Hi. I am in desperate need of some advice. I was hired by a Taiwanese company for a marketing job. They now want to break my two year contract after two months because they changed their mind and no longer require my services. There was no wrongdoing on my part. They provided me a form to “mutually cancel” our contract but I have yet to sign it until I understand my rights. I am wondering what the best way to handle this is. I would love to keep my ARC for the validity it was promised to me for since I signed a lease on an apartment. My health insurance I also just got and would also love to hold on to. Is there any way I can keep my ARC and health insurance for some time once my employment is terminated? Does it matter which way I go about the termination, as in, should I force them to fire me for some benefit to me? I really don’t know what to do. Should I be hiring a lawyer? Thanks for any input you guys can provide…
You can get a 6 month extension on yr ARC from date of termination. Just take the certificate of employment to the NIA and tell them you got canned and want to find a new job.
Thanks for your response. Do you know if there is a specific timeframe in which I should do that? Also, does that allow me to keep my health insurance or does that disappear immediately upon termination? Thanks again!!
Unless for some reason I felt sorry for my boss, I wouldn’t sign a “mutual” termination agreement that doesn’t include severance pay.
Severance pay in this case should be around 1/6 of your monthly salary, assuming you’re not married to a local. If you don’t have the contract termination in writing, or if the company has a proper excuse (even if it’s not wrongdoing on your part), it may be difficult to get, but if the company refuses to pay, and you can prove your case, the minimum fine for refusing to pay is $300,000 – which sends a good message imo.
I don’t know if quitting or getting fired makes any difference for your health insurance. Of course it’s likely to make a difference for any reference letter you might want from the company, but they might write you a glowing reference anyway just to try to appease you, and if they refuse to write anything then that carries a minimum fine of $20,000.
All of this is assuming your marketing job is covered by the Labor Standards Act: law.moj.gov.tw/Eng/Law/LawSearch … 0standards
health insurance I’m not sure about. It doesn’t terminate immediately, I know that because I’ve used it. But I’m not sure if it runs for the extra 6 months.
Under no circumstances - other than a nice cheque - sign that document. Your firing does not sound mutual to me, why would you want to loose any leverage you have?
Is there an official website somewhere referencing this whole “Free six months extension” thing? Last summer I was at the National Immigration Agency in Nantou county and I asked every which way about this and they absolutely said no such thing existed. Now, this is a country area to be stuck in (and I don’t have multiple offices to choose from, by any means, like some of you folks in Taipei or Taichung), but they’re sensible and if I can show some kind of documentation or give them a reference to speak to, then I think they would do it.
Basically, there are not many unmarried foreigners in this county at this point, and I doubt they’ve handled many odd applications from English Teachers.
[quote=“phdinfunk”]Is there an official website somewhere referencing this whole “Free six months extension” thing? Last summer I was at the National Immigration Agency in Nantou county and I asked every which way about this and they absolutely said no such thing existed. Now, this is a country area to be stuck in (and I don’t have multiple offices to choose from, by any means, like some of you folks in Taipei or Taichung), but they’re sensible and if I can show some kind of documentation or give them a reference to speak to, then I think they would do it.
Basically, there are not many unmarried foreigners in this county at this point, and I doubt they’ve handled many odd applications from English Teachers.[/quote]
Here is an English source which also links to a Chinese official source: winklerpartners.com/?p=4697
Don’t most companies here have a 3 month contract clause whereby both sides have the right to terminate with short notice. It sounds to me that you weren’t a good fit or they didn’t properly plan their hiring need. We had people come and leave within days, others waited a month or two.
Thanks Peter. That is helpful!