You mean the mediator said it? I’d love to hear the fully cited explanation.
We still can’t say something is law just because a mediator said so, though. I once heard a mediator say some crap about holiday pay which I knew was wrong and which a judge later confirmed was wrong, for example.
Hopefully I’ll find the papers when I move. They’re buried somewhere.
Yep. Saving me valuable typing energy.
This sounds familiar.
Same wording? 
Here are the articles in question, copied-and-pasted directly from the contract:
12.1 乙方有下列情形之一者，視為違約，甲方得立即終止本契約，解聘乙方，並依
法要求乙方立即出境：
“12.1 Any of the following circumstances shall constitute a default of this Contract by Party B, and Party A may forthwith terminate this Contract immediately and shall be entitled to ask Party B to depart Taiwan immediately.”
12.2 乙方如有前述任何違約之情事，應支付甲方相當於1 個月薪資之懲罰性違約金。
前述違約金，甲方得自行由應付自乙方之薪資或考核獎金中扣除。
“12.2 In the event of any default by Party B as set forth in the preceding Section 12.1, Party B shall be liable for the payment of a punitive penalty to Party A in an amount equal to one month’s salary which may be withheld by Party A from among the salary or performance incentive payable to Party B hereunder.”
Yes, exact same wording 
Btw, I got a PM from someone who shared this:
"Article 22 of Labor Standards Act says
Wages shall be paid in full directly to the worker, unless otherwise … agreed to by both the employer and the worker.
So, the contract itself is not illegal. Though, the employer should get an agreement from the worker each time before actually withholding a fine even if the deduction of the punitive fine from worker’s salary is described in the contract agreed by both parties, iiuc."
Also:
“The Supreme Administrative Court’s 106 Year Judgment No. 93 Administrative Judgment stated: ‘Therefore, the employer may directly deduct a certain amount from the labor wages according to the agreement between the labor and the management. Both must be clear and undisputed, if there is still a dispute between the employer and the employee over any of them, it is beyond the employer’s unilateral determination, and the local competent authority should be requested to coordinate or resolve it through judicial channels, and no deduction from wages is allowed.’”
I will be speaking with attorneys from the LAF tomorrow. Hopefully, they will be able to provide clarification.
Haha. My sense is that if I point out that the contracts feature illegal clauses, Teach Taiwan will rescind its offer.
It’s from TT so it’s the same darn thing. Already got my answer whether they can enforce this kind of crap.
They probably will haha!
As I said in the other thread, the Labor Standards Act doesn’t (currently) apply to public school teachers. It does apply to buxiban teachers and some private school teachers.
“In accordance with law”
That phrase is missing from the English version (the “depart Taiwan immediately” part). I’d love to know which law they have in mind.
I have a teach Taiwan contract and the English in mine does say in accordance with law.
One thing that was a bit tricky was the part about flight reimbursement. Apparently the Chinese part was ambiguous and suggested the ticket you buy should be round trip. Took some research from the accounting department to realize that a one way ticket can also be reimbursed as long as both one way tickets combined do not exceed the threshold allowed (I don’t remember how much for both off the top of my head. I think it was 80,000 total for two tickets but I could be wrong)
Anyway, from what I was told, Teach Taiwan doesn’t draft the contracts, the local MOE does. I think teach Taiwan does translations though? (Not sure)
Teach Taiwan has proven to be completely unhelpful. I am shocked that a government-sponsored program (FET) could be so problematic.
I spoke to attorneys at Taiwan’s Legal Aid Foundation (LAF), and they found numerous articles in the contract that were problematic. I was advised to amend the contract. I emailed Teach Taiwan, even copying the LAF and a contact at the Labor Department, informing them of these articles and asking for the contracts to be amended. Rebecca at Teach Taiwan responded:
“We appreciate you bringing this matter to our attention. Your feedback will be brought back to the Taichung City Education Bureau. However, we, Teach Taiwan, are not authorized to adjust any content stated in the contract. I’m afraid that there is nothing we can do. We respect and understand your decision regardless of whether you will accept the job offer.”
I will be reporting this to the MOE and the Labor Department.
Like I said, I think someone at the Moe drafts the contracts. The first contract I got for a school in Taichung had a really weird contract with only half the airfare reimbursement and no attendance bonus. I emailed the teach Taiwan team and they sent me a better school in a different city with a much better contract.
Edit: they also wanted me to work at three different schools pretty far away from each other so it’s another reason I said no and asked for a different position. I think you can ask if there’s another position with a different contract?
Thanks for the reply. I have asked if they had other programs/schools with legally valid contracts. If so, I’d possibly be interested.
Any updates? What happened?. Teach Taiwan is a recruiting/HR company paid by the city government/MOE so no surprise they don’t care. I don’t know why they claimed to be a program when they’re only recruiters. And you would be managed by other parties that can decide your fate contract/labor wise. That’s super misleading and deceiving.
I signed a Letter of Acceptance with an international school in Eastern Europe that is offering me the equivalent of 166,000 NTD/month – after taxes. I was hoping to stay in Taiwan for my partner, which is why I even considered such a crap contract in the first place, but I am doing what is best for my career. Eff Teach Taiwan.
