Job Discussion Forums

[GajinGirl]

Greetings all!

I am new to this list though not to the site.
Any help on my query would be gratefully appreciated!
After a very nice phone interview last night with a Language company I was sent an e-mail with an offer of a position. I have until this weekend to decide. They sent what they call a "sample contract".

Being such a NOOB-I am a bit ashamed I cannot decipher some of this legalise I am not certain but it seems (from the research I have done on Japan EFL teaching). I might be missing some benefits other schools may offer. Ex: completion bonus. But perhaps I am missing something? On the plus side:The salary seems a bit better and I would be working with kids (which I love) and I like the area this job would place me in.

Just a side note: I do also have an interview pending with Aeon in a few weeks.

This post is horrifically long-my apologies. But as I stated I would be so grateful for any advice.

Best wishes..











Interpretation: In this Agreement, words in the singular shall be considered as words in the plural and vice versa where the context requires.

1.Duties

The Employee is expected to use his/her professional skills, expertise and knowledge in rendering his/her services to the Employer and to perform his/her duties efficiently and diligently. (For example, preparing for the classes, several kinds of proofreading and editing) The Employee shall accept the job which is relevant to the promotion for Lingo School. (For example, holding a Christmas party, Halloween party, an examiner for an oral test sponsored by United Nations Association, attending meeting to promote new students' attendance.) And also the Employee shall cooperate the jobs are; recording by using tape recorder, VCR and digital camera.

The job descriptions given to the Employee from time to time are not to be taken as restrictive and the Employee will be expected to make full use of his/her capabilities as a professional EFL teacher of Lingo School when the occasion demands even though this might exceed the bounds of the job description in force at the time. The Employee agrees not to seek improvement to the terms and conditions herein described.

2.Period of Employment

The Agreement is from 22nd of July, 2003 to 22nd of July, 2004 and this agreement will expire automatically unless the Employer notified the Employee of this intention to renew this Agreement in 3 months prior to the expiration date.
However, the starting date may be late because of some trouble caused by the immigration office in Japan. In that case the date (the beginning work) shall be rewritten on the contract. The period of employment shall be valid from the first day of working visa at our school.

(Addition)

If the Employee should break the terms of contract, the Employee must report the date of resign of Lingo school to the Japanese government immediately, because the visa has been issued by Japanese Government as Lingo School promised Japanese Government to take responsibility of the Employee. The employee should inform the employer the reason for breaking the terms of contract and exact date of leaving our school one and half months prior to the employee's leaving date. The date of departure should be decided after taking the classes and the students at Lingo School into consideration. You should not work in Kagawa Pref. within one year. In the event of breaking our working term within 12 months, you shall compensate the expense for inviting a new teacher. It will take about 1 million yen.
The detailed expenses: advertisement, personnel expense, air fare, corresponding expenses, loss of losing students, compensation to the company and public school which we send the employee as a part time teacher.
For the company and public school which we send the Employee as a part time teacher, the Employee has to write the letter of explanation for leaving before the fulfillment of the contract.

3.Place of the Services

The initial place of the services shall be at Takamatsu, Kagawa prefecture, Japan, but all cases be subject to the order of the Employer. The Employee will teach classes mainly at the main school addressed at 11-6 Kamei-cho, Takamatsu city and at the branch school at classroom elsewhere in Kagawa pref.

4.Working Terms

4.1 The Employee shall teach up to 25 hours each week (100 hours each month). Average teaching hour per day is not fixed; we will calculate the employee's teaching hours through a month. In the event of a class being canceled teacher may be asked to make up the class in a later time.

4.2 The Employee shall be given paid holidays (two days a week) and 11 National holidays, summer holidays from 10th of August to 17th of August of 2003. As the winter vacation, December 28, 2003 through January 4th of 2003. However, if the Employee should break terms of our contract, the Employee will lose the right to have paid holidays (summer vacations, winter vacations and successive holidays).

4.3 The employee shall stay at the office up to 29 hours each week (116 hours each month). This working hour includes teaching hour, an interview with expecting new student, general meeting, regular meeting with co-teachers �etc.

