Warning About Working With Dewey

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
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I used Dewey to find my current job, and I’m now three months into my second contract here. Today, Dewey sent me a new contract, back dated to match the contract I signed with the school, and demanded that I sign and return it to them right away because the government needs this by five today.

This new contract includes a clause saying that I can’t sign a contract with any school Dewey “provides” unless I use Dewey–for up to six months after the completion of my current contract. The new contract doesn’t specify this particular school, just any Dewey school.
If I sign such a Dewey-less contract, I could be fined between 2,000-60,000 NT for breach.

Obviously, they are losing business to other recruiters, and to schools that are directly hiring teachers they like.

I think I will not be signing this contract.

You can PM if you’d like more details, or to see the contract the sent, minus my personal information.

2 Likes
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Another reason not to use recruiters. Thanks for letting us know.

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[quote=“housecat”]I used Dewey to find my current job, and I’m now three months into my second contract here. Today, Dewey sent me a new contract, back dated to match the contract I signed with the school, and demanded that I sign and return it to them right away because the government needs this by five today.

This new contract includes a clause saying that I can’t sign a contract with any school Dewey “provides” unless I use Dewey–for up to six months after the completion of my current contract. The new contract doesn’t specify this particular school, just any Dewey school.
If I sign such a Dewey-less contract, I could be fined between 2,000-60,000 NT for breach.

Obviously, they are losing business to other recruiters, and to schools that are directly hiring teachers they like.

I think I will not be signing this contract.

You can PM if you’d like more details, or to see the contract the sent, minus my personal information.[/quote]

Definitely don’t sign that contract.

Do you have a Plan B? In Taiwan, I would also have a Plan C. :slight_smile:

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I do have a plan B. I also have my current contract with this school for now.

I just showed the contract to my director, who has been amused at how much I have disliked working with Dewey in the past. He read it, shook his head, lauged out loud, and told me not to sign it. He also told me that now he understands a lot more!

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That’s the Dewey we all know and loathe. I’ll give them two things though: they’re creative and they have balls. Either that or they have a sense of humour.

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They are on the phone with me now arguing with me that I need to sign it. Sheesh.

And just threatened me! “You can fuck-up with your job, but don’t fuck-up with Dewey. That’s my advice.”

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Or what?

From what I can gather, the school is not interested in humouring them and they’re at least presently interested in keeping you as an employee. If that were to change it wouldn’t matter what your relationship was with Dewey anyway. Dewey would drop you like a hot potato, so I’m not sure what interest you could possibly have in doing anything Dewey wants. Neither you nor the school has broken the existing contract by not playing along with their tomfoolery, so what can Dewey do about it? How’s trying to intimidate an employee into backdating a contract going to hold up in court, especially against an existing contract? Make sure you keep any communication of a written nature. Indeed, I’d generally tend to conduct as much communication by written means as possible with Dewey so you have some evidence against them. Make sure you’re careful about what you write though.

It’s half past three on a Friday and they want this from you by five o’clock? Who are they kidding? If it were me, I’d blow them off. If they keep hassling you about it next week (which they will, obviously) blow them off again. Refuse to talk to them about it, even for a second. You don’t need that kind of agro, especially just before the weekend. Fuck it, let them stew on it over the weekend, but don’t let them ruin yours. Obviously, Dewey won’t give you another job if you don’t do what they want, but would you even want another job from them? You’d basically be giving them carte blanche to fuck you over if you signed any contract with them ever again. There are times when burning a bridge is expedient.

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They can’t force you backdate a contract, that’s illegal.

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Get Labor Affairs involved … intimidation and fraud (forgery)

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Yeah, they pretty much just fired themselves.

I mostly just listened to him go on and on. I finally interrupted him to say, again, that I’m not going to sign the contract, and if he needs something to prove to the city government that Dewey represented me to get this job (which is what he keept insisting, but is BS because the original contract already says that.), that he could write a different document for me and send that. He wasn’t interested in that.

Then he threatened me, as above. I asked him was threatening me and he replied, “yes.” So I asked him again, and he said, “NO!” But he clearly was.

He also said that he’d called the school before he called me and they denied telling me not to sign it, but that’s not even possible as he was on the phone with me so fast after I emailed that I wasn’t going to sign it, and that the director agreed with me. Actually, he was also upset I’d shown it to the director.

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It seems it would be easy to turn it back on them: “Are you going to break my contract?”

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In a sense they’re trying to break the contract by trying to get her to sign a new contract.

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[quote=“housecat”]They are on the phone with me now arguing with me that I need to sign it. Sheesh.

