Job Discussion Forums

[7969]

my school seems to pay a month in advance, which is a first for me. i received my first months salary on september 10th, after 3 days of work. now they're hassling me because i'm 5 days late in picking up my next salary. how do i tell them i dont want it yet? i don't want to hit the last month of my contract (june 05) and be paid early, as that will be my last salary until sometime in the following september/october.

[Chris_Crossley]

Don't forget that Chinese people have a completely different mentality to us non-Chinese types. They probably cannot comprehend why you would refuse to take your salary on the appointed day. Do you understand their non-comprehension? It is almost like refusing to accept a gift, as far as they are concerned.

Yes, of course, it is your salary, you have worked for it (but you get paid a month in advance, you say?), but your desire not to accept it just yet is non-comprehensible to them. Also, it may completely mess up their accounting. I think they want to pay all the teachers at the same time and complete the job ASAP. By refusing to accept your salary on the appointed day, you're inconveniencing them by throwing a proverbial spanner in the works. Remember, you are their employee, and they might see your refusal to accept your salary now as utterly alien, almost like a rejection.

My advice would be simply to accept it when they want to pay it to you and simply keep the money somewhere safe until you really do need it. Do you have a Chinese bank account? If so, I suggest you use it, since I have never had any problems with using one. If not, I would suggest you ask your school to open one for you and even to pay your salary directly into it. That way, they can pay you your salary without inconvenience to either you or them.

[7969]

i'll just go pick up the money.

[timkelly]

Are you positive it's a month in advance? Some places pay you for the two weeks you've just completed, and the two weeks you're about to complete. This is my arrangement in China, and was my arrangement working in the UK. I've never got to the bottom of this payment schedule, but has something to do with incoming staff not having to wait a whole month to get paid I guess.

[7969]

noone has adequately explained to me whether or not its a month in advance, or two weeks in advance. i'm just not used to being paid up front, and frankly, i dont like the idea. this kind of information is really hard to squeeze out of chinese co-workers as i have discovered in the past year.

no problems..... life goes on.

[Ace]

I'm nervous...I'm at a new school and the contract says

'Party A shall pay Party B's salary regularly by the month'...

My last school paid in advance and this time I swear I checked and they confirmed the first payment would be in September...but come September 10 and it was all a big misunderstanding...of course they don't pay in advance...I have to wait a month, with little money.

ok, then I notice October 10 is a Sunday, so I think, maybe it'll be a Monday payment. They call me for a teachers' meeting with the Dean...he's happy, any questions? Ah, the money? I enquire...and hear him saying in Chinese, Monday or Tuesday.

Tuesday 2pm (I've run out of coffee, not to mention food, I'm getting hyper...) call the English speaking teacher..."Maybe tomorrow, Wednesday..."

Hey, I need some money today mate...Ok he says, I'll talk to the dean.

4pm, I've heard nothing further...I take a Chinese friend to the dean's office to translate...Oh, the teacher's taken the money to your home...(Funny we didn't pass him...)

At home I make a phone call and the guy comes around with Y1000.

The rest? He'll bring it to the class tomorrow when he brings the photocopies...

Next day..."here's the photocopies..." "Thanks, ahem, what about the money?" "Oh, I'm sorry, the school is having problems after the holiday..."

I go home. I actually did it. "No money," I said, "no class."

They called me back at 6pm and gave me the balance with a letter of reprimand..."it doesn't actually state the payment date on your contract..."

Well, it says monthly...look that up in a dictionary mate. Come to that, it also says 16 hours a week, and after the National holiday you made me work Sunday on a Wednesday timetable, and asked me to give a free lecture this Saturday - it comes to a total of 20 hours and I didn't complain despite my cracked rib... (your clumsy f*cking student!)

As I said...I'm a bit worried...my contract ends June next year, so I figure they'll owe me two months' salary and a return plane fare all in the one month...a month after the May holiday too! Should I be talking to lawyers now?

Naturally, the dean now is pretty p*ssed off with me for expecting to be paid on time - actually I still think it's a month late...of course the foreigner is always wrong...