4.4 In case the employee cancels lessons for his/her own sake except sickness, the employee's salary will be deducted and also he/she has to make up for his/her lessons for himself/herself.

5.Salary

The Employer will pay the Employee the monthly salary of � 260,000 Japanese yen from the first full month. The payment will be made on the 3rd of the following month.

In case the Employee will not begin to work from the first day of the month, we will calculate the Employee's salary by Japanese calculating system. However the Employee's first working day falls on to holidays, the Employee's first working day will be on the following day of the end of the holidays. Employee shall be paid �8,666 Japanese yen per one actual working day. This amount is calculated by the following formula according to the Japanese Labor Standards Law:


Monthly Salary x Number of
30 working days

Same formula will be applied when the Employee terminates to work before the end of the month.

6.Tax and Legal Insurance Fee

Any taxes and legal insurance fees, such as personal income tax, local taxes, premiums of health insurance, pension plan and unemployment insurance), etc, shall be born by the Employee in order to be levied by the competent authorities. (Japanese tax ratio is about 10% to the amount of monthly salary. This rate is deducted by national tax agency.)

7. Housing

If the employee does not rent the apartment house which the employer found, help will be given to find another one. The employee will be able to borrow the key money for the apartment house. (within �150,000 yen in Japanese money)

8. Sick Leave

8.1 The Employee must submit medical certificate to the Employer for any kind of sick leave for more than 2 days.

8.2 In case of more than 3 days' sick leave through one year, the Employee's salary shall be deducted by �2,600, yen per one 50minute lesson, �8,666 per one day.

8.3 The employee shall make up the canceled classes caused by sick leave as much as possible when the employee is recovered.

9.Transportation

9.1 If a transportation allowance is necessary for the Employee to his/her job from Lingo School, the Employee will be paid by the Employer. Commuting fee from his/her house to Lingo school will not be paid by the Employer. The Employee's residence is located in a place very near Lingo School. Traveling time to the working places will not be included in 29 hours of working hours.

10. Observance of the School Regulations

10.1 Tardiness to any assigned classes without justifiable reasons, and without notifying Lingo School at least 24 hours prior to such tardiness may result in the deduction of the Employee's salary.

10.2 If the employee is unable to teach any assigned classes they are required to inform the employer one month prior to the date of absence. The maximum period of such an absence is one day. In addition, such a leave is limited to emergency cases as well as those circumstances in which a justifiable reason to permit such a leave exists.

10.3 The Employee shall conduct his/her classes strictly in accordance with the objectives and teaching methods of each subject area as has been established by the joint effort of both Lingo School and the Employee.

10.4 The Employee shall not be allowed to work for except Lingo School either as a private teacher outside of Lingo School.

10.5 The Employee shall submit his/her weekly lesson plan on the first working day of every two weeks.

11. Termination of Agreement

11.1 This agreement may be terminated upon 30 days prior notice in writing by the Employer for any of the following reasons:
a) repeated tardiness in reporting to work,
b) excessive absence without justifiable reasons,
c) failure to comply with directives by the Employer,
d) failure to abide by the terms and conditions of this Agreement,
e) failure to maintain professional standard,
f) other circumstances which create malfunctioning relationship
with the school, staff and students. For example: Trust is
broken. Communication is broken.
g) failure to get along with the business colleague at school,
h) failure to maintain the number of students in a class
i) three times of warning letters from the manager,
j) If the Employee should break terms of our contract,
k) The personal and close relationship between the Employee and students, their
families and staff of the company and school prohibited. For example to
exchange e-mail address, phone number �etc.

11.2 In the event of breach of this Agreement by the Employee for any reason including but not limited to misconduct, illegal act or non-observance of the obligations hereafter, the Employer reserves the right to terminate this Agreement forthwith and rights to terminate this Agreement will cease.

