Kaohsiung Dominican School (高雄道明外僑學校) Evil Across The Street

Housecat: I think what many posters are trying to say is that beggars can’t be choosers and maybe you need to just get back on your feet financially. What I am reading (between the lines) from you is that there’s a real dilemma for you because whilst you’re aware of that, you also don’t need to find yourself back on the same old merry-go-round because that could be too much to bear. I’m all for getting up and getting back into it, but sometimes, it’s worth taking a few more counts (and a breather) rather than just getting straight up and walking right into a knockout punch. The psychological (not to mention legal) effects of not having a job and an income can be horrible, but so can a prolonged bad working environment, doubly so if it’s a string of bad/abusive jobs.

the problem with buxibans for parents is that the hours you work are the same that housekitten are home. So not only would she not have any time to spend with her son but she would also have to have daycare or have her study in the teacher’s lounge while she was teaching. Now if she was on an APRC that would change and she could legally go the kindy route.[/quote]

Yes, there will be some scheduling problems. That will be a challenge. However, it is possible that she could negotiate to have her child put into free or discounted anqinban at her place of work. My concern for HC is that, according to my reading of her situation, money is definitely going to become an issue that looms large, to say nothing of visa troubles. I think getting a job, even something she only does for a while, should be a very high priority.

[quote=“Feiren”]School in Miaoli: bit.ly/dRXT4l
School in Yilan: bit.ly/hiomy5
School in Xindian: bit.ly/f10EFv
School in Jiayi: bit.ly/igpvYw[/quote]

104 is a good idea. However, I think the Miaoli job isn’t for foreigners.
【職務類別】 國小學校教師、中等學校教師

【接受身分類別】 上班族、應屆畢業生、原住民

Nor is the Xindian job:

“中籍英師”

Yes, GIT, that’s largly my point. I’m likely going to end up moving for a job and I don’t want to drag my poor kid back and forth across the island just to try and scrape a few hours together in a place where I’m miserable, or spend my life playing a clown gig and never seeing my son. It’s important to try to make the right move.

Just me, but I don’t think you should relocate unless it becomes absolutely necessary and/or the school provides assistance. There should be plenty of work near where you are.

housecat: It’s a horrible dilemma to be in, doubly so because you have a kid.

Totally agree. When you’re ready, HC, name and shame your former school.

Totally agree. When you’re ready, HC, name and shame your former school.[/quote]

Indeed. It would be one thing if it had just been HC. None of us would have liked it, I’m sure, but we could probably accept that a single adult could roll with the punches to a certain extent. That a school, of all institutions, did this is beyond shameful. It’s like a doctor shooting someone. There’s such an incredibly deep breach of ethics here it’s hardly conceivable.

I-Shou’s looking for a substitute English teacher, doesn’t seem to be limited to Taiwanese applicants

isis.ks.edu.tw/portal/hrm/hrm000.jsp

page is only in Chinese :frowning: But they have this page isis.ks.edu.tw/portal3/11Per … ncy_en.htm on how to apply for any position in English.

[quote=“Feiren”]

Nonetheless, your contract or any waiver cannot take away the basic protections you have under the law:

severance pay
pay in lieu of notice
sick pay
pay for untaken annual leave[/quote]

Yes. That’s also why I find it alarming that the arbitrators are telling hc that she can request to have the contract honored despite the fact that she agreed, in writing, to void the contract. Shouldn’t they be telling her the opposite? Shouldn’t they be telling her that the contract is most likely invalid but that she is still entitled a severance package? :ponder:

Something doesn’t sound right. I fear that Mr. Tony lost face and that hc may have adversaries in both camps.

This is Article 12 from the Labor Standards Acts

[quote]In any of the following situations, any employer may terminate a labor contract without advance notice:

  1. Where a worker misrepresents any fact at the time of signing of a labor contract in a manner which might mislead his employer and cause him to sustain damage therefrom.
  2. Where a worker commits a violent act against or grossly insults the employer, his (or her) family member or agent of the employer, or a fellow worker.
  3. Where a worker has been sentenced to temporary imprisonment in a final and conclusive judgment, and is not granted a suspended sentence or permitted to commute the sentence to payment of a fine.
  4. Where a worker is in serious breach of the labor contract or in serious violation of work rules.
  5. Where a member deliberately damages or abuses any machinery, tool, raw materials, product or other property of the employer or deliberately disclose any technical or confidential information of the employer thereby causing damage to the employer.
    [color=#0000FF]6. Where a worker is, without good cause, absent from work for three consecutive days, or for a total six days in any month.[/color]
    Where an employer desires to terminate a labor contract pursuant to Items 1 and 2, Items 4 to 6 of the preceding paragraph, he (or she) shall do so within thirty days from the date he (or she) becomes aware of the particular situation.[/quote]

Section 2 and 5 are particularly worrisome. Of course, housecat wasn’t violent, she didn’t insult anyone and she certainly did not hurt anyone or break anything on purpose. But that’s just her saying that. We can safely assume that the school’s side of the story will be much different. Just a picture of a broken door hinge would suffice for the school to fabricate a criminal case against housecat in defense. This could lead to severe consequences for the housecat.

My point is, the school has a lot of leverage if they are willing to lie, and they probably are. Plus, I would not trust these clowns at the CLA. Not after one of them lost face (Not that he didn’t deserve it). If I were you, housecat, I would play it safe. You need to write a letter to the school in which you need to list your requests as per Feiren’s advice. The letter should also include the relevant articles from the Taiwan Labor Standards Act to support your requests. Tell the school that failure to pay you what you are legally owed, you will press charges.

