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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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 Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 11:26 am Post subject: Re: Credibility... |
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| G Cthulhu wrote: |
As I understand it, you either have to post the names and details or the company has a road to litigation against both you and the website. It doesn't matter that you reasonably think it is true. You are simply posting innuendo and rumour as it is. Include dates, places. Make it more like a real report that provides enough detail to suggest it's for real and yet protects the individuals involved. *That* would be far more credible IMO. As it is it reads like a petulant little rant.
Heck, if they had a decent lawyer and chose to argue it in the US (remember, NOVA exist as a legal entity in the US) even it being true wouldn't be a defence because they could argue that the post in and of itself was defamatory *because* it didn't include details. I'm sure eslcafe.com would be *real* happy about *that*. Not. |
I wont go into details, but I have been involved in a case against a language school in Kansai with a long running campaign against its business practices. Names, dates, verifiable evidence was posted about the company and it was not 'slander and innuendo' that was posted on the website.
So what happened? The company concerned threatened legal action because of the slanderous nature of the threads concerned, threats to sue the server in the US, and the operators (GP and Eltnews were 2 others) for defamation. The offending threads on at least 3 websites were pulled immediately and any negative comments were excised due to outside pressure. The last thing a website operator needs is to be sued over something that gets posted on his website. You need to put a firewall between yourself and the threat of legal action if you are operating a public forum and if people post on there with damaging and slanderous material. |
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Iwantmyrightsnow
Joined: 12 Feb 2004
Posts: 202
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| Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 6:27 pm Post subject: Re: Credibility... |
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| G Cthulhu wrote: |
The problem is that what you are doing is, as I understand Japanese defamation law and case law, illegal |
Thanks for the opinion but from the legal advice I have had, if I have the evidence to back it up I am fine. Anyway, let them try to take my money. It isn't in abank that comes under any Japanese jurisdiction. |
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Iwantmyrightsnow
Joined: 12 Feb 2004
Posts: 202
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| Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 6:29 pm Post subject: |
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Good advice Jim about the housing. This is what people really need to know about. They are often helf hostage by companies over housing. Tennants rights are very strong here. Just because you are fired doesn't mean you have to move house. You could have anywheer between 6 months - a year or more to do so. Change the locks if you want to stay.
| JimDunlop2 wrote: |
That's fair enough... But it's really no solution. NOVA ain't gonna go out of business anytime soon, and neither will most of the large schools. On the contrary, pulling a mid-contract vanishing act really hurts your fellow teachers because it does not put ANY pressure on the company to change their standards or work ethics.
Places like NOVA could potentially be reasonably acceptable places to work for more people if enough teachers actually stuck things through and were able to fight to effect changes. I know a number of "Big eikaiwa school" teachers -- some who have been here 2, 3 or even more years. Are they crazy? Maybe. But a lower turnover rate can only be good for everyone in the long run.
I know one teacher in my city who was just recently cheated by the company for whom he was working. (Not one of the big 4)... His last day of work was the 10th of March. The company 1) deducted ALL the rent money for the month of March but told the teacher he should be out long before the end of the month... 2) didn't pay him for working from March 1st to March 10th for breaking contract (he gave more than 3 weeks notice).
My advice to him, (in response to getting cheated) was to tell the eikaiwa's kocho sensei that he would NOT move out until March 31st and watch them hit the roof! Knowing this company, I was pretty sure they would be trying to move a new teacher into the apartment at the expense of the old teacher.... Sure enough, that's exactly what happened. They started threatening the teacher and saying that he MUST vacate the apartment because he is no longer a company employee (even though he pays over 40,000 yen for rent)... I told him that was illegal and they could NOT evict him like that (they must give 6 months notice). Problem is, like almost EVERYONE else in his situation, he is leaving Japan before any resolution can come, and this company has absolutely no motivation to change their ways... They will just cheat the next teacher... And the next one... And so on.
They rely on four major factors.
1) Foreigners tend to be largely ignorant of Japanese civil (and criminal) law (labour law, building/tenant laws, immigration etc...)
2) Foreigners don't stay long enough to push any issues and disputes to resolution or conclusion. Lawsuits are very, very rare and the Labor Standards office is fairly toothless.
3) There is an industry-wide high turn-over rate that provides fresh generations of people who are ignorant of factors 1 and 2.
4) Few people are willing to make a stink or join a union or speak out for their own rights or the rights of others because they fear getting fired (and if they do, they fear having to return to their home country).
As long as these factors are in place, nothing will ever change. |
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