12.Observance of Secrecy

The Employee shall be responsible for observing secrecy in relation to any information which becomes known to his/her in the course of carrying our his/her duties and shall not disclose such information to a third party. This obligation will continue in force after the termination of the Agreement unless or until the information passes into the public domain.

13. Governing Law

This Agreement is to be interpreted in accordance with the Japanese Law, and the legal relationship between both parties is also to be determined in conformity with the Japanese Laws.

14. Period of Validity

This Agreement is effective from the date indicated in paragraph2 of this Agreement until the date of termination of the Agreement.

15. Repatriation

15.1 The employee will compile a report about the students (the page of the textbooks at the final class, what the issues are, the framework of each class and the flow of the each class and so on.) Employees will refrain from informing their students that they are leaving the school until the date set by the school is in effect. In case you can not bridge to a new teacher about the class, you may be asked to take a video tape of your class. You should follow our suggestions to you.

15.2 It will be the Employee's responsibility to pay the premium of the insurance thus covered.

15.3 In case the Employee wishes to resign, he/she must notify the Employer in this regard at least one and half months in advance.
However if the leaving day will be before the expiration of the period of our contract, this means the breakage of our contract.

15.4 The prefectural and municipal tax will be deducted from the final payment when the employee leaves the school if the employee have remaining tax payment.

15.5 The remaining national insurance fee will be deducted from the final payment when the employee leaves the school in case he/she is insured himself/herself with the national insurance fee.







IN WITNESS WHEREOF the parties hereto have hereunder set their hands.
eetings all

[Sherri]

Gaijingirl
Admittedly I just skimmed the contract, but from what I saw, I would not take this job. I didn't like the way they treat the employee breaking the contract for one. Asking for compensation for finding another teacher (1 million yen!) and all their other resistrictions (not being able to work in the area for 1 year!) sent off alarm bells. You are a virtual prisoner once you sign the contract--though you could probably fight these in court and win--who wants to go through that?

Others here will probably find other parts that don't look too good. Sorry I know it is exciting to get a job offer, but I think you can do better.
Sherri

[Nagoyaguy]

Run away!!

3 days sick leave a year? then lose your salary. No.

NO personal relationships with the staff OR students? an unwarranted intrustion into your private life. You can't even exchange telephone numbers with the students OR staff? crazy and paranoid. How else are you expected to socialize or find out anything.

Plus, paying a million yen to find a new teacher? Get serious, that is a cost of doing business.

Making videos and writing letters to explain if you leave the contract is juvenile.


It sounds like a scary little school. YOu can do much better

The school can use you in promotions and advertising without compensating you, according to this worthless toilet paper.

[David W]

That school has a bad reputation, stay away. Check the job information journal on this site.

[Mike L.]

Unbelievable! :shock:

That 1 million yen clause is rediculous! Who do they think they are?

If there's a Japanese copy of the contract I would hold onto for a while, once you're long gone, and send it into the labour standards office. They are not known for doing much of anything but this has got to be the most blantantly illegal clause I've ever seen in a contract. It might even warrant a call from the labour standards office.

The language of the contract seems to try and justify their illegal behaviour too. They are completely unabashed.

Steer clear of these crooks!

[PAULH]

Just thought you m,ight like to have a look at the the Legal section of the General union website at http://www.generalunion.org

By law as long as an employee gives adequate notice they can not fine you, threaten you or withohold wages and they must pay you up until the day you leave. if you have a proper work visa you are protected by Japanese Labour laws and there is nothing your employer can do to you.

Firing, Quitting, and Contract Non-Renewal

I want to quit my job. How much notice do I have to give?
This question is not covered under the Labour Standards Law but is based on precedents set in civil courts. It all depends on whether you have a limited or an unlimited term contract, and if you have a limited term contract what contract year you are in.
Unlimited Term Contract --- two weeks notice is sufficient.
First year of a one year contract --- you can quit at either the end of the contract or quit by following the procedures laid out in the contract for quitting. If you don't follow these rules your company has a theoretical claim against you but can only act on this by using civil court procedures.
Second year (plus) of a renewed one year contract --- two weeks notice is sufficient.

My employer fired me suddenly. Am I entitled to anything?
This is a very difficult question to answer and includes many different factors; the Labour Standards Law, civil court precedents, Ministry of Labour guidelines on firings, and Japanese unions' perspectives on firings. Before we try to answer this question it is important for you to understand one important piece of advice. If you feel that you have been unfairly fired, don't sign anything (it may be a statement saying that you quit) and call the union immediately.
The Labour Standards Law states very simply that except in the most extreme of circumstances (you punch your boss, an earthquake destroys your workplace), an employer must give 30 days' notice or thirty days pay in lieu of notice. If you are fired, it is relatively easy to get this (Articles 19, 20).
The part of the law that is difficult are the many Japanese court rulings and Ministry of Labour guidelines on the propriety of firing someone. In Japan it is very difficult to fire someone in the middle of their contract (or workers who have an unlimited term contract) or someone with a one year contract which has already been renewed many times. 'Very difficult' means that in a civil court, unless the firing is done for "socially acceptable reasons" (which is up to a judge to decide), a firing could be overruled.
The problem with these precedents and guidelines is that the Labour Standards Office either won't enforce them or in many cases is powerless to do so. So unless you are prepared to go to civil court there is very little an individual can do to stop an unfair firing.
If you are fired call the union immediately and we can examine your situation. As stated in the Trade Union Law Q & A, a union can negotiate anything with an employer even if you are the only union member at your company.
On the other hand if you believe you have been fired for your union activity, we have many other ways to help you outside of the Labour Standards Law. Please see the General Union Q & A on the Trade Union Law.
If you are fired, remember one very important thing: tell the company that you don't accept their decision, offer to continue working, and make it clear that you are willing to work. Don't sign anything and don't try to one up your company by stating that you quit. The reasoning for this is that if you accept your firing or if you say that you quit, legally you are accepting it and it will make it more difficult to deal with this in the future.

Last week my boss fired me and told me to leave. He said he would pay the 30 days' dismissal allowance. Today he called me and ordered me back to work from tomorrow for the remainder of the 30-day period. He said I'm still an employee, and that I must obey him. Is he right?
No. If he wants you back to work, he must withdraw the firing completely. The employer-employee relationship ended on the day he fired you; the 30-day dismissal allowance is not a month's salary, it is an allowance which must be paid within 7 days of the firing (Article 23). The only problem here is proving that he really told you not to come to work again. He may claim later that he simply gave you 30 days' notice of dismissal. If you have documentary evidence, or a tape-recording, you will almost certainly win your case through the Labour Standards Office or in a Small Claims case at court.

I want to quit my job before the end of my contract and now my employer won't pay me this month's wages. He also wants me to pay a fine of one month's salary. Is this allowed?
No. Your employer cannot set a predetermined fine for quitting during your contract (Article 16). Furthermore your employer must provide you with all outstanding wages, tax forms and a certificate of employment within seven days of you leaving your job (Article 23).
If this happens, it is very easy to retrieve both the fine and the back wages using union's expertise and the Labour Standards Office.
If you do quit your job without the proper notice you are liable for damages, but the company must actually prove business damage in a civil court for you to have to pay any damages regarding your quitting. We have never actually seen a language company sue an employee for quitting a contract without proper notice.

It is stipulated in my contract that I can be fired without notice during a three month probation period. What does the Labour Standards Law say about this?
Regardless of the length of probation written into your contract your employer cannot fire you without notice (see section regarding firings) after you have completed 14 days of your contract. During the first 14 days your employer may fire you without notice (Article 21).

Can my employer not renew my contract without offering me any reasons?
Sadly enough, the issue of contract non-renewal is not dealt with in the Labour Standards Law. Once again we would advise that any worker in this situation call the union immediately and not sign anything from the employer.
Civil Law does deal with this issue but the only way to use this law for an individual is to sue the employer. Past civil rulings have said that a one year contract worker who has been renewed several times should be treated like a worker on an unlimited term contract and therefore an employer must have proper reasons for dismissal (non-renewal). In the past the General Union has been able to deal with this issue inside and outside of courts especially against companies who use non-renewal to fire union members for union activity.
The same with firings; if you're told that your contract is not being renewed, try to get the company to give you reasons (they don't have a legal obligation to give you any) and tell the company that you don't accept this and are willing to work at any time (see the question on firings).