Sign the letter and have a witness sign it, too. Make sure to use registered mail and send a copy of the letter to the school and to Tony.

Write a request for help to the CLA. Be very specific in requesting help. Point them in the right direction by citing the relevant articles from the LSA.

It will take you a couple hours writing a couple letters but I think you have to be pragmatic about this. I found a copy of the LSA online. You can refer to it.

Labor Standards Act

Good luck.

Yes, it’s worth letting the CLA know that you know what the relevant points are. When I dealt with the CLA, from the very first time, I cited/quoted the relevant parts of the LSA (in fact, I had a copy with the highlighted parts for both me and them). Partly, it saves them from doing the work (or fucking it up and losing face) and partly, it doesn’t let them get comfortable with the idea of being lazy or disrespecting you.

I fear RiT may be correct on both the count of Tony working against you because he lost face and the school being able to fabricate things. It would be an absolute travesty of justice, and there should be procedures for dealing with this whole situation to make it far less of a balls-up than it has become, but it wouldn’t surprise me if things were such a nonsense and became even more of a nonsense.

I agree with the letter thing being a good idea, and going through all the laws. Does anyone have a link to the whole act in English?

Tony seemed to be a bit mollified because it was kind of put down as a ‘communication misunderstanding’, but his colleagues pretty much just ignored him. He had to be there as he was the ‘official translator’ but the person now in charge of the case (it has nothing to do with Tony any more, thank goodness!) said that he just has to be there, doesn’t need to talk. He seemed bored out of his mind.

Labor Standards Act:

http://laws.cla.gov.tw/Eng/FLAW/FLAWDAT0201.asp

“Tony” doesn’t have the level of English needed to deal with this kind of dispute. Full stop. He is not an interpreter and should not be playing one on TV either. He also tends to try to duck responsibility for his errors. I am so glad HC had someone else going in with her to do the honors. :bravo:

My question, though, is who is advocating for HC if the CLA is not. In the initial meeting, the woman Tony brought in (evidently not technically his boss) came up with a number of relevant points related to the contract and its content that HC hadn’t thought of at the time. In fact, the CLA hadn’t read the contract or any other documents related to the case (or if they did, they hadn’t understood them, which, given the poor quality of its English, might not be blame to be laid at their door). To have them suddenly go all procedural and tell her she needs to convene an arbitration committee…??? What’s up with that? At the very least, the CLA needs to realize that foreign workers are, by definition, FOREIGN, which means we don’t understand the procedures and we don’t have the local resources to front up to a hearing with ten people who have nothing better to do than to act as our panel.

I think the CLA, to be truly effective, needs to hire a foreign advocate who can keep in mind how little foreigners know about procedures in the ROC, and explain them effectively in actual English. (Or whatever the language in question might be.)

I will say, though, it will be fun when the identity of this school can be released. :popcorn: :popcorn:

[quote=“GuyInTaiwan”]Labor Standards Act:

http://laws.cla.gov.tw/Eng/FLAW/FLAWDAT0201.asp[/quote]

The link you posted doesn’t yield anything for me.

I already posted a link to the LSA in my last post.

laws.cla.gov.tw/eng/flaw/flawdat … d=FL014930

More labor law translations here.

lexadin.nl/wlg/legis/nofr/oeur/lxwetai.htm

Just a quick clarification. Everyone is talking about the CLA (Council of Labor Affairs, lǎowéihui). The CLA is not involved in this case. The CLA is a central government agency. It issues work permits to employers allowing them to hire foreigners.

However, when you have a labor dispute, you deal with your local county or city’s Department or Bureau of Labor (láogōngjú). All employees in a labor dispute go here, foreign or otherwise. While the local Dept. of Labor obviously works closely with the Council, they are not really subordinate agencies.

[quote]My question, though, is who is advocating for HC if the CLA is not.[/quote]She is her own advocate, and she is on her own. There is a difference between a legal defense and arbitration.

Tony just called and asked to hold the next meeting on Wednesday, the 8th. We agreed on five o’clock. I said, “But the nuns will be praying then,” to which Tony replied, “Yeah, uhh, it’s okay. They will send their lawyer to the meeting.”

Lawyer? I asked Tony if I need a lawyer and he said that he can’t answer my question properly, but if I have one, I should bring it. But he said that this is pretty normal practice, so he doesn’t know if I need a lawyer or not.

WTF? And the school refused to produce proof of taxes paid, saying that it would wait until the meeting to decide.

You don’t really need a lawyer. Well, it might not be a bad idea, but it will cost more than it is worth to you. Just go and tell your story. Be sure to mention that you are a single mother and support your Taiwanese son. Let the labor people sort it out. That’s their job.

The part about the taxes is their lawyer talking. Don’t produce anything until you absolutely have to. Again, let the labor board sort it out. Here’s a long shot:

Write a simple letter in English and send it to Mayor Chen’s email account ask for her help:

mayor@kcg.gov.tw

She used to head up the CLA and is fairly well known for her sense of justice. Maybe someone on her staff will see it and put a little pressure in the Labor Department. Keep it simple, state your concerns that you don’t really understand what is going on, and if possible translate it into Chinese.

Okay, I have two voices now saying that I don’t need a lawyer, and it might even be a good thing if things go my way and this guy tells them to settle because they won’t win.

I’m going to be spending some time reading more carefully through some of those links. Thanks guys.