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The RCS No Transportation Payment Policy
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Weezer



Joined: 21 Sep 2010
Posts: 11

PostPosted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 5:31 am    Post subject: The RCS No Transportation Payment Policy Reply with quote

I don't know how many other RCS ALT people there are here but what's up with the no transportation reimbursement policy? I can't get any straight answers.

I live out in the middle of one rice paddy and l work at schools in the middle of another bunch of rice paddies almost on the other side of the prefecture. Has anyone every gotten a straight answer on why we aren't paid for this? It's included isn't a good enough answer for me.

When you add on the commuting time this just isn't reasonable. The board is paying them for this so why isn't it getting in my pocket?
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Glenski



Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

PostPosted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 9:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The answer is very simple. RCS is a well-known scummy outfit. Was non-payment in your contract?
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TokyoLiz



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1548
Location: Tokyo, Japan

PostPosted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 12:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You didn't sign a contract with no transportation allowance in it, did you?

You signed a contract that has contributed to the shrinking salaries of foreign workers in Japan.... Crying or Very sad
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rxk22



Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629

PostPosted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 1:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Seems like that's the new scam. I interviewed with Heart, and they tried the same crap. On top of paying only 20mon a month! F$%& that. It's just lowering the bar that much more.
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seklarwia



Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano

PostPosted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 1:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Although it's the first time I've heard about heart trying to pull that, the transport thing is not new to RCS. One of my area's ALTs last year worked for RCS. They were royally screwed. Not only were they paid less than average (wasn't as low as 20 man... either 23 or 24), but they were indeed having to pay for their own transport, too. Transport for them meant a car, petrol and parking. I'm slap bang in the middle of my lil' city and the local transport is almost non-existant. They were living out in the rice paddies where their were no buses period, and you needed a car just to get to the local train station... not that any trains headed out to their super remote schools.

And to add a little extra injury to their pocket, they had been a JET previously, so no super cheap year of insurance on kokumin for them; they got hit with a nice bill for the 30man/month they had been earning the previous year... ouch!
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fluffyhamster



Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 3292
Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again

PostPosted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 1:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's actually an old scam with RCS i.e. they've never paid a transportation allowance ('It's "included" in our everso generous pay!'). (Edit: I see Sek's responded saying the same). I only put up with it because my commute whilst working for them wasn't too unreasonable (about 800 yen per day), but if they hadn't upset almost everybody (including even the BOEs!) with their outrageous pay deductions (resulting in many AETs being unable let alone unwilling to [get into] work), resulting in a rash of defections (me included) the next year to other companies, I'd have doubtless then been asked and expected to take the Shinkansen or something to somewhere a lot more distant but on my own dime still!
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steki47



Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 1029
Location: BFE Inaka

PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 1:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My past two eikaiwa gigs have also not paid transportation.
Definitely not a good sign.
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fujisan



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 42

PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 12:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

All companies in Japan pay transportation! It's always by the cheapest route though. If the BOE is paying transportation costs for the ALTs in their contract with RCS, it's not fair that the ALTs aren't getting it.

It may also be illegal.
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rxk22



Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629

PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 2:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

fujisan wrote:
All companies in Japan pay transportation! It's always by the cheapest route though. If the BOE is paying transportation costs for the ALTs in their contract with RCS, it's not fair that the ALTs aren't getting it.

It may also be illegal.


Anybody have an answer to the legality of this?
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Glenski



Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 10:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It is not true that all companies in Japan pay for commuting fees. There is no obligation to do that.

If the BOE is paying commuting fees to the dispatch company, then one would think/assume that there would be a clause in one's contract that states that the ALT should be getting it. If there is such a clause, then obviously something is legally amiss.

If there is no such clause, then how do you know the BOE is paying for commuting fees? If they say so, then you are going to have to take this up with your employer, because it is probably also illegal (withholding such fees and pocketing them for other purposes). Contact the nearest labor standards office or union to inquire further about what to do. But know what is in your contract first, as well as be able to prove what the BOE is doing.
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Apsara



Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan

PostPosted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 1:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

fujisan wrote:
All companies in Japan pay transportation! It's always by the cheapest route though.


All companies? No they don't. It depends a lot on what kind of contract you are on, plus the company itself. I don't get paid for my commute by the company I work as a temp at (for 2 years now), and my husband didn't have his transport reimbursed while he was a keiyaku shain (contract employee) at his present company- that didn't start until he became a seishain (permanent employee).
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Glenski



Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

PostPosted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 4:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Apsara wrote:
fujisan wrote:
All companies in Japan pay transportation! It's always by the cheapest route though.


All companies? No they don't. It depends a lot on what kind of contract you are on, plus the company itself. I don't get paid for my commute by the company I work as a temp at (for 2 years now), and my husband didn't have his transport reimbursed while he was a keiyaku shain (contract employee) at his present company- that didn't start until he became a seishain (permanent employee).
And we have to also take into account that ALTs are often/usually not considered direct employees of their dispatch agencies, but rather as "subcontractors", so they may not be treated as seishain!
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fujisan



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 42

PostPosted: Sat Nov 06, 2010 9:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well okay it might not be all companies that pay for transportation, but it's almost all companies pay for transportation. If it's freeter or minimum wage work, probably not.

ALTs shouldn't be in that category though. Everyone at the schools they work at are paid for transportation from the teachers to the women making the lunches to the janitor. ALTs are teaching staff not casual workers.

If RCS is pocketing the transportation money that should be going in the ALTs pockets, that's wrong. Like I said before, it may even be illegal. I'll check it out with a friend of mine who knows the law pretty good.
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seklarwia



Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano

PostPosted: Sat Nov 06, 2010 10:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It is only illegal if the BOE is paying commuter fees to RCS and they are withholding them from the ALTs. If the BOE is not paying towards transport, then RCS is under no legal obligation to pay out of their profits (no, it's not fair especially since they are paying lower than standard to begin with).

So unless you can get hold of a copy of the contract that RCS has with the BOE and prove that the BOE is paying for transport but RCS is witholding it from the ALTs there is not much legal-wise that can be done.
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steki47



Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 1029
Location: BFE Inaka

PostPosted: Sun Nov 07, 2010 6:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Glenski wrote:
It is not true that all companies in Japan pay for commuting fees. There is no obligation to do that.


Thanks, that was my next question. If it is not an obligation, it is just a courtesy? Or optional, like biannual bonuses?

I'm not in the ALT world, but I have seen some variation among the various eikaiwa jobs I have had. Nova and my PT job both paid transportation. My current job and my last job did not. No explanation given.
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