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mtheta
Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 76
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 Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:57 pm Post subject: Saintpaulia English School |
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| Has anyone heard of or worked for this school? I just got the contract and there are a lot of "rule" regarding personality. Is this typical. I can give examples if needed. |
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mtheta
Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 76
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| Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 9:52 pm Post subject: |
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One of the red flags for me was the lack of paid holidays. They give what looks to be the bare basics (1 week New Years, 1 week August, National holidays). No personal paid holiday time and no sick days. In fact, you are incouraged to come to school even if sick or find your own replacement. If a replacement is not found you will be charged something like 400 Yen every 10 minutes of teaching time missed and 200 yen for every 10 minutes of regular duty missed. For a 9 hour day that could be 200$ for one sick day.
Is this typical?? |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 11:47 pm Post subject: |
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| mtheta wrote: |
One of the red flags for me was the lack of paid holidays. They give what looks to be the bare basics (1 week New Years, 1 week August, National holidays). No personal paid holiday time and no sick days. In fact, you are incouraged to come to school even if sick or find your own replacement. If a replacement is not found you will be charged something like 400 Yen every 10 minutes of teaching time missed and 200 yen for every 10 minutes of regular duty missed. For a 9 hour day that could be 200$ for one sick day.
Is this typical?? |
They are required by law to give you ten paid days holiday after 6 months and 11 days after one year.
http://www.generalunion.org/law/holidaychart.htm
There is no legal obligation to give employees days off for being sick and you usually use vacation days. If you get sick in the first six months you dont get paid for that day.
http://www.generalunion.org/law/lsl.htm#S5
Bare basics? Employers are supposed to give national holidays off in addition to your paid holidays but many schools make teachers work on national holidays as that is when students book lessons. Some schools will close their doors over this time making teachers take time off when it suits the school, not the teacher.
You cant be charged more than you earn on that day and it amounts to a fine. Fines may not exceed half a days pay or 10% of your monthly salary in one month. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:01 am Post subject: Re: Saintpaulia English School |
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| mtheta wrote: |
| Has anyone heard of or worked for this school? I just got the contract and there are a lot of "rule" regarding personality. Is this typical. I can give examples if needed. |
If it's not covered in the Labour Standards law its not legally enforceable. They can tell you to have a bright and cheerful personality and to encourage students etc but such rules are not legally binding. They can request teachers have certain attitudes but they should make it clear at the interview stage, not introduce it as a 'rule' in the contract. Sounds like it could be anal-nitpicking or they micromanage their staff too much by spelling out such 'rules' in their contracts. |
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mtheta
Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 76
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| Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:38 am Post subject: |
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| PAULH wrote: |
| mtheta wrote: |
One of the red flags for me was the lack of paid holidays. They give what looks to be the bare basics (1 week New Years, 1 week August, National holidays). No personal paid holiday time and no sick days. In fact, you are incouraged to come to school even if sick or find your own replacement. If a replacement is not found you will be charged something like 400 Yen every 10 minutes of teaching time missed and 200 yen for every 10 minutes of regular duty missed. For a 9 hour day that could be 200$ for one sick day.
Is this typical?? |
They are required by law to give you ten paid days holiday after 6 months and 11 days after one year.
http://www.generalunion.org/law/holidaychart.htm
There is no legal obligation to give employees days off for being sick and you usually use vacation days. If you get sick in the first six months you dont get paid for that day.
http://www.generalunion.org/law/lsl.htm#S5
Bare basics? Employers are supposed to give national holidays off in addition to your paid holidays but many schools make teachers work on national holidays as that is when students book lessons. Some schools will close their doors over this time making teachers take time off when it suits the school, not the teacher.
You cant be charged more than you earn on that day and it amounts to a fine. Fines may not exceed half a days pay or 10% of your monthly salary in one month. |
Great resource, thanks. Is this on top of a 1 week holiday at New Years and August? |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 3:16 am Post subject: |
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| mtheta wrote: |
Great resource, thanks. Is this on top of a 1 week holiday at New Years and August? |
If you are talking about 'Shogatsu' from January 1st to January 3rd or 4th when most japanese are on vacation this is not actually a national holiday but a customary holiday in Japan. The school may elect to close its doors for as much as a week over this period. They may decide not to pay teachers but give you the time off unpaid as there is no school or lessons to teach when the school is closed.