Wages

The company I work for claims that they are having financial problems and therefore can't pay our salaries on time. Is this allowed?
No it isn't. The law states that salaries must be paid at a predetermined time each and every month (Article 24). The problem again is that the Labour Standards Office will do very little about this especially if the company offers another date for payment.
You should never take the late payment of wages lightly. Most workers try to be understanding about their employers' financial state but our experience shows that late payment of wages is a most often a sign that your employer is not experiencing a minor problem but rather a very big problem that may lead to bankruptcy.
It is very important that the Labour Standards Office be informed of such a problem even if you only report it without asking for action regarding the problem. This is so that if you return to the Labour Standards Office in the future for a consultation over the matter in the future, the case will already be documented and the Labour Standards Office won't deal with this as a first time case (which means they may treat the issue lightly).


My employer sent us home early from work the other day because there wasn't any work to do and now he won't pay us for this time. Is the employer obligated to pay my wages during this period?
Your employer is obligated to pay 60% of your wages if they close the enterprise or do not allow you to work during your scheduled time (Article 26). In some cases, such as your school being destroyed in an earthquake, the law does not apply.



Overtime, Lateness, Rest Periods, and Days Off

What are the maximum number of working hours I can be made to work, and is there any kind of premium if I work over these hours?
(Articles 32, 36, 37, 3
The maximum hours of work that you can be made to work is 40 over six days. Anything over this must be voluntary and even voluntary overtime work has a limit which is set by ordinance. This ordinance allows for overtime of up to 5 hours per week.
Work over forty hours must be paid at a rate of 125% of your basic salary and all work between 10pm and 5am must be paid at 135%. Work on your designated rest day (one day per week) must also be paid at the rate of 135%. Employers must also have what is called an "Article 36 Agreement" which is signed by either a trade union or a workers' representative. Without this agreement, which must be signed by either a trade union representing over 50% of the work force or a workers' representative, overtime, even voluntary, is not allowed. This agreement not only sets the amount of overtime but also sets how overtime is calculated (i.e. monthly, weekly, yearly). Please see the section on workers' representatives.

Can I be fined for being late?
First we must clarify what a fine is. For example, if you came to work 5 minutes late and your employer didn't pay you for those 5 minutes, this would not be a fine. A fine is the amount subtracted from your pay over and above the deduction for the time you were late.
Even though the General Union considers fines to be unfair, they are legal if they fall within certain limits. The fine for one instance of lateness cannot exceed half a day's pay, and the total fines in a month cannot exceed 10% of your monthly salary (Article 91).
One important factor when deciding if your company has the right to fine you (or suspend you without pay) is whether your company has properly registered working rules (please see the question on working rules). If your company doesn't have working rules then they cannot fine you for lateness. Moreover, courts have ruled that procedural fairness is also necessary. A minimum condition is that the penalized person be given the opportunity to defend himself or herself. If this is not allowed, the fine could be ruled an "abuse of the right to impose discipline".





How many hours can I be made to work without a break?
Japanese law does legislate break time which a company must give their employees (even though it is unpaid). On a six hour shift you must be given a forty-five minute break and on an eight hour shift you must be allowed a one hour break (Article 34). Therefore if you work from 12:00 - 9:00 and you have an hour for lunch, your company is meeting its legal obligations.

What are the laws about sick days, days off, and national holidays in Japan?
Regarding sick days and national holidays there is no law (though having national holidays off is the norm), and you must have at least one day off per week (Article 35).
Your company is required by law to offer you a set number of flexible holidays based on the number of years service (days to be used at your discretion). Part timers are also covered by this law and their paid holidays are based on the number of days worked per week and the length of service (Article 39). See the Paid Holidays Chart for further information.
The paid holidays owed to you by your company are separate from the set holidays offered by the company (Obon, New Years). In most cases, days set by the company cannot be subtracted from your own personal holidays but there are exceptions (look at the section on workers' representative).

