the chances it won’t be there anymore once they won an expensive lawsuit? :grin:

It’s not actually an illegal clause, but they may either misunderstand how labor law works or try to mislead you about it (or both).

Assuming your job is subject to the Labor Standards Act, there are basically four ways to terminate:

  1. employer terminates with advance notice (Art. 11)
  2. employer terminates without advance notice (Art. 12)
  3. worker terminates without advance notice (Art. 14)
  4. worker terminates with advance notice (Art. 15)

Art. 11 requires a condition like the employer being in financial trouble or the worker being incompetent etc. You get severance pay, and if they don’t give advance notice then they still have to give wages for the notice period (Art. 16).

Art. 12 requires the worker to be doing something wrong, like insulting people or violating the contract.

Art. 14 requires the employer to be doing something wrong, like insulting the worker or breaking the contract. You get severance pay.

Art. 15 requires the employer’s consent, which in this case it’s giving in advance through the contract. (Otherwise, it needs to be either a non-fixed term contract or a job the worker has already had for three years.)

A breach penalty of one month’s salary should be enforceable. It’s true that they can’t deduct it in advance (Art. 26) and therefore need to chase you for it.

The most likely problem is that they’ll say the only way to terminate the contract is how the contract says it can be terminated, which is not true. If the contract explicitly forbids the other termination methods listed in the LSA, that’s illegal. If the contract simply is silent on an issue covered by law, the law automatically fills in the blank.

Not all jobs are subject to the LSA, so ask the local labor department or the Ministry of Labor (not CLA) if you have any doubt. Buxiban teachers are definitely covered.

All jobs (as long as they’re 僱傭 i.e. employment not contracting) are subject to Art. 482 to 489 of the Civil Code, in which case (in addition to the LSA if applicable) either party may terminate the contract in the event of a “serious occurrence” (重大事由), and if the serious occurrence is caused by either party’s negligence, that party is financially responsible for it.

It’s still a good idea to ask the labor people about the whole contract, since they usually know what they’re talking about. :slight_smile:

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After flashing Ms. Chen’s card, 2 “managers” at 2 different employers backed off and did the right thing. A third fool said " go ahead and contact her". I informed Ms. Chen that this manager didn’t seem impressed by her card. hahaha, Ms. Chen laughed and said “i’ll take care of it”. Like I said , fool.

Do not approach Ms. Chen without a solid case and supporting documentation.

Finally, some general advice. If you even think you’re going into a meeting that smells of bullshit from down the hall, then discreetly record the meeting on your phone. I did just that last year and what a great call that was. I should have thought of that years ago.

Would you mind sharing the Chinese side of that card? :slight_smile:

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With pleasure yyy

Thanks everyone, this is really helpful. Hopefully will be helpful to others as well.