Job Discussion Forums

[Pow3hatan]

Yes, I am still fighting the good fight (see earlier posts under "A Cautionary Tale: Unscrupulous...") against the abuse and harassment of one of Taiwan's most unscrupulous college adminstrations. I'm slowly creeping toward filing a lawsuit or lawsuits (hard to find an aggressive, imaginative lawyer), meanwhile I've had some initial media coverage and soon I will completely turn the tables on my accuser and the college.
This situation has developed into something much more than just a student falsely accusing a teacher of sexual harassment. Because of the biased and poorly drafted Sexual Harassment laws, this kind of situation will happen again and again unless the correct precedent is set and the laws are revised to protect the innocent from being victimized by false accusations and inept administrators.

[Pow3hatan]

Unfortunately, there have been no other first-hand accounts (even few second-hand accounts) contributed to this topic so I've had to go it largely on my own so far. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and suggestions. I checked out both escapeartist.com and tiecare.com and only the former had some modestly helpful info.

So far I haven't found any affordable or free legal aid but I'm still looking. Anybody have any info? Today's meeting with my current lawyer also included a briefing on my first billing and it hit me clearly that I'm going to need some outside help to make it through to the end of the lawsuit(s).

Yesterday I turned the tables on my accuser by formally accusing her of sexual harassment to the school. According to the decision of the nursing college's GE committee and the college spokesperson, sexual harassment depends on "the feeling" of the accuser (among some other interesting criteria) Their response, action, rejection, whatever to my accusation will help me in the future.

Appreciate any further ideas or links to help you come across.

[Mr. Kalgukshi]

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[clark.w.griswald]

Powerhatan it is great that you are giving updates on your situation. So many people come here with problems, advice is given, and they then disappear such that we never know how things went.

I am aware that you did not appreciate my comments in your earlier thread but I am just trying to understand the situation as you have presented it on this board. You obviously feel badly done and perhaps that is totally warranted but there are still niggling issues that I do not yet understand and perhaps the legal eagles are not so keen to take on your case if there are pieces missing from the puzzle!

I am pretty surprised with the change in course that you are taking in going after the �victim� however. It is going to be tough fight unless you can prove your claims without any shadow of a doubt and you are not going to win too much sympathy if you can�t. Of course if her initial accusation was totally unwarranted then your anger is understandable but what I don�t understand is why would your student make this all up? Surely what you wrote earlier would apply to the girl also:

[forest1979]

I think this matter of someone taking a stand and going all out legally with it is hugely significant. Far too often TEFLers have been at the end of accusations that has led to in some cases people leaving Taiwan with a very heavy head and heart. The implications of this case and the outcome, either good or bad, has ramifications for everyone TEFLer in Taiwan, and I genuinely hope that the truth prevails.

[clark.w.griswald]

Forest I agree with you 100%. If pow3hatan is innocent then let's hope that he can prove this and get a win here. If he is not innocent then lets hope he has the good sense to avoid putting the girl on trial. Either way, let's hope that the truth comes out for everyone's sake, not just those directly involved here.

[forest1979]

Thanks, Clark. IMO pow3hatan's case is a gauge of a much broader TEFL picture, and if the accusations prove false against him in a court of law then this really sets a precedence for all those English teachers who far too often are accused of things and so forced to leave their jobs. If everything falls flat then it will send a depressing message.

[Pow3hatan]

Thanks all of you for your feedback and encouragement.

As you can imagine, I'm often quite busy with this situation plus work plus trying to maintain some semblance of a normal life, so my posts will be irregular. As time allows, I'll respond to your questions & comments and keep updating when anything happens.

Thanks also Clark for the contact numbers and I will call. I visited the Legal Aid Foundation yesterday and have an appointment for next Monday to determine if I'm qualified for their help.

[jwbhomer]

"Resolve disputes instead of bashing schools"
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=58142
is a new idea from Dave's that might be helpful in cases like yours.
Why not give it a try?

[Pow3hatan]

Thanks jwbhomer for the link & suggestion about Dave's Mediation assistance. However, for this situation I'm in it won't apply because there is no misunderstanding or mutual dispute with the nursing college. Plain and simple, they used some dirty tricks to oust me from my position and hoped to ensure I would not challenge or expose it by heaping on a false sexual harassment accusation.

I am not at all "bashing" the school or the people who are responsible for this. I have mostly laid out the facts of what happened and, yes, have included some personal comments and choice words for what they did...but if I were to "bash" them my comments would be much more choice than I've used on this forum.

