School refuses to give me hours at work

Legal Legal - Work
1

I signed a contract in 07/2009 for a year period (so it should be valid until 07/2010), and now my school is telling me that they want me to resign a new contract that will be good for another year. The problem is 1, I might leave in 08/2010, so I don’t want to sign a contract past that date, and 2, the new contract is crap and it is in my best interest not to sign it (for example, if a student drops out of my class, I can be fined up to 10,000 NT).

I have been working at this company for over a year and a half, and they say the contract is just a formality, but if I don’t sign it they will not give me anymore hours.

Can they do this to me? In my contract it says they have to give me at least 6 hours a week, so can’t I sue them for not giving me the min amount hours? How do I go about taking a company to court? Do I need a lawyer, or can I represent myself?

2

Whatever you do, don’t sign a contract that states you can be fined if a student quits!
The boss may think a contract is just a formality and the school is certainly not bound by it, but any clauses unfavorable to the teacher will be enforced.

3

the reason why there are lawyers

4

Yup, that is one of the reasons why I did not sign the contract. Is there a way to do it with out the lawyer? I am afraid the lawyer will cost me more than what I can get out of the company.

5

Signing a new contract in the middle of an existing contract with stipulations to your disadvantage AND a direct threat included? I think not.

6

are you a bad teacher? Maybe they want you to leave?

7

Why not point out that your existing contract is still binding and suggest that you might be willing to sign a new one once the existing agreement expires? Whether or not you actually DO agree when that time comes is another issue, of course. That would seem to be the first step that wouldn’t involve too much loss of face on either side.
If it doesn’t work, your local labour bureau would probably be the next step, but that will be seen by your boss as confrontational and disharmonious, so the chances of achieving what you want will probably decrease.

8

This is a tricky situation. I would play it two ways. First, I would just ignore the whole situation. Smile a lot but never sign the new contract. It might all go away.

If that didn’t work and they forced me to sign the contract I would cross out all the bits in the contract such as the 10k fine which I didn’t like and initial the changes, keeping a copy. I’d then return it to them and see how they played it.

In the meantime I’d be looking for another job because I’d realise they were fucking me up the arse.

9

I did this with a contract in Korea, and it didn’t work. When the shit hit the fan the boss refused to honor the amended contract, stating that since I had just changed it myself, it didn’t count, and that it was the original, unmodified contract that counted. (He had agreed to, and signed, the changes as well.) If you are going to change the contract, get it rewritten; don’t just cross parts out. Of course, the boss probably won’t be amenable.

10

[quote=“bababa”][quote=“tomthorne”]
If that didn’t work and they forced me to sign the contract I would cross out all the bits in the contract such as the 10k fine which I didn’t like and initial the changes, keeping a copy. I’d then return it to them and see how they played it.

[/quote]
I did this with a contract in Korea, and it didn’t work. When the shit hit the fan the boss refused to honor the amended contract, stating that since I had just changed it myself, it didn’t count, and that it was the original, unmodified contract that counted. (He had agreed to, and signed, the changes as well.) If you are going to change the contract, get it rewritten; don’t just cross parts out. Of course, the boss probably won’t be amenable.[/quote]

Oh, that’s interesting. Usually in western countries if both parties sign an ammended contract it’s still binding. It must be different in east Asia (or your boss lied to you :smiley: ).

To be honest, contracts in Taiwan don’t count for shit anyway. If something goes wrong the westerner almost always gets shafted. Work visa rules see to that. I knew a guy who worked for a British owned company. He was forced to work 6 days a week which was in breach of his contract and decided to complain about this. Personally I thought he was making a big deal over nothing, but he was within his rights. When he pointed out to his, British, line manager the contract the alleged reply was, “Contract? Welcome to Taiwan.”.

11

Nope, I am a pretty good teacher. At my school they ask the student to do a survey and I have at 95% average, which is one of the top at my school.

[quote=“sandman”]Why not point out that your existing contract is still binding and suggest that you might be willing to sign a new one once the existing agreement expires? Whether or not you actually DO agree when that time comes is another issue, of course. That would seem to be the first step that wouldn’t involve too much loss of face on either side.
If it doesn’t work, your local labour bureau would probably be the next step, but that will be seen by your boss as confrontational and disharmonious, so the chances of achieving what you want will probably decrease.[/quote]

I tried talking to them about it. I tried to reason with them, but they took away my classes for not signing the contract. I asked them how that is possible for them to make me sign a contract to now and not give me hours. I stated that in my contract it stated they must give me at least 6 hours of work a week and I stated they signed the contract until July 2010. I will try to contact the labor bureau tomorrow. Thanks.

[quote=“tomthorne”]This is a tricky situation. I would play it two ways. First, I would just ignore the whole situation. Smile a lot but never sign the new contract. It might all go away.

If that didn’t work and they forced me to sign the contract I would cross out all the bits in the contract such as the 10k fine which I didn’t like and initial the changes, keeping a copy. I’d then return it to them and see how they played it.

In the meantime I’d be looking for another job because I’d realize they were fucking me up the arse.[/quote]

Tried to ignore it at first. I tried to play it off. Like I told them I would read over the contract and by myself some time, but it didn’t work. Also, they said the contract in non-negotiable.

I plan to talk to the labor bureau, see if I can take it to court by myself. If that fails, I will hire a lawyer and end up losing money, but I think this company needs to learn they shouldn’t take advantage of their workers. Oh, and by the way, I am here on a Joining Family Resident Visa, so I don’t need to worry about not having a job at the moment.

12

If you are on a JFRV, why not just look for another job instead of dwelling over a mere 6hrs/week? You can waste your time trying to beat this dead horse, or you can use your time to find a better job with another school. :2cents:

13

You’re on a JFRV! I totally support you taking a principled stand in this situation - but that’s all it is, nothing will change regardless of any result you achieve. It is a good thing for you to take a stand, though.

14

Even the JFRV guys are getting screwed over now. The industry really is fucked.

15

Also, in my contract it stated that who ever breaks the contract will have to pay the other party 100,000 NT

16

Took some nads to sign that one, I guess. Hope there’s no way they can pin the breaking on you, then.

I do think you should stand up to them, though. They’re completely taking advantage, or trying to.

17

If you take the offensive, you’d better hope that the CLA will settle things. Otherwise, you’re looking at a civil lawsuit over a contract dispute and you can be assured that the employer will counter sue, possibly with false criminal charges. Not. Worth. It. Write it off and find a new job. Or fight for 6hrs/week at your own risk.

18

There is no logical connection, between the quote’s first sentence and its second sentence.

You can be an great teacher and they want to fire you because they want a teacher who has few options, who can be controlled easily.

They could not want a great teacher - because the teacher is expensive - and the boss wants to find someone cheaper.

It could be that the boss cannot lure students and yet doesn’t want the teacher to be free to cross the street to the competition.

The OP’s statement is they want him to stay (not go) but the boss wants more control and the boss wants the chance to earn money from the teacher, with a student’s dropping as pretext.

19

Any school that tries to put penalty clauses like that in doesn’t deserve to have any teachers. Run, don’t walk, to a new job.

20

They’re breaking the contract by insisting you sign a new one before the old one has run out. Try to get the fine for yourself with the CLA’s help. I wouldn’t bother going further by getting a lawyer - contracts and labor law don’t mean that much in Taiwan; you probably won’t come out ahead.