[PAULH]

P.S

I have read about this school in Takamatsu in the past- it is run by a Japanese woman starting with C or E I think, and by the sounds of it she borders on being a psychotic fruitcake who will make your life hell.

I would run from this school as fast as my legs could carry me.

[PAULH]

Just one more point, city taxes are directly levied by the city ofcie to you in the second year of ones contract- you dont pay city tax in the first year as the rates are based on ones previous years income.

You pay by automatic transfer at the post office or at the city office- it is not aken out of your salary.

Also if you are a full time employee and working 40 hours a week (26 hours teaching) by law the employer is required to pay your health and medical insurance, as well as unmeployment insurance. the get around this by only saying you work 26 hours a month and are therefore casual employment.

[PAULH]

This contract gets worse by the minute

Once you have handed in your notice, and/or have left the company. you are no longer bound to them in any shape or form. they can not tell when or where or with whom you may work (I can introduce you to Language House across the street in Takamatsu if you are interested).

Once you have your visa in your passport it is yours and you can work freely on it until it expires. any attempt to prevent you from finding a job or working for someone else after you have quit with them is legally unenforceable and your employer knows it.

Also you are being hired as a language teacher, but she is also asking you to do all this other stuff like host Christmas and Halloween parties, (probably on your time) operate a video cam or VCR, help write speeches for the UN etc and do proofreading which fall outside normal teaching duties. You are within your rights to ask for extra payment for non-teaching related duties.

[Smooth Operator]

Yes, everyone has covered it all. A shocking contract. So many better outfits in Japan than this one, even places like NOVA, GEOS etc.

Alternatively, you could just come over with them, get your visa and find another job ASAP. However, that is not to be recommended, although this school is almost asking for that with these outrageous clauses. Good luck with the AEON interview, eh!?

On a last note, this below made me laugh. It doesn't say anything about posting this scandalous and illegal contract on the Internet. That is about the only thing they don't prohibit!! Gotta laugh...

"12.Observance of Secrecy

The Employee shall be responsible for observing secrecy in relation to any information which becomes known to his/her in the course of carrying our his/her duties and shall not disclose such information to a third party. This obligation will continue in force after the termination of the Agreement unless or until the information passes into the public domain."

[GajinGirl]

My sincere thanks to all those who took the time to help me out. I will send a polite 'thanks but no thanks' letter to this company. I had my suspicions but it's reassuring to have them backed up.

Here is an interesting side note to this trouble: After I recieved this contract, I wrote back that I would carefully consider it and could the school please supply with e-mail address of former teachers? As you may have guessed, I have not heard a word back from Lingo school. Hmmm...
That is what promted me to write to this list.

Thanks again for the advice and the encouragemt. I will see how Aeon pans out.

Best Wishes!

[PAULH]

On a final note,

If you can get a job in Takamatsu or Shikoku I would recommend it, my first year in japan was in Shikoku and I had a great time and its a beautiful area of the country. Takamatsu is a rather small city by Japanese standards, rather provincial but the people were very friendly. You dont need to work for someone who is obviously a control freak and wants to micromanage every aspect of your private and working life, and has such little respect for you as a teaching professional that they feel they have to issue threats and treat you like a 5 year old. Although Takamatsu probably doesnt have as many schools as a larger city like Okayama or Osaka etc there are certainly better deals around than this one. I wouldnt go near this with a 10 foot barge-pole.

Best of luck with AEON and I hope everything works out for you.

[GajinGirl]

Paulh

Thanks again for the advice. I intially was excited by this job prospect since Shikoku was a region I wanted to live in. I like nature and outdoor stuff so I thought it would be a good match.
As you said -I am sure there are other schools in Shikoku. (I see you liked it too)
Any other ideas, feel free to send them along!

Best Wishes
GG