No. It’s not illegal. They have adjudged that I broke two clauses in the contract. It was three judges.
You’re not a bonded slave.
I would double check this.
I’ve just been two years in the district and high court and had the services of numerous lawyers. Penalty clauses are legal in Taiwan.
For those following this, it’s over. Today the Bureau of Labor Insurance confirmed my ex-boss had paid the outstanding 135k into my pension account. Her assets will be unfrozen once the paperwork is processed. Considering just two months ago in court she swore I wouldn’t see a penny, she’s since paid me 75k in cash and now this 135k. Not bad, I hope she’s hurting like hell about how things have gone.
Based on this it would seem the clause in your contract was considered legal (if excessive). Hasn’t the MOL/E consistently said that penalties for early breaking of contracts were illegal?!
I’m sure she is and I’m sure she’s planning! Keep well clear of any sphere of influence she might have, I’d move cities if not countries! A Taiwanese woman scorned is not a pretty thing! 
Yes they have. That’s why I asked the question.
Penalties aren’t actually illegal. It’s the act of withholding money you are owed (for example, not giving you your last pay check) that is illegal.
Can you provide evidence of this.
Yes. This is my understanding of the law too. For those in doubt, the Civil Code includes articles which deal with penalty clauses, capping them as the total compensation that may be claimed for a breach of contract; so, clearly, they are not illegal.
So it’s not an employment issue but a civil issue? Makes sense.
But then how can employment contract deal with both civil issues and employment issues. Not for you to answer obviously.
The short answer is that the Civil Code has some articles that deal with the content of contracts while the Labor Standards Act deals with which (of two types) of employment contract a worker should have and sets out minimum standards below which the provisions of an employment contract must not fall.
The whole “commission contract” scam which buxibans use is based on a) denying that there is a working relationship (so as to avoid falling under the LSA and having to provide annual leave, etc.) and thus makes use of b) the Civil Code’s “contract of mandate” which should properly be used for someone charged with carrying out a service for another party. (In my case, this led to the ludicrous attempt to compare my role at the buxiban to that of someone selling insurance policies, because that is where courts have ruled that such a worker is not in a working relationship.)
For anyone curious as to how you’d go about establish that you are in a “working relationship,” then there are 3 parts (loosely translated: personality, organization, economic, each of which has to be present). There’s actually a checklist that the authorities use, and “type of contract” is not what they consider, it all relates directly to the work itself. Relevant stuff is use of time cards, evidence of you belonging to their organization (in my case an email the boss sent me about a meeting), and evidence that you are not party to any risk/reward in relation to the business’s performance. Any evaluations too, related to bonuses, etc., very useful. If you collected this kind of evidence from a job, you’d stand a good chance in the labor court of winning.
(Yes, I know more about this topic than I would like to, or ever thought I would.)
I read that as I had fun freezing my employers ass
Too many bees does that to a person.
kind of looks like he meant to emphasize “us”
oops, just saw it’s already been said…
You should send her a friendly thank you note. I’m quite sure she’ll appreciate it.
A public thank you note. Maybe take an ad out in the local newspaper
Talk to a lawyer before publishing.
You won, don’t gloat. Do not stoop to their level. Grab the money. Enjoy the money. Invest the money. Focus on recuperating the interest rate lost. Nothing pisses your enemies more than success.
And watch your back for a while.
Yeah, when I won, I took the money and ran. Never looked back.
I would be careful even with discussing this case on a forum. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned or burned legally.
I would take the money, savor it, but do it offline.