Other times they will say you can take vacations but only when its convenient for them. E.g. you might say you want to take your paid vacation over O-Bon but they wont let you take this as paid time off. Depending on the contract they may have 'rules' about when and how you take vacations.
In principle Japanese holiday periods and national holidays (O-Bon and Shogatsu are NOT national holidays, marked as red on your calendar) but holidays in japan by custom. Christmas day is a work day in Japan and you may find yourself working on December 25th.
Japan is not a Christian country and western ideas about vacations and time off don't always apply as you would like. They are only required to offer what mandated by law, not what is customary. |
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mtheta
Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 76
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| Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 5:41 am Post subject: |
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That's good to know. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't signing something really stupid. If it falls within the working norms, then that is good. I don't want to put myself in a situation where I am a working slave for this company, above and beyond reasonable standards.  |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 6:40 am Post subject: |
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| mtheta wrote: |
| That's good to know. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't signing something really stupid. If it falls within the working norms, then that is good. I don't want to put myself in a situation where I am a working slave for this company, above and beyond reasonable standards. |
A slave by whose standards? Your work hours and salary are written in your contract before you sign it. Because work happens to be harder and less rewarding than you imagined it to be is not your employers fault. You are paid what your employer thinks you are worth and whatever you can get.
A standard work week at an eikaiwa is 40 hours a week (8 hours a day plus meals), of that 26 or 27 hours is actual contact time with students. Some schools give you no paid leave whatsoever (illegal) to places like ECC which give you seven weeks of paid vacation, including the holiday periods.
Most companies will fall somewhere in between. The 'standards' vary, and employers often make up their own work rules, usually to get as much bang for their buck as they can. Eikaiwa's are profit-oriented businesses, and they want to make as much money from their employees' labor as possible, though it may seem like slave labor to you. Its up to you to decide whether you are willing to put in the hours, for whatever they are offering you. many times you are limited for choice and have to take what you are given. |
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mtheta
Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 76
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| Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 3:50 pm Post subject: |
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PAULH, My gut feelings about this place were right on. After asking some general questions I was informed that there is no lunch break during the 9 hour shift. Teachers are expected to eat lunch before the shift because there is no designated break. This clearly goes against all labour laws. The Director would also not provide a reference/contact name of a current or past employee that I could speak to. That to me is a huge red flag.
I understand your point and am by no means trying to find some slack job, but at the same time one has got to be catious about the situations they put themselves in.
Thanks for the advice.
I know this school is still searching for teachers, so if the above conditions are not an issue for anyone then I would suggest they apply, but be sure to ask the important questions before diving in. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 8:04 pm Post subject: |
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| mtheta wrote: |
PAULH, My gut feelings about this place were right on. After asking some general questions I was informed that there is no lunch break during the 9 hour shift. Teachers are expected to eat lunch before the shift because there is no designated break. This clearly goes against all labour laws. The Director would also not provide a reference/contact name of a current or past employee that I could speak to. That to me is a huge red flag.
D |
Q: How many hours can I be made to work without a break?
A: Japanese law does legislate break time which a company must give their employees (even though it's unpaid). If your shift exceeds 6 hours, you must be given a forty-five minute break. For a shift exceeding 8 hours you must be allowed a one hour break (Article 34). [top] |
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mtheta
Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 76
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| Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 9:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Ya, sketchy. I don't see how he is getting away with this, but I am glad it wont be my problem. |
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bornslippy1981
Joined: 02 Aug 2004
Posts: 271
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| Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 12:45 am Post subject: |
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| Where is this school located? |
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mtheta
Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 76
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| Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 1:33 am Post subject: |
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| Sendai-city. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 2:20 am Post subject: |
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| Its not RCS is it? |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 2:22 am Post subject: |
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| mtheta wrote: |
| Ya, sketchy. I don't see how he is getting away with this, but I am glad it wont be my problem. |
He gets away with it because newbie teachers need a paycheck more than unemployment and put up with this kind of treatment. Once they get a job they dont know how to put their foot down against unreasonable employer demands. |
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