And just threatened me! “You can fuck-up with your job, but don’t fuck-up with Dewey. That’s my advice.”[/quote]

Those exact words? Are these guys a mafia-run business? There are some. Either way, it might be worth mentioning this conversation to the CLA as Belgian Pie suggests. That goes beyond unprofessional (especially the “yes I am threatening you” bit). I doubt the CLA will actually do anything, but at least it’ll be there on record (possibly) if Dewey decide to cause further trouble.

I would also agree with GiT: do not argue with them, do not engage them in any way, unless in writing, and even then, it sounds like you’ve said all that needs to be said to them. End of story. My limited experience with such matters is that ANYTHING you say or do will be used against you.

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Yeah, the just called back again, Jeff this time, and asked if I need to read it for longer time, or if I’m ready to sign it. Then told me he’d just talked to my director who also agreed I should sign it and denied telling me that it’s not fair.

And yes, those exact words.

Oh, and the LAST time I got the CLA involved, the CLA got me fired!

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housecat: Oh yeah, who could forget that guy?! What an arse clown. Tony, right? It wouldn’t be the same situation this time though because it’s all out in the open for everyone to see.

Don’t answer their calls. I only ever answer calls of people whose names are in my phone unless I know someone I have vetted first is going to call me.

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and delete this thread…names being used etc. Not a good idea

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[quote=“housecat”]Then he threatened me, as above. I asked him was threatening me and he replied, “yes.” So I asked him again, and he said, “NO!” But he clearly was.

He also said that he’d called the school before he called me and they denied telling me not to sign it, but that’s not even possible as he was on the phone with me so fast after I emailed that I wasn’t going to sign it, and that the director agreed with me. Actually, he was also upset I’d shown it to the director.[/quote]

Ooooh…goody! Do we get to go pay them a nice visit?? :discodance:

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My own feeling is that they’re losing clients to other recruiters, or schools are simply hiring teachers they like directly to avoid them and their fees. This new contract is only between Dewey and the teacher.

What it amounts to is that, if I’d signed it, I couldn’t look for another job with any school Dewey works with for six months after the end of this contract, and in fact, couldn’t use a different recruiter to re-sign with this school again, and couldn’t sign with this school again if Dewey wasn’t paid to be the go between.

That is, if I signed a contract with the same school I’m working for without this school paying Dewey to “find” me, Dewey could charge me a good sum of money. If I interviewed and accepted employment with another school that Dewey happens to work with, but found the job myself or through another recruiter, they could charge me the same good sum of money, and for up to six months after this contract is finished.

And the document they sent me is back dated to the date of the original contract I signed with the school in August. I just bet that my school is refusing to pay them a second fee for “finding” me, and they’re trying to get it out of me instead. I love it.

Anyway, I’m not signing it. David even went on and on about how this new contract is nothing to me, but is only important to Dewey. So what kind of idiot signs a contract that is nothing to them?

And I don’t worry about the names, as this is a well-known bunch and I’ve not said one single un-true word. In fact, I’ve been pretty kind!

I used them because the city government wouldn’t hire a teacher without going through the recruiter. They’d already paid for services. If I wanted a job, I needed to use a recruiter. I liked this school, and Dewey happened to be the recruiter.

But if you have the time, the flexibility, and other options to shop around, I’d say do so, like the school or not. I wanted to post this as a very clear example of why.

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Such a 6 month clause was standard in contracts (non-teaching) I used to have back in the UK. As you realise, the only party to benefit here would be Dewey. They get to claim a fee from any future jig you sign up for, if you don’t use Dewey as an agent and they’re already involved with that school.

It’s pretty laughable of them to try and back-date the current contract, and you’re totally right to refuse to sign that.

If you end up renewing with that school though, they might insist that you still sign a contract with Dewey, and that would contain the new clause. It’s always best if you can find contracts without such stuff in it.

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Yes, or the school could end up dropping them for another recruiter to avoid that problem with me, or with any other teachers who don’t want to get screwed by Dewey.

The six month bit is like a second penalty on the teacher. Your choice is to pay a huge fee to be given access to your job, even your “current” job, or else spend six months either out of work, or working for another recruiter, or in buxibans. If you don’t mind moving to wherever a Dewe-less job might be, then no problem. If Dewey has the local market covered, then it’s just something to cause you trouble. Or, as I said above, an incentive for schools to stop working with Dewey because the can’t get good teachers to sign up to be hassled. But I’m sure in Dewey’s mind it’s something of a non-compete clause. But working with a different recruiter, or finding a job yourself, isn’t competing with Dewey.