Job Discussion Forums

sideways_gun · Joined: 28 Apr 2010 Posts: 49 Location: Tokyo

I have an employer willing to sponsor my visa and they have sent me the documents to go to immigration and do so (it'll be a status change from Instructor to Specialist in Humanities). However, I have only been working under my shitty part time ALT contract for about 3 weeks (the role with my current visa sponsor already ended with the previous school year but I still needed a job so signed the first local contract I could find). As a visa status change only takes 2-3weeks to process, if I were to file it say this coming week, my current occupation would be illegal as I would not yet be working full time for my visa sponsor while also having a job that does not fall under the new status' approved activities as my sole source of income... right?

But is it not a terrible thing to quit a job I have been working at for less than a month, ESPECIALLY when I know [public] schools dislike having ALTs rolling through like trains on the Yamanote Line?

A friend said to me, well, if they had to let you go for whatever reason they would without thinking about the "inconvenience" to you or your schools so why do you hesitate to make a swift change for your own sake? In other words, they don't care about you so why do you care so much about what they think?

The notice period for my current job is 1 month. I also don't want to keep my new sponsor waiting too long. HOWEVER, I also thought I aught to at least wait until the end of July to quit so that they can find a replacement over summer break and have a new teacher in nice and smooth for September start. In which case I'd be giving 2 month's notice but possibly keeping the new sponsor waiting for an unreasonable length of time.

Do you think I am being too kind to my current employer? Or do you think I am doing the appropriately responsible thing by considering the troubles of turnover and opting to leave at a time that DOESN'T inconvenience my current employer so terribly? Do you think that it is wrong to keep my future via sponsor waiting and I should just hurry up and quit my current job to jump into the next? IN WHICH CASE, do you think my current employer will really try to slap me with fees for having to train my replacement and blahblahblah?

Thank you for your advice!

Kionon · Posted: Sun May 27, 2012 11:35 am Post subject:

1) Your current visa is yours.

2) Under Japanese labor law, you do not need to give any notice, although it is customary.

3) Pretty sure that a contract breaking "fee" is illegal.

4) This is the land of case by case, as Glenski is so fond of saying. In my entire time as an ALT, I had a Specialist in Humanities visa (and I still do), and immigration knew I taught JHS, and that was my primary position. Their reasoning was that my dispatch company was an eikaiwa, and thus... Specialist in Humanities visa! I have absolutely no idea if immigration is able to twist logic going the other direction, but with the things I've seen, it wouldn't surprise me. I'm not sure I'd personally worry for 2-3 weeks, but YMMV.

5) Your desire to give notice and not screw over your employer and your schools (probably your schools, mostly, am I right) is admirable, but if conditions are really as poor as you suggest they are, you have to take care of number one. I'd say sit down with your future employer and find out what start date they want for you. Then give notice immediately. It might only be a week or something, but it will be better than nothing. If they try to pull the contract fee thing on you, respond you will go to the labor board. The contract, even if you signed it, is probably illegal, and therefore null and void.

Standard disclaimer, I am not a lawyer, certainly not a J-lawyer, and others may have differing opinions. Also not responsible for anything you may do or not do on account of this advice, etc, etc, blah blah blah, you know the drill.

sideways_gun · Joined: 28 Apr 2010 Posts: 49 Location: Tokyo

G Cthulhu · Posted: Sun May 27, 2012 4:53 pm Post subject:

Kionon · Posted: Sun May 27, 2012 5:08 pm Post subject:

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

There is no labor law which says you have to or don't have to give notice on a job. It only talks about the employer giving notice (30 days or pay in lieu thereof). As Cthulhu said, it's case law that matters, and even Japan doesn't always use its law cases as precedents!

I think it is Civil Code that dictates initially, and if it's a person's first year on the job, they are required to do as Cthulhu wrote (follow a reasonable contract stipulation). After the first year, 2 weeks notice is legally sufficient (although, of course, there are many foreigners who have bailed out and taken a midnight runner, and the employer has no way of dealing with the teacher).

Legally, they cannot fine you. That one IS in the labor laws.

Kionon · Posted: Sun May 27, 2012 10:19 pm Post subject:

It's been a while since I looked. I was right about that blatant contract fee...

As for midnight runners, I would (and have) only do it in really scary circumstances. I've talked about how terrible my situation was in Korea, and I ran like hell, because I actually feared I might be in physical danger if my abusive bosses found out I was looking for other positions or talking to the Korean Revenue Service.

I can't imagine a situation ever getting that bad in Japan...

sideways_gun · Joined: 28 Apr 2010 Posts: 49 Location: Tokyo

Okay, thank you for all the advice, everyone. I am not adverse to working for my current employer til the end of the semester so I'll endeavour to do that and take no whining or other crap of "why don't you staaaaaaaaay blahblah" as I doubt I'm in the position to bargain for my perceived worth anyway so there's no way they're making me stay. And it's good to know that any threats on my earnings are illegal.

As for my future employer, I have sent them an enquiry as to whether or not the job offer would be in jeopardy. Still waiting for their response...... I suppose I'll move based on their sense of urgency.

Pitarou · Joined: 16 Nov 2009 Posts: 1116 Location: Narita, Japan

OneJoelFifty · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 463

Just go to put in the forms for your visa change, give your current employers the agreed month notice, which is also what your new employer probably anticipates, and relax.

sideways_gun · Joined: 28 Apr 2010 Posts: 49 Location: Tokyo

So I handed in the notice and the big bad boss is trying to demand that I work longer..... I made a point of, well, you've got OVER 1 month to find a sub for the 2 DAYS over the required notice period so I think you can make do, is it not? Cue attempted guilt trip blahblahblah........ Oh well, just glad I've got my ball rolling. Thanks for all the advice everyone. It really put me at ease. Sometimes I just don't know what to expect/what is expected of me as a foreigner working in Japan.