Need advice about signing off the company's policy

Legal Legal - Work
1

So the company has come up with a renewed company policy, which details attendance and other topics. It was introduced to us during a meeting, and I was told by the manager that if he wants me or my other foreigner coworker to get finished some project some day (yeah, he told this to us in front of everyone), he doesn’t want us to ask for any compensation, nor that we work only 8 hours. He added that he knows that everyone checks FB/news/whatever at the office, so he wants that in exchange. He threatened us with tracking how we spend every single hour at office.

The funny thing is that I have done many extra hours, and I have complained only in the most extreme cases, but it seems that it’s not enough for them.

The document they want us to sign (everybody has already done it) included things such that you have to apply in advance “overtime working hours”, that would be done during the weekend and they also need to be approved by a manager. These hours would be compensated with a 1:1 payment or time off. When I was asked to sign off the document, I said “but is this even legal? what the law says is that you get paid 1.5 times those hours”. Yeah, it’s not 1.5 but 1.3, 1.6 or up to 2 times. So they asked me to provide them some valid, official link on this information, so I did.

Now the assistant keeps bugging me with signing that policy right away, and I want to know anything that I should know before doing so. The situation is very annoying, upsetting, unsettling. Can they force me to sign off that policy? is that legal? what can I do if they insist? I guess that they are considering to fire me sooner or later, for my attitude is always to make things fair… not only for the company, but also for the employee.

2

Come on guys…

3

Usually I could chip in but I dont know the law on this one.

4

You’re coming to Forumosa for legal advice… so you’re going to get random speculation instead. :slight_smile:

I would assume that, if your employment contract does not specifically state you are obligated to sign random agreements like this, you can refuse to sign and not worry about getting fired.

Better yet, tell the office lady that you’re willing to sign, but you want to check with the Ministry of Labor first to make sure everything is OK. You can even say something like foreigners’ working conditions and local working conditions are subject to different laws, so you have to check to be 100% sure it’s legal. That will probably scare them enough to let you go without signing.

5

If I were you then i would call the Labor government for legal advice and let us know how it went

6

Well, long story short. I asked at the labour office and they said me that I was right and recommended me to have their mediation service. At that time I wanted to be cautious, so I wanted to delay that mediation as much as possible. The thing is that I have received a LOT of pressure from different people including managers for signing off that paper. I’ve been even told that I had to sign it or I couldn’t work for them. Some idiot, the assistant, was pushing me also a lot, saying that the people who didn’t agree with the company, already left.

The thing scalated a lot and one day that I explode because I was received a different treatment than my coworkers, the owner called me to his office and shouted at me all sort of shit, including “get the fuck out of my office”. It was the day before the mediation and he expressed how many flying shits he cared about that. i also grasped that he was very angry at me for having that mediation… which actually was what another manager wanted to do: he wanted to make sure that the company was doing the correct things, but hey, he wasn’t going to complain that much, that’s my job apparently. That day I had to left the office out of pure anxiety.

We had the mediation, I proved them wrong, they were kind of lectured by the lawyer, and were told that they can not be more strict with me.

Then they changed the internal regulations for all the employees. This surprised me, actually. I “won”. And I am expecting the boss to go even harder on me because I “challenged” him and the company, although that wasn’t exactly my intention.

Now he’s coming back and I know that he wants to fire me although manager doesn’t want that to happen (may be they finally understood that it wasn’t fair all what I’ve been receiving from the company these months, plus they may be understand that my cause was fair).

I think I will better bring the pills the doctor gave me for anxiety… tomorrow might be a tough day.

I would like to soften down the situation, but it is awkward to me that I have to be friendly and kinda apologize when I was right and mistreated by the company. I also find awkward that I don’t perceive much “thankfulness” from my coworkers, when I actually stand for rights that they could enjoy more than me. Actually the day they were told about the company’s policy changes, somebody told me that there was giong to be a dinner and they wanted me to come, but… I don’t know what to think.

A lot of stress is waiting for me. I’m already very stressed actually… let’s see if i can find a job before this explodes.

7

Good luck man…toxic work culture…what can you do. The robo-workers have been beaten down since they were little kids. The ones with balls are in China and other places, and the rich kids just spend Daddy’s money.

8

Yo jesus80 dude, good on you for standing up. :thumbsup: :bow:

9

Well, that’s the idea. It bugs me the fact that nobody does it. This attitude of mine brings a lot of unnecessary complications to my life, but well, I still believe that it’s better to do this rather than to let other people decide for you that you don’t want your rights.

I hope that coworkers and company will learn something out of this. And I better start to look for another job, because I’m afraid that this is seen by the owner only as a stupid weirdo challenging the company and him.

10

Yes you should look for another job now, although maybe that could be a good thing right?

11

Ive been thinking of doing so for so long. Actually I was contacted by a company about 2 months ago… but ow they put the hiring on hold…

12

Good onya mate. So many companies here (as in 99.99%) have policies that are in direct contravention of the Labor Standards Act. They only get away with it because no one ever calls their bluff on it. Another common issue is the compulsory stand-down after extended overtime. You’re not actually allowed to come back into the office until 10 or 12 hours have passed. Companies I’ve worked for actually do the reverse and dock your pay for turning up late, even after working till 4 am.

13

Sometimes I think “why can’t I be a fuckin’ English teacher, like all those lucky guys who make double than me and work half…”

Indeed, the two points that I complained about are related to working overtime. I understand that sometimes one has to make an effort for the company, and that sometimes you do “extra” stuff and you are not going to ask for those extra 20, 30, 60 or more minutes of your life. But…

14

Been there, done that, all I can say is I commiserate with the horrible feelings. Oh and working Christmas day was a particular highlight for me. :noway: