Job Discussion Forums

[LITTLE PEACHES]

My boss has told me that I cannot get FEB 2010 off for a week to go home for my sister to deliver her baby. I gave them 7 months notice. Since they have said this I have told them I may need to end my contract early. I am thinking about since it's early in the year, finding a new job. I have housing with this job though. So now, I would like to get advice from the wonderful bloggers of Dave's.

I'm in the Tokyo area and wanted to know what people think. Get a new job? Anybody know of places hiring? I'm TEFL certified, lots of experience, Bachelors in Child Development. Or suck it up till Feb and see if my threats of quitting works? I am currently at a conversation school and love it, i'm ok with grammar and can learn to teach it if neccessary.

Any advice is great!! Thanks in advance!

[Glenski]

So, 7 months from now, you want to take off a mere week, is that right? Please confirm that, and confirm how long you will have been working at that time. (The reason you want to take off is irrelevant in this case.)

Your housing is no business of your employer's, believe it or not. He cannot evict you just because you don't work for him. By law eviction/removal takes 6 months. Of course, if you WISH to relocate, that's up to you and the landlord.

You want to quit now and look for work? Good luck. From about now to January, jobs are tightest. Good news is, you are in the most heavily populated area of Japan, so look hard and earnestly. The visa you have is yours until it expires; the employer cannot take it away.

Oh, and your subject line is terribly deceiving. Pregnancy leave is not YOUR pregnancy. I suggest you change the subject line.

[Apsara]

You should be eligible for a week's holiday by the time you have worked there 7 months, regardless of the reason. The thing is, babies don't always arrive the week they are supposed to (unless a Caesarean is planned), so the timing will be tricky considering you need to give at least a couple of weeks notice to your employer and a month is better. Quite a number of my friends have given birth up to three weeks before or two weeks after their due date.

Also, if you find a job in the next few months, you are even less likely to be allowed time off in February as you will have been working for that employer less than 6 months.

[LITTLE PEACHES]

thanks for the replies...heres more info

I will have been working for them for 8 months by this time.

It is a planned C-section, hopefully not early, but if it is, then it will be healing and family time.

I am only asking for 5 days off work.

They supply my housing, i am willing to relocate if i can find another job, that at the time of contract can guarantee that i can have that week off.

I will NOT quit unless I have another job, I think starting and hunt isn't a bad idea if worse comes to worse.

[Cool Teacher]

Well I really think you should be abel to get that time off if you have been there for eitgh months and you gave SEVEN months notice!


Bloody ridiculous id you can't. I think you should be more forceful! What kind of place do you work for? Sounds strange to me.

But yes, the Glenster is right! Don't say it is YOUR pregnacny leave it sounds too wrong and sounds like something that makes you sound dishonest. Dont getme wrong I dont think you a re dishonset but you shouldnt make the Tilte like that!

[starteacher]

Maybe you need to speak to your employer more carefully and work a solution.

They will need to replace you for that one (or two maybe) weeks but if you are willing to go over and above not being paid for that missing time then they may allow for that week off. You have to think what your company has to do when a staff takes leave in terms of money and customers, and then you will know what to do.

One day IF you come across such a situation in YOUR own company then you will see why it is not always so easy to simply allow teachers to take time off when they wish. Remember that the revenue they receive from customers, due to the profit margin added by them, will be higher than your weekly pay, so if you say to the employer they don't need to pay you for that week off, it is the company's revenue amount for that week, and not 1/4 of your monthy salary which is at stake.

However, you will not have any hassles and you still have your job on your return, the apartment, worked out solution for them and you and your students will also be understanding.

[seklarwia]

But isn't she entitled to time off after 6 months by law? And considering the sheer length of notice her request is hardly unreasonable.

[LITTLE PEACHES]

I am not asking for a paid leave, I'm asking for unpaid leave. I have told them I'm willing to work my days off the surrounding weeks to get the time off. All my coworkers are wiling to cover my shifts. They aren't willing to bend. I understand the business stand point, but there are people willing to cover and help. If we give out students 7 months notice also, I don't think this should be a problem.

[Glenski]

Technically, a worker is not entitled to paid days off in the first 6 months of a contract. After that, in the next 12 months, they are entitled to 10 days off of paid leave. So, Peaches could actually ask for those.
See Article 39 of the labor laws:
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/laborinfo/library/documents/llj_law1-rev.pdf

The fact that Peaches has already asked for UNpaid time off is admirable, but the employer is not obligated at all to concede to that. Perhaps the fact that her workers' willingness to cover for her means the employer would have to pay overtime, so that is a reasonable request to deny. Peaches' bigger trump card is the long length of notice she is giving and the fact that she will have been legally owed the paid time off.

In that respect, the employer is being unreasonable, and a good lawyer would be able to get the time for her. I wouldn't want to fight in that way, though. Pretty harsh for a 5-day paid vacation, and the employer may want to make Peaches quit early just in spite. (Be careful. If you do, you lose an end of contract bonus if it's offered. If you are fired, though, you are entitled to 30 days of notice or pay in lieu thereof.)

[LITTLE PEACHES]

At our job, overtime pay is the same as regular time pay. So they would not be paying anymore, because i'm notasking fr pay and the people who would be covering would be working the same amount of hours I would have been working.

They give us golden week off, unpaid. Could this be where they are counting our days off?

There is no completion bonus for this job. If push comes to shove, I'll end up turning in my 30 days and leaving in Feb to go home for delivery.

I'm not going to get our lawyer involved to get a few days off work. This place in the past has made many promises that never get fulfilled.

I wish I knew more about the company before I came out, but they are a very small private English school that is family owned. I'm going to look into the labor laws and see what it says.

[mc]

This sort of practice is not limited to eikaiwa. Try taking 5 consecutive days off if you work for Toyota or any of its subsidiaries. They get around the labor law by saying that consecutive days off like that generates a "business hardship" for them. They do give workers the paid vacation days that they're entitled to -- provided that the workers take one or two per month max instead of all in a row.

[starteacher]

As Glenski said, you cannot take into consideration whether other people are willing to take over your work or not, paid or unpaid. Actually it could be a good way for your students to meet another teacher for a week, but if this practice is done once, then it can be done time and time again. This is not an employees call.

Did you write a letter asking for this request of leave. It will have the date and so make it official rather than verbal.

Then you can tell them of the 6 months legality. If they accept, then they want you to stay on, if not, then they want you out and you know where you stand. The danger is now they know your intention, they may not extend your contract regardless so you will in some way lose your job and they will be looking for someone to replace you. Like you said, you can tender your resignation in Jan for the 30 days (but be careful if they find a teacher they can terminate you earlier).

BUT I find it is important to work in a happy environment as much as possible, it is one's life and it is only now. So live your life, not someone's elses, and good luck with everything and for your sis too.

[Glenski]

[LITTLE PEACHES]

How would i go about reporting to the Labor Standards Office, sorry very new to this.

This is my first time working here, since I have gotten here I have found out a lot of news about them. I would not have taken the postition had I known! =(

[TokyoLiz]

http://www.tfemploy.go.jp/en/coun/cont_4.html