Job Discussion Forums

[l_ho_]

Hey everyone, I was just offered a contract (my first contract) by EF Shijiazhuang and I was wondering:
a) If anyone had any knowledge on this specific school or the EF chain (for some reason the search tool returns a blank page everytime I try searching the forums for the name)
b) If I could have a trained eye read over some key parts of the contract
c) If it is common for a company to insist that you sign a letter of intent within two days of the job offer. I find this a little fishy, just because it means that I have to rush-read the contract.

Here are the key elements of the contract from what I see:

Working hours and locations
The teacher works for 40 hours per week, to be arranged by the DOS and/or the CM, including up to 87 real hours per calendar month. This represents an average of 20 real hours per week over 4.33 weeks. This means that it is possible to teach more than 20 real hours some weeks and others less, averaging out to 20 real hours per week.
The teacher will be required to work 5 days a week in the non-peak season and up to 6 days per week during the peak seasons.
During the peak seasons (June � August and January � February), teaching hours can rise to up to 113 real classroom hours per calendar month.
Teachers may be asked to work morning and evening shifts in the same day. Teachers may have teaching duties in the centre or off-site.

(1) Shijiazhuang_____ Yingzhifu Language Teaching Center (herein after referred to as the �Employer")
Authorized Representative:
And
(2) _ (Name), (hereinafter referred to as the " Employee")
Nationality:
Permanent contact address:
Permanent contact telephone number:
Passport Number:
Date of Birth:
Whereas:
1. The Employer has entered into the franchise agreement with EF Business Consulting (Shanghai) Company (EF English First) for the establishment of an English language-teaching center under the EF English First system.
2. The Employer agrees to recruit the Employee subject to the terms and conditions as set out below and agrees to provide the Employee with proper remuneration according to this Contract.
3. The Employee agrees to be recruited by the Employer and is willing to work diligently and faithfully for the Employer, with a purpose of enhancing the development and protecting the interests of EF English First and the Employer. The Employee is confident that he/she can undertake these duties in the best interests of the Employer without causing harm to EF English First and the Employer and without creating any conflicts with
his/her conditions of employment and financial remuneration.
In accordance with relevant PRC regulations and laws, adhering to the principles of equality, both parties hereby voluntarily agree as follows after friendly consultation:
Article 1: Term
1.1 The term of this Contract shall be _____12_____months, commencing from 2009 and expiring on 2010. During the term of this Contract, the probationary period shall be three months, commencing from and expiring on .
1.2 This Contract may be renewed for a term of one year if both parties agree.
Article 2: Position
2.1 The Employee shall serve as Teacher.
2.2 The working location is Shijiazhuang (city).
The parties have read, understood and agree to abide by the Job description, Code of Conduct, Accommodation Policy, Flight Policy, Disciplinary Policy, Termination Policy, Confidentiality Policy and Insurance terms as attached. These attachments form part of this Contract.
Article 3: Working Days, Hours and Timetabling
3.1 The Employee will be required to work five days a week from Monday to Sunday during the non-peak season and to work six days a week from Monday to Sunday during the peak season. June through August and January through February will be regarded as the peak season.
3.2 The Employee�s working hours may be scheduled between 07:30 to 22:30 from Monday to Sunday.
3.3 The Employee will be required to work up to 40 hours per week �working hours� in both the peak and nonpeak seasons. If the employer requires the employee to work more than 40 real hours in one week regardless of the monthly average teaching hour, the employer should obtain the agreement from the employee and pay the employee overtime at the agreed rate (It does not include the reasonable schedule adjustments due to National Holidays or special center events).
3.4 The employee will require a reasonable amount of time for class preparation and course-related administrative duties, i.e. 1 ACH preparation for each 3-ACH lesson.
3.5 During the non-peak season, within the working hours, up to 87 hours per month (20 hours per week) shall be contact teaching hours. Any contact teaching hour above 87 hours per month shall be subject to the mutual agreement of the Employee and the Employer and subject to overtime compensation as set forth in Clause 4.2.
3.6 During the peak season, within the working hours, up to 113 hours per month (26 hours per week) shall be contact teaching hours. Any contact teaching hour beyond 113 hours per month shall be subject to the mutual agreement of the Employee and the Employer and subject to overtime compensation as set forth in Clause 4.2.
3.7 Contact teaching hour in this contract refers to classroom teaching and life club as part of Real English�.
3.8 In the remaining working hours, in addition to lesson planning and course-related administrative duties, the Employee may be required to perform other reasonable duties as instructed by the Employer, including, but not limited to, interviewing students for placement testing, developing materials and participating in marketing activities. All these duties shall be planned within the 40 �Working hours� per week
3.9 As part of the contact teaching hours, the Employee may be required to teach some off-site courses or to substitute for unscheduled absences of other teachers.
3.10 The Employer shall inform the Employee of any cancellation or delay of classes 24 hours before the class is scheduled.
