Actually it seems pretty clear that the criteria for blacklisting teachers is based upon the immigration laws and labor standard laws of Taiwan. Like it or not, I believe that the blacklisting is quite legitimate.
Assuming that the system is not abused, the benefit to schools will be simple. Teachers will still be able to come and go, but in order to avoid blacklisting foreign teachers will need to start giving notice and actually paying the penalties for breach that they agreed to when they took the job. This will mean that schools will know at least one month in advance that they need to find a new teacher, rather than having teachers disappear on them overnight. In cases where teachers do disappear overnight then the school has the right to have the teacher blacklisted.
No one is saying that locals donât leave jobs suddenly, but the majority of locals most likely give notice for fear that their actions will have an affect upon their chances of securing furture work. Many employers check references for locals whereas they donât tend to for foreign teachers.
No one would blacklisted for quitting their job and thereby breaking their contract early. People will only get blacklisted if they do a runner. Most people do runners in an attempt to avoid paying the penalties that you refer to. If people give notice and pay the penalty then I seriously doubt that the CLA would entertain any attempts by a school to blacklist a teacher.
I mentioned to the CLA that very few foreign teacher contracts give the teacher the option to actually resign from the contract. Their answer was that under Taiwan law (the Labor Standards Act) any employee can leave his or her employee provided that he or she gives at least one months notice.
You are right. This is not what the blacklist is for, and the CLA have stated that people wonât be blacklisted for breaking contracts, they will only be blacklisted if they break contracts without giving notice. Seems fair to me.
The new list extends the lifetime of the the work permit revocation, making it a permanent situation, rather than a go out and apply for a new visa/work permit/ARC situation.
Good question and one that you might like to follow up with the CLA.
I believe that you are correct in this assumption, and this is basically what the CLA have said. Teachers who give adequate notice will not be blacklisted even if they are breaking their contract early.