[burnsie]

Go get the pay, go directly to the bank, do no pass the massage palour, do not pass the pub, go directly to the bank and put it in your account.

Then budget your time. Is that so difficult?

[kev7161]

To ACE: Ouch! Run, run like the wind! I've had numerous complaints about this school I'm at, but one thing they've ALWAYS done is pay me the money I'm owed on time, every time. Yours is not the first I've heard here about schools not paying money on time or paying only a portion or giving the runaround and I'd probably give them a second or even a third chance. After that? No way - - I'm outta there.

[latefordinner]

Ace:

I wouldn't give them a second chance. Cut your losses and get out while you can. A shoddy, irresponsible approach to payday reflects a shoddy irresposible approach to paying, period. Do you think they're actually going to pay you the airfare at the end, when threatening to walk out won't hurt them?

Perhaps there is an alternative. Fine, give the boss a second chance, but explain to him very clearly that if he messes up once more, you are going to tell each class "There will be no class today, because I have not been paid. Do whatever you want for the next hour." Let that get back to a few homes and see what happens. The boss needs to learn that although his face depends upon what he says, his reputation depends very much on what he does.

[Roger]

This is a first - someone whining they get paid early! Sorry, it's a bit difficult to empathise with you guy!
My current employer pays early too - for years I used to get my salary at the end of the month. Two times this term (which began in September...) my employer has been late paying - this month's pay came yesterday, two weeks late.

But as a matter of fact, I lead a lifestyle that doesn't make me dependent on cashflow. I keep enough on my bank to tide me over in times of penury, hardships, burglaries and hold-ups.

Anyway, you also stand to get your airfare, right? I am sure your employer will part with it only if you have completed your last month to his satisfaction.
That is, he pays you in the first week of your last month, and at the end of the same month you get your bonus!

How much is it? Surely enough to keep you happy?

[Ace]

I know what you mean, but I'm at a (government) college...not a great college, very obviously...and I'm the first and only FT...

I want to stay in this city because of close friends...although a change could be ok...I've got a houseful of stuff though (too many clothes, too many gifts) and moving would be a drama...The salary's Y5000 pm, good if they pay it...and I reckon they will, it's the final salary and airfare I'm worried about. I know, the longer I leave it, the more I have to lose...my good friend and ex FT translator from the first school is advising caution - stay and make peace, but even she says, if they've done it once they'll probably do it again...This is the first time it's happened with a contracted school...I know what to expect with second jobs and always insist on daily, if not weekly payments now. When will the Chinese ever become businesslike and join the 21st century? Never I guess...5,000 year history etc - I just heard this myth again tonight from a new friend...

My friend says the Foreign Affairs dept is useless and won't be able to help, and (I'm also talking very close friend who wants me to do well) she should know...maybe it's different in different provinces...At the moment I'm going to talk to a businessman friend tomorrow, who says he knows government people...he's studying law himself, and at the last banquet I was sitting next to someone from the education dept, so you never know...

[Roger]

Well, I understand your problem a little better though getting paid at the beginning of each month makes no difference. Those who get paid at the end of the month fare no better, I assure you!

When is China going to learn? Never?
I am not so pessimistic! No, they don't have a history of 5000 years. 3600 is closer to the truth. BUt even that is pretty long.
And, in just two decades they have been rubbing shoulders with westerners. Of course, their mindset dictates that they must retain the upper hand in dealing with us, and possibly hoodwink and cheat us.
You can never prevbent that! It happens all the time.

But improvements have been made. I personally regard getting my pay at the beginning as a definite improvement. It shows they care whether a new arrival from overseas has cash to tide them over the first month. And then every month.

In the past, one would have to borrow money from the school, or live off foreign currency reserves.

You still have the option of cutting your losses at the end of the month preceding your last one here: if they don't pay up you quit!

There seems to be a penalty in most contracts. In some cases, they insist on you paying it even if you take sick leave! The penalty can be higher than your monthly pay!

I have never had to pay a penalty. But I did have to do a runner once just to keep on the safe side of things, and to cut my own losses.
I have never regretted that decision!
I lost airfare proportionate to two months. But what's that when you have another job lined up?