I’d really appreciate your input on a question I have.
I’ve been working at the same cram school for about 5 years. I signed one contract when I initially joined the company and the following year, I signed one more contract for what I’m assuming was one more year as that’s the standard length of a contact.
I haven’t since signed anything.
Out of curiosity, I recently asked my company’s managers if I’m still under contract and if so, if they could please share a picture or any kind of evidence of said contract existing. They were unable to do so, but informed me that I’m in fact under an ‘indefinite’ contract, so no further contracts need to be signed by me.
Needless to say, this statement struck me as dubious at best.
With that said though, I’m completely ignorant of contract law, so I’ve come to you, wondering if there is in fact any bases for such an ‘indefinite’ contract existing.
Just as a piece of extra info, my ARC is through marriage, not through my place of work.
Thanks for any information you can offer! I greatly appreciate your time.
Ask for a copy of the indefinite contract. If they can’t give it to you, there just is no contract, and I’m pretty sure that that’s the case in fact. You presumably have open work rights through your marriage ARC, so I don’t imagine that’s necessarily a problem, someone can correct me if I’m wrong.
If you have a marriage ARC, you don’t ‘need’ a contract to work, but it’s always important to have one. If anything happens, right now they can just tell you they don’t have a contract with you and don’t owe you any money from unpaid salaries, etc. You could walk into work today and they can say that you haven’t worked there in however many years, so please leave, you’re not an employee anymore. It’s never a good idea to work for a company in Taiwan and not have some sort of written agreement with your employer about hours and pay, at minimum.
I’d agree with @tempogain, ask for a copy of this “indefinite contract”. Phrase it as “I seem to have misplaced my copy, would you mind printing a new one for me?” or something polite and innocent like that.
That’s the key. Since you’re not a permanent resident, any contract you might have with an employer cannot exceed your permitted period of residence.
ETA: If you were a permanent resident (i.e. an APRC holder), since this (buxiban teaching) is a job that’s subject to the Labor Standards Act, and presumably your original contract was a normal one, you would presumably have an indefinite contract.
Also presumably, they haven’t needed to apply for a work permit each time you agreed to stay for another year, because as a foreign spouse you have open work rights. So while they have evidently failed to do their due diligence in confirming that they were following the law, they haven’t necessarily tried to deceive you.
Well not exactly. A contract does not need to be in writing (with some exceptions), so if OP agreed to continue working until X and did so properly (i.e. not working illegally), then it’s still a contract, though definitely not an indefinite contract in this case.
Because the Supreme Court’s decision on the impossibility of indefinite contracts for non-permanent residents has not (afaik) been codified in law, if the employer has trouble believing this, it’s probably best to ask a knowledgeable person at the local labor department to explain it to them.
This is probably obvious to the OP, but at that point you should probably be questioning how much you really want to work there and how much it’s worth pursuing it.
Like I always say, dodgy employers do lots of illegal stuff, so if you have a dodgy employer you probably have an LSA Art. 14 situation (though you might not realize it at first), which gives you a valid exit strategy.
With this particular issue, because most people haven’t heard about it, it might be an honest mistake.