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fortunatekooky
Joined: 14 Apr 2011
Posts: 24
Location: China
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 Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 12:13 pm Post subject: |
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OP:
I have not read any of your other posts on Dave's. If you haven't already, you might want to paste in the English copy of the contract they offer, and let people take a look and comment on it. Also, have you tried to contact people that currently/formerly worked at this particular branch in Xi'an? Which school is it?
This info might be more useful. As noted, every contract here requires a certain leap of faith, whether written in Chinese or English. Of course, if you need to go to court, a Chinese language contract is standard.
Be that as it may, I would feel fairly comfortable if I got feedback from current employees. Have you tried asking the school for email contact with the other current employees? |
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Genthree
Joined: 28 May 2012
Posts: 14
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| Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 2:51 pm Post subject: |
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| fortunatekooky wrote: |
OP:
I have not read any of your other posts on Dave's. If you haven't already, you might want to paste in the English copy of the contract they offer, and let people take a look and comment on it. Also, have you tried to contact people that currently/formerly worked at this particular branch in Xi'an? Which school is it?
This info might be more useful. As noted, every contract here requires a certain leap of faith, whether written in Chinese or English. Of course, if you need to go to court, a Chinese language contract is standard.
Be that as it may, I would feel fairly comfortable if I got feedback from current employees. Have you tried asking the school for email contact with the other current employees? |
Unfortunately, it is a brand new GAC centre based out of a well-known and respected high school in the city. GAC is an international curriculum overseen by the ACT company in the US. They have dozens of approved centres all over China where they prepare students for Uni in the US. I called the headquarters of the organization and confirmed that this is in fact a legitimate centre. I've heard mostly good reviews from others teaching at similar centres, but they are independently run. It is particularly appealing to me because I would be teaching English immersion math/science rather than straight ESL.
As to the contract, aside from being in English, it is pretty much identical to any other contract I've encountered on the boards.
Last edited by Genthree on Sat Jul 07, 2012 4:48 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Opiate
Joined: 10 Aug 2011
Posts: 630
Location: Qingdao
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| Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 4:20 pm Post subject: |
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| So go for it then. Hope everything works out for you. |
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Mr. English
Joined: 25 Nov 2009
Posts: 298
Location: Nakuru, Kenya
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| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 3:57 am Post subject: |
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| I privately tutor, among others, Chinese lawyers, including lawyers whose specialty is contract law. The last rental agreement I signed was, first, altered in the Chinese version (from one of the canned forms landlords like to present) so that certain obnoxious provisions were either watered down or deleted, then translated into English. Both versions specified that if there were any conflicts between the versions that the English version controlled. The lawyer told me this was perfectly acceptable under Chinese law. I see no reason why an employment contract would be different from a rental agreement; the same contract law would apply to something as elemental as how to interpret a contract. |
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fortunatekooky
Joined: 14 Apr 2011
Posts: 24
Location: China
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| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Mr. English wrote: |
| Both versions specified that if there were any conflicts between the versions that the English version controlled. |
That's completely different.
OP said he asked for a Chinese version and they won't offer to sign one with him.
He did not say there was a provision in his English version that said it overrides a Chinese version. He said they won't offer it to him.
I'm not trying to make the OP paranoid.
However, a guy here this year got screwed by a company that refused to pay him as was promised in his English only contract. The school later produced a Chinese copy and said he had refused to sign it.
Like the OP, the company was very congenial at the outset, and gave him every reason to trust....
I'm not saying this will happen here. But people who trust openly and don't read the fine print are usually the first to get screwed.
Oddly enough, that school has other employees who are more or less (ignorantly?) satisfied, and were not screwed on pay, so I guess getting screwed here is arbitrary sometimes. |
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Javelin of Radiance
Joined: 01 Jul 2009
Posts: 1187
Location: The West
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| Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 11:47 am Post subject: |
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| Opiate wrote: |
| Javelin of Radiance wrote: |
| How were you communicating with these people? Phone? Email? Misunderstandings on either end are nothing new as FAOs are not always known for having exemplary English. If you accept the job you'll get both copies no doubt. Not much to worry about at this point as you're nowhere close to the end of the process yet. |
You are making excuses. If he is far enough along in the process to get a copy in English, why not in Chinese too? Any reluctance to provide a copy in Chinese should cause some alarm. The OP is trying to be smart about this whole thing and you are giving him advice that is flat out idiotic. |
Typical insulting response, but something to be expected on this forum. It's been posted on here ad nauseum that some FAOs speak and write terrible English so what I wrote above is well within the realm of possibility. There are also many cases where only one contract has been signed, that being the English one. The school could send the Chinese copy to this teacher right now but unless he speaks and reads Chinese I don't see what useful purpose it's going to serve at this point in time. If people are going to be suspicious about and question every single aspect of a job they'll never accept one because when you get down to it the list of things that COULD go wrong is never ending. If not getting a copy of the Chinese contract in the mail is the worst thing encountered so far then genthree is doing pretty good.
| Opiate wrote: |
| I agree that the signed contract means little regardless of the language. What gets me is that they refuse to show a copy in Chinese and they certainly have it. Why the reluctance? |
Few foreigners read Chinese would be one good reason. |
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Genthree
Joined: 28 May 2012
Posts: 14
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| Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 1:23 pm Post subject: |
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| I made a few changes to the contract and e-mailed it back to them. I added a clause that states that the English contract is the only contract I will be required to sign. I doubt this makes a huge difference from a legal standpoint, but it gives me something to point and yell at if they pull out a Chinese contract at any point. |
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kungfuman
Joined: 31 May 2012
Posts: 1749
Location: In My Own Private Idaho
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| Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 1:45 pm Post subject: |
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I took a closer look at my contract - each paragraph has English and Chinese.
Seems cool to me.
Plus a friend who has worked there for a year gave the school a high credibility rating so... |
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kungfuman
Joined: 31 May 2012
Posts: 1749
Location: In My Own Private Idaho
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| Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 1:46 pm Post subject: |
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| Genthree wrote: |
| I made a few changes to the contract and e-mailed it back to them. I added a clause that states that the English contract is the only contract I will be required to sign. I doubt this makes a huge difference from a legal standpoint, but it gives me something to point and yell at if they pull out a Chinese contract at any point. |
Legal Standpoint? Does that even really matter to us non Chinese? |
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