3.11 For the purpose of this Contract, one hour equals to 60 minutes and one ACH equals to 40 minutes.
Article 4: Remuneration
4.1 Salary will be paid according to the following scale: Probation Period (1st � 3rd month) - Start date through 90th day employment - monthly salary of 6,000RMB(net); Secondary Period (4th � 12th month) - 91st day to 365th day of employment: Monthly salary of 6,000RMB(net). In addition, the Employee may have the right to 10% increase of salary if he/she extends the contract for 12 months after the successful completion of this contract or according to the Employers valid bonus scheme, if any.
4.2 4.2 For each contact teaching hour over 87 (non-peak season) and 113 (peak season) per calendar month,
the Employee shall be paid at a negotiated rate of RMB 80 (Gross) per hour as overtime compensation in line with the market average. Such payment is calculated per calendar month (from the 1st � final day of the
month regardless of the payment period or the payment day). In the case of public holidays or paid vacation falling in the monthly pay period, monthly contact teaching hours will be calculated pro rata.
4.3 The Employer shall pay the Employee�s salary on the 25th day of each month. Payment of overtimecontact
hours is paid on the 15th day of each following month. If the date of such payment falls on a non-business day (weekends), it shall be advanced to a business day (Friday). If the date of such payment falls on a national holiday, it shall be advanced to the last working day before the holidays, according to local government directives.
4.4 On production of legally required receipts, the Employer shall bear all authorized expenses incurred by the Employee, including, but not limited to, travel and accommodation costs for off-site teaching programs.
4.5 Any unauthorized leave shall be counted as unpaid leave deducted from salary and will be penalized by disciplinary measures.
Article 5. Flights Please refer to the Flights Policy in the EF English First Company documents.
Article 6. Housing
The Employer offers the following options. Please indicate the Employee�s choice:____________ Please refer to the Accommodation policy and guidelines document in the EF English First Company documents.
A: The Employee requests to be provided with shared accommodation by the Employer with conditions as set forth in the attachment. OR B: The Employee wishes to be responsible for finding and contracting his/her own
accommodation in the city where the Employer is located.
Article 7. Insurance:
The Employer will buy Erika Travel Insurance to cover the Employee for the medical and accident insurance purposes. For details refer to the attached EF English First Teachers insurance Basic (Policy No.903.300.wws)
Article 8. Holidays
8.1 Public Holidays
The Employee will receive the following public holidays should they occur during the Contract New Year (1st January) One (1) day Chinese Lunar New Year (January/February) three (3) days Tomb Sweeping (April) one (1) day Dragon Boat Festival (June) one (1) day Labor Day (1st May), one (1) day Mid-autumn Day (September/ October) one (1) day National Holiday (1st October), three (3) days Christmas day (25th December), one (1) day The Employee is entitled to 12 days as public holidays in one year.
If the Employee�s scheduled day(s) off fall on a public holiday the Employee will be entitled to the equivalent number of days holiday in lieu. These lieu days will be subject to approval under the same conditions as paid holiday. The employer may allocate these days to different days if it will benefit the staff and the school.
8.2 Paid holiday
Further to the above, the Employee is entitled to ten (10) working days (2 working weeks) paid holiday per full year contract. In the case that the contract term is less than 12 months, the paid holiday will be pro rata.
Holiday may not be taken during the probation period or in the peak seasons. ( January through February or in the months of June through August). Three weeks notice in writing shall be given to the Director of Studies stating the Employee�s request to takeleave and shall be subject to the Director of Studies� approval. Teachers who need to take emergency leave, may not be subject to three weeks prior notice, but shall obtain prior approval from the Center Manager.
If either party terminates the contract for any reason, the paid holiday shall be calculated pro rata based on the length of the Contract completed. If the number of days paid holiday taken prior to the termination
exceeds the pro rata number, the Employee agrees to repay the salary for the excess days.
8.3 Any unauthorized leave shall be counted as unpaid leave deducted from salary and will be penalized by disciplinary measures.
Article 9. Sick Leave
9.1 The Employee shall notify, and seek approval for, sick leave from the Director of Studies or his/her deputy
immediately in the event of sickness. All sick leaves must be supported by a doctor�s certificate unless prior
approval from the Center Manager is obtained. The Employer can provide reasonable assistance to obtain
the doctor�s certificate upon request. Upon return to work a sick leave form must be completed and approved
by both the Director of Studies and Center Manager.
9.2 Any unauthorized sick leave shall be counted as unpaid leave deducted from salary and will be penalized by
disciplinary measures.
9.3 For the first 3 days of accumulated sick leave within the contract term, salary will be paid at 100%.
9.4 For accumulated sick leave over 3 days and up to 30 days within the contract term, salary will be paid at 60%.
9.5 In cases of accumulated authorized sick leave beyond 30 days within the contract term, the Employer has the right to terminate the contract, according to the EF English First Termination Policy. If the Employer chooses not to terminate the contract, the salary will be paid at 50%.

