Employment Contract

October 4, 2014 at 04:35 AM

Hello,

I just started researching my rights and options, and I found a post here from 2007 with a lot of good insight into Chinese employment law. I'm finding inconsistencies in my research online and was hoping some people here had more hands-on experience.

I've been in China about 3 months. I'm teaching web design and oral English at Shandong University of Art and Design. I don't want to write a novel, but I feel like they tricked me. Every reason I came here has turned out to be untrue plus a lot of "bad surprises". In the US, I'd get a lawyer to find out about my options for breaking my contract because of Bad Faith. I wouldn't have come if I'd been accurately informed of the employment/living situation. Unfortunately, my contract doesn't specify the terms that I find to be changed/unacceptable. Everything was either verbal with the Foreign Affairs Rep or the Director that I interviewed with or clever misdirection.

The latest bad surprise is working on Sundays for the rest of the year. A Chinese friend said weekend work pays triple, but I'm finding online both double and triple. I won't be working overtime on weekends. The university just decided to offer more English classes and scheduled mine on Sundays. I'm wondering if my Sunday work should pay more even if it is under the regular amount of weekly working hours. I get paid monthly.

My contract states that I have to pay them $1,000 US if I break the contract early. I'd rather not, but I can afford that to get out of here. But I'm finding information online that says employees can break contracts easily in China. I'm just Googleing these questions, right now, but if anyone has insight or good references, I'll appreciate it.

Thank

October 4, 2014 at 01:09 PM

Probably talking to them about it is your best option. You may have to pay the $1000, but if they provide you with a release letter, you should be able to get another job (though you may have to leave the country and apply for a new visa). Who knows, they may compromise if they are worried you may leave. Try to be diplomatic, though.

Another way is to wait until payday, and then just do a runner. You'll just lose whatever arrears of pay are remaining. However, you should bear in mind that you cannot legally get another job in China unless your current employer provides you with a release letter.

October 4, 2014 at 02:23 PM

Depends a lot on what your next move is. If you're looking to shift to another school in China immediately, you really want to leave the current one on at least civil terms. If you just want to quit China and have no plans to come back, there's not much stopping you packing up and heading to the airport.

What's your attitude at the moment? Want to get out no matter what? Willing to stay if you get A, B and C? How long's your contract for?

October 4, 2014 at 03:12 PM

I'm not sure whether pay is tripled on sundays. I actually highly doubt it. it's not like it's national holiday.

The last contract I could find in my computer clearly states it's 30 hours lessons each weeks. Sure how to split these hours is up to them but as long as the total is the same I don't see what's the harm in working on sundays.

The rule I gave myself is that I stick 100% to what's in the contract... so salary. ticket reimbursement and so on. if it's not in the contract I blame myself for not checking out before... verbal agreement means less than zero.

Once I felt they wronged me because I resigned and they weren't gonna give me the last month salary for unspecified "school rules" I told them they could stick their rules where they wanted but it was not in my contract I went to the labour arbitration office (劳动仲裁) and I wanted to sue their asses off. One week later they gave me the money.

But again, if it's not overtime I don't know why you're so upset with that. what's the big deal?

Not sure if you already talked to them, anyway the contract should also state that you could resing giving one month notice. so you won't have to pay the penalty.

October 5, 2014 at 03:07 AM

Other than working on Sundays, what other issues are you facing? Perhaps if we know the particular issues better we can also give you some advice on how to tackle them. Some issues can be resolved by just knowing who to talk to and how to negotiate it.

October 5, 2014 at 07:36 AM

I thought I made a very careful cost/benefit analysis regarding moving around the world for a lifestyle that I could enjoy. Not a single reason I came has turned out to be true now that I'm here. I could have stayed in the US, just as unhappy with life, making a lot more money. I didn't have to come here. They described a situation that I liked the sounds of. I have no plans, nor do I think I can, sue over every trick and surprise. So, really my questions are just about the ins and outs of terminating a contract early.

A local friend checked with a friend of his who is a lawyer who confirmed the $1000 early termination fine is not legal. I just need to give 30 days notice.

Thank you for the info about the release letter. That's seems pretty important. I wouldn't leave here unless I had another job lined up that would sponsor me.

My plans were to do this teaching contract for a year and learn Chinese then move to a multimedia job in a bigger/better city. My contract goes through next July, and I see no reason to be miserable till then. I'm prepping for a job search, and I hope to find something to start in early '15 after this upcoming semester. I've already voiced all my complaints to the Foreign Affairs Rep, sometimes with the other English teacher who shares some of my complaints. The answer is always No. I'm going to escalate this before doing anything, but I feel like they've preyed on my naivete enough already just by getting me here. I want to know my options before I attempt to negotiate again. This can be resolved if they make changes they've already denied. Really simple things like actually having a key to my building.

October 6, 2014 at 02:25 PM

Hi Rob,

Just to echo what has been said here - especially regarding the release letter.

It sounds like the employer has acted in a misleading way, however things are different here compared with back home.

Without knowing the situation fully I would suggest that you attempt to make it a civil, clean break. It will feel unjust because you feel you were misled but if you can get this done then you will be able to get another (hopefully more satisfactory) job and forget this.

Finally - the advice in terms of the release letter is dependent on the visa. Presumably you are on a Z visa (working visa)? Has this all been handled okay?

October 6, 2014 at 10:29 PM

I'm going to escalate this before doing anything

Just realise that in China, escalating things can often backfire and lead to you getting the opposite of what you want. Make sure to always give the people involved a way to 'maintain face', and never try to force an admission of wrongdoing even if it was clearly there.

October 7, 2014 at 04:25 AM

Tianjin, yup, I'm going to find out all about this release letter thing before I do anything. I understand that I "can't" make anyone look bad here. But I'm not going to sit here miserable in the opposite situation than was described to me just to keep everyone else feeling good. I've got my resident card. My visa... well, that was the first huge problem. They said they'd move me in February, and my first contract said I'd start working April 1st. They got me my visa application documents on April 8th... I already forgave that huge mess-up even though I wasn't able to move until July because my passport no longer had 6 months left by the time my visa docs came in. So, I came here already having forgiven a huge problem that they caused. Other faculty have said that the Foreign Affairs department is a mess when it comes to things like that. A few weeks ago, they didn't have a visa on time for the university VP who was supposed to have gone to Korea. The FA department is an absolute mess. My worry now is that if I find another job, the FA department won't get me a release letter in a timely manner, even if they're not being malicious.

imron, I escalated my anger at the initial delays on me moving back in the Spring. It actually got them to fix it as much as they were able. I knew it was a big deal at the time for me to call them on their error, and I realize that may have been my one shot at calling them on their problem. I'm going to talk to some friends I'm visiting this weekend about how to actually approach them about me not wanting to be here at all, anymore. I think there are only 2 things that they can do at this point to mitigate the situation, and one they've already said No to. I'd like us to just agree that I'm done at the end of this semester in December and they need to find another teacher. A clean break (and my release letter in a timely fashion) would be ideal.

James2, thank you for the email I can't reply to. Haha