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ola_zajac
Joined: 12 Nov 2004
Posts: 42
Location: China
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 Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 3:37 am Post subject: Good lawyer |
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| Hey everyone, I wonder whether anybody knows a good lawyer here in Beijing that specializes in labor law and can help a foreigner to clarify contract issues with a school. I may need one in near future unfortunatelly... |
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arioch36
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 3589
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| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 10:02 am Post subject: |
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| I believe that you can get the names of some lawyers from the embassy |
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HunanForeignGuy
Joined: 05 Jan 2006
Posts: 989
Location: Shanghai, PRC
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| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 11:03 am Post subject: See Below |
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Zajac,
If you are here on some kind of a legal footing, rather than spend all of that RMB on a lawyer, you may wish to try to place the matter with the Arbitration Section of the Foreign Experts' Bureau in Beijing. They tend to be toothless but they can be pushed into action, as I learned when I worked for truly horrific institution in another province, and usually one-or-two telephone calls from the Foreign Experts' Bureau will either cause the school to let up or adhere to the contract.
A friend of mine in Guangzhou was being stiffed royally by a government school on his already meager pay (they increased the workload but not the pay) and the Foreign Experts' Bureau got wind of it and actually sent out a miniteam of three bureaucrats to have a "chat" with the school. The school blew that off, nonetheless, but then my friend placed the matter before the People's Court with the help of a Chinese lawyer friend (lawyers are truly pricey in China just like everywhere else). The People's Court did not want to handle the matter so a telephone call, Chinese-style, was placed. The School was kindly asked to spare the People's Court the nuisance of the case. It worked.
I would take the lawyer approach if and only if you have tried all the other routes, as ineffective as they are, they can work. |
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arioch36
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 3589
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| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 11:27 am Post subject: |
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I agree. If you are here legally, and it is a simple case of the contract or law clearly not being followed, a lawyer is a bad first step. My experiences , personal, and of friends, here in henan, is identical.
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| I would take the lawyer approach if and only if you have tried all the other routes, as ineffective as they are, they can work |
Total agreement. it is definitely worthwhile to try the Province waishiban office first.... |
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ola_zajac
Joined: 12 Nov 2004
Posts: 42
Location: China
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| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 4:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Thank you very much, I think you are right. I will first try with the Bureau of foreign experts. I also heard that The Chinese Bureau of Education can be helpful - if the school answers to them so I will try that one too. But in case I do need to go to court, can I go just like that or I have to have a Chinese lawyer to represent me? |
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7969
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
Posts: 5782
Location: Coastal Guangdong
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| Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 1:54 pm Post subject: |
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| ola_zajac wrote: |
| Thank you very much, I think you are right. I will first try with the Bureau of foreign experts. I also heard that The Chinese Bureau of Education can be helpful - if the school answers to them so I will try that one too. But in case I do need to go to court, can I go just like that or I have to have a Chinese lawyer to represent me? |
if you ultimately find you need to go to court, then the relationship between you and that school is going to deteriorate badly i predict. save yourself some trouble, money and heartache, just quit the job and move on. you can find another one easily enough. |
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fitzgud
Joined: 24 Jan 2006
Posts: 148
Location: Henan province
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| Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 2:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Above I see words of wisdom. |
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Tsuris
Joined: 25 Mar 2008
Posts: 69
Location: Wasting My Life Away in China
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| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 1:14 am Post subject: |
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| 7969 wrote: |
| save yourself some trouble, money and heartache, just quit the job and move on. you can find another one easily enough. |
For all the money you will have to spend on a lawyer, it will be cheaper, faster and more efficient for you to settle this directly with the school owner. There is no problem in China that enough money to the right people can't fix.
Sit down with the owner/key person at your school. If there is no way to work out conditions that you can live with then start negotiating an exit strategy. If you really cannot tolerate what is happening there and they won't budge then it is in your best interests to negotiate a percentage of the breach penalty so that you will be released with a letter of completion.
Whatever you have to pay to get out of this, if that's what it comes to, will be a lot less than you'll pay the lawyer and as 7969 pointed out, your existence there will be considerably worse than it is now if you start involving outside agencies and people. |
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ola_zajac
Joined: 12 Nov 2004
Posts: 42
Location: China
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| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 4:37 pm Post subject: |
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| I fully understand whay you guys say, just the mobbing techniques used by this place are horrific. I hardly sleep at night and cannot concentrate on anything. I will take what you say under serious consideration. I wonder whether we always have to bend to the money... I hate to believe that money rules the world after all.... |
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jwbhomer
Joined: 14 Dec 2003
Posts: 876
Location: CANADA
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| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:05 pm Post subject: |
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Isn't "good lawyer" an oxymoron?  |
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