How helpful is SAFEA?

[Walkfaster]

My employer has been dragging their feet for 9 months on fulfilling the terms in my contract, like getting me health insurance. So last week I emailed them, politely as possible, to tell them to get it done or I would leave at the end of the month. The response to to tell me to wait, and to threaten me by saying "I'll never be able to renew my visa again". Thats' about all I needed to hear from them, so I'm going to file a complaint with SAFEA.

But them I did some reading about the real vs fake SAFEA contracts... I did sign a contract in the local government office, but what I have in my possession is a copy. Did i get screwed on that?

And is SAFEA generally helpful? Does anybody have experience with an employer that fails to fulfill a contract?

[roddy]

It probably depends a lot on your local office. They might leap into action, they might ignore you. To be honest if the worst thing your school has done is not get you health insurance, there's not much to complain about.

[Walkfaster]

I wish that was the only thing they've messed up....

[kdavid]

As someone who has worked in China for almost seven years, and has spent most of that time working with government officials, education bureaucrats, and official visa issues, I believe it is very unlikely there will be any investigation into the issue as long as your school has been adhering to Chinese legalities.

If your employer is illegally employing foreign teachers, there could be some repercussions for them; albeit perhaps not large.

A true investigation with consequences is likely only to be initiated under circumstances where the Chinese side is clearly suspect of an egregious foreign-teacher-related error. For example, a teacher they've hired illegally has turned out to be a pedophile who has been accused of molesting students; they've hired a teacher who has committed or is suspect of having committed acts of terrorism, etc.

If you're very unhappy with the school, and have documented evidence of your mistreatment, your best course of action is to write up detailed, well-written, balanced version of your experience and post it on several forums. Include all of the details you can about the school and let your story be heard. Having colleagues or others you've worked with corroborate your story would strengthen its credibility.

In the future, your write-up may help others make a decision on whether or not to join this school, which will be more helpful than wasting your time following-up with SAFEA.

[roddy]

How are you getting on with this?