I certainly wish this situation allowed for such mediation assistance, but it started out and has gone further way beyond mediation. The people responsible for this are not at all interested in mediation. One of them has already declined to settle before facing a pending lawsuit. I think they still don't believe I will go all the way to court on this. Wrong!

Addressing Clark's comments of Dec. 15, first, the last time I checked there are countless people all over this world falsely accused of all kinds of things including murder, rape, theft, etc. Recently there have been many stories of wrongly convicted prisoners being freed after years, sometimes even decades, because of DNA evidence or recanted testimony absolving them of the charges against them.

A little more closely related to my case, just think about the movie "Disclosure" (Michael Douglas & Demi Moore) and you see it's no stretch for someone to falsely accuse another of sexual assault or harassment when you've got a motive and no morals about doing others dirty for your benefit or amusement.

As I said earlier, I did not open this forum to try my case before the general public. I just want to share some of this experience with others as a warning of what could happen to anybody else, to perhaps get some helpful feedback, and hopefully through all of this process to help anyone else facing this kind of situation now or in the future.

Plus, I already have way too much on my plate to handle with letters, emails, phone calls, and appointments with all kinds of government, educational, legal and civic bodies in my battle to get the truth told and justice served. I will leave all the opinion making, speculation and judgements to those of you who relish such things.

I called the numbers you gave me Clark, but unfortunately they said they were not able to help me with this situation. However, I did get in touch with the Legal Aid Foundation and I am in the evaluation process now to determine if I am eligible for their help. They seem very interested in my case and helping me.

[TaoyuanSteve]

Thanks for sharing your tale. It can only help to inform others of the potential for this kind of over the top behaviour here.

For what it's worth, I believe, without doubt, your version of what transpired. My gut instincts, informed by years of life here, tell me these allegations are just a ploy to scare you away so you don't try to seek compensation or otherwise exercise your rights. Sexual harassment? Give me a break. My gf is an employee at a national university. There is a male employee who blatantly harasses his female colleagues regularly. Nothing is done about it. You are clearly being bullied as a foreigner. Also, if what you are accused of were real, the complainant, and especially her family, would be seeking compensation from you and possibly pursuing charges against you. This whole thing stinks. I hope you can get justice.

[trukesehammer]

[Pow3hatan]

[Pow3hatan]

It's been a month since my last posting and things are still moving at a very slow pace...no significant happenings yet.

I had my third meeting with the Legal Aid Foundation lawyers on Feb. 15 to confirm some earlier information I gave them and to focus on what happened with the sleight-of-hand the nursing college pulled with my contract so that they could try and justify not renewing it.

Both the MOE and the nursing college have said I was a "special contract" teacher, so I was not protected by the Teacher's Law in Taiwan. The Council of Labor Affairs says I'm not a laborer, so also not covered by labor regulations and protections. After much discussion and searching Taiwan's laws, the lawyers said they may have found my home under the Employment Services Act. They must check further. Next week they might finally be able to give me their final decision on whether or not they can represent me in the lawsuits.

Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for the MOE's decision on what will be done about the whole sex harassment farce surrounding NTCN's handling of the "investigation", first decision, answer to my first appeal, and the following appeal which still no authority has accepted responsibility for. After writing letters to several government bodies, including the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau and the Executive Yuan, the MJIB has said it should be the responsibility of the MOE to handle this case.

What next? And when? Anybody know any good lawyers or advocacy groups, NGOs dealing with sex harassment issues, foreigner rights, human rights or discrimination in Taiwan? The only somewhat relevant one I've found so far is the Gender Equity in Education Association, but they were not eager to get actively involved in my case. They did connect me with the right people at the MOE to move them to investigate what NTCN has done.

[forest1979]

Pow3hatan - Legal processes move slowly at the best of time, given your position I am sure your former employees are doing everything they can to slow it down further given your status as a foreigner and limited financial resources to pay for legal fees. In fact the whole legal situation for employees and foreign students in Taiwan is far from clear. Scott Sommers on his blog about student university scholarships has been hit by many students complaining about what was promised, and what was received being different. The whole thing, like your situation, just stinks! Rules in Taiwan are there it seems by those with authority to bend them and manipulate them at will. Thankfully, if people like you don't make a stand this exploitation of foreigners will continue. As I said before, I think your case is a testbed for TEFLers in Taiwan, and any negative outcome is very depressing for all foreigners teaching English. The more I think about my experiences in Taiwan then most I am convinced that I was a pawn in a large political system in which I had no say, and very little rights. Your case shows this.

Good luck with the ongoing fight!