It seems to me then that the best thing for the OP to do financially is to stay and finish out her contract…how odd indeed! 
[quote=“ironlady”]
That would be great (in a Machiavellian sense), except I’ve never heard of a company in Taiwan that pays in advance. [/quote]
In my last job in Taiwan I used to get paid on or around the 5th for the current month. I thought that was pretty unusual. In my present job in Taiwan, I get paid on or around the 20th for the current month. That’s the way it’s often done in the UK as well so I assumed it was standard.
But even if OP is paid in arrears, perhaps a week after the work for that pay period is completed, it’s only part-time work, so not many hours’ pay would be lost compared to the 240000NT, by my calculations, that she stands to lose!
One law or reg that seems to be pretty easy to get around is the one that says you’re supposed to deduct tax on behalf of your employees and pay it to the government. Schools that don’t do this aren’t “semi-legal” or “legal for this school at this time”, or whatever case you’re trying to make out to justify schools breaking the law. They’re fiddling their taxes! And that means they’re stealing from people like you or me who do pay our due to the government.
I’m not suggesting stealing from them or smashing the place up, but if you happen to have an unenforceable and illegal contract with such people (people who steal) then I’d say break it without compunction. A deal is only a deal where honest people are involved. No-one seriously disagees with that do they?
Of course Taiwan is not like the West; the West, on the whole, is subject to the rule of law, to the extent that nearly everyone makes an honest living, pays their taxes, and believes it is wrong to do otherwise. You think that will never be the case here? You’re probably right: how depressing.
So true.
As for what I said about legal/semilegal, I mean that the laws about how big a school can, where the doors have to be, how much outside space on the street is needed…things like this…all can be gotten around. In that sense a legal school is “legal.”
Cheating on taxes is illegal. Yet, what is one to do if one owns a “legal” /legal school that only allows for a certain number of ARCs. Employ the teacher illegally, deduct the taxes and give them to charity or overpay the government on purpose…whch ironically might just draw attention to yourself lol
And it seems the OP is long gone.
What would you like to debate now? 
So if you disagree with the law (with respect to the number of doors, or of foreign teachers) you just go ahead and break it?
Of course, everyone breaks laws they think are ridiculous, like jaywalking or smoking dope, even in the West. So what’s the difference? When the infraction is for profit, I suppose. In business and the world of work, people try to comply with the law.
Perhaps Taiwan laws are just unreasonable, but I can see how the constraints on doors and ARCs might serve a purpose. Jobs for locals and safety, perhaps?
Anyway you’re right, the OP has gone. I hope she’s paying tax on her rental income!
Huh?? :loco: :loco: Are we talking about the same Taiwan?? 
More like “line your own pockets…” Either that or you were working for some very unusual Taiwanese businesses!
Ironlady,
Next time quote the whole passage and you won’t miss the LOL at the end.
…it’s sarcasm…did I miss yours as well?
smithsgj,
And the breaking the laws/regs on doors and such…this is beyond one’s control really, at least in our case. An agency will help a new school get the liscense, and one finds out later on what passed and what “passed” in your school. I said, make the school legal. They did. I’m happy. It’s not a fire trap and I can get ARCs for teachers. Nuff said.
Jobs for locals? Maybe. It could be the Taiwanese civil service maze that breeds scumbaggy middlemen.
No, the OP isn’t long gone and will stay longer. Here’s an update. I’ve extended my stay to almost the end of April. That way, I’ll finish one course and my students in the second course have agreed to a substitute teacher. I recently found out that my school was only going to charge me NT10,000 in total if I’d left prior to completing both courses. They would have given this sum to the client as compensation. So, I’m doing the right thing and it looks like there will be no penalty.
Well, your situation gave us a lot to think about.
Sounds like your employer is doing the right thing, too!
Yes, I think my employer is doing the right thing. I’ve since found out that they would have given the NT10,000 they were going to charge me, to the company receiving the English lessons. This would have been as compensation for me leaving early. I have no problem with that but I did have a problem with my employer having the ability to charge me NT10,000 per class per course. I guess in reality they wouldn’t ever charge that much; at least. I would hope not.