Thanks for whatever help or advice you guys can give me.

[shadowrider]

January through February?
What abouit Chinese New Year? Or is that why that's a peak period? So every one else can take time off.... According to the contract, you don't get the same holiday time off as a majority of us here.

When is your time off? seems you can work AM to PM and no vacation time specified... 15 hours a day based on the timings given... add another hour both sides of that for honestly's sake.

113 hours? That's getting close to 35 hours per week of being on the platform...

I hope you don't mind not getting time-off...

I see lots of chances for abuse.

6000 RMB over 113 hours isn't a lot. Funny how they laid out that you will not receive increases during the year.

[Lobster]

Way too many hours for that money. Seems that peak season is like 5 months of the year! Fiddly stuff with academic hours vs "real" hours. Classes of 40 minutes means 30 classes a week. Working hours anytime between 7:30 a.m. and 10:30 p.m. on the same day? Yea right. Three months of probation at reduced rates is contrary to Chinese labour law. 80 rmb overtime, blah. This looks like a typical "everything for us, nothing for you" contract. Personally, I'd never accept it.

RED

[shadowrider]

And of course, unless you didn't post it...

WHERE IS YOUR VACATION TIMES? Seems you don't even get a full weekend off...

Run away unless they can fix it... There are lots of other opportunities here...

[therock]

This offer sucks!

Here is 4 reasons why it's crap:

1. 40 hour working weeks for 6000rmb a month. This comes to a grand total of 37.5rmb an hour.

2. Shared accommodation or find your own. With such a poor salary, they further insult the prospective teaching by not providing decent accommodation.

3. Living in Shijiazhuang. not the first choice of places I would want to live in. The city is a dump and a few years ago it was one of China's most polluted cities.

4. 6 day work week during peak season. You'll get sick of that very soon.

[choudoufu]

yucky! you should be getting 5-6K at a university for 16 hours per
week, with furnished (NOT shared) accommodations.

[Guerciotti]

Heck no! Please don't! I don't want to see your tired body slowly walking to work with a permafrown on your face from the odd hours and not-quite-long-enough breaks between classes. At least get paid for it; 6k is nada.

Shared accommodation? Don't worry, your roommate definitely won't be a vocal vulgar drunken chain smoker from (not your country) with an irrational all-consuming hatred of everyone and everything from (your country), women, and anyone not exactly like him.

Think uni, my friend, or at least less contact hours for more $$$ (RMB) and your own place provided by the school or a reasonable housing allowance. They expect you to pay for your own place unless you want a roommate. No.

And 80RMB (gross!) per hour for overtime is not "in line with the market average."

[l_ho_]

Thanks guys, I sent off an email asking to speak with some of the teachers at the school as a reference and if they would be willing to sign a SAFEA contract. I was told that it was school policy not to give out the contact details of the teachers and that they didn't know what a SAFEA contract was. I felt that with the resounding response of "bad contract" here, the insistence that I immediately sign a letter of intent and the shady responses to (from what I've read on these forums) standard questions, I had to say no.

Once again, thanks for the advice everyone, I appreciate it. Back to the job hunt for me...

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

When I worked for EF many moons ago, they were happy to give me some contact numbers and/or emails. Must be because the EF I was at was at least half decent.

Don't give up on EF entirely. An EF in one place may be awful whereas another EF in a different location could be OK. It all depends on who is running the show.

IE, It's not the car you are driving, but the driver you should be worried about.

[harveydent]

EF schools can vary vastly in China, try the schools in Hangzhou or Shanghai.