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Heart-English school recruiters
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seklarwia

Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 2:17 pm Post subject:

ssjup81 wrote:

As for reg doctor's visits, I just pay out of pocket. Just went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago for a check up. Cost me over $1100 for the visit.

WTH did they do in that check up that amounted to that much!? I knew doctors bills were high in the US but... wow!

Quote:

This is why I'm not too picky with the insurance stuff Japan offers, but I do know that private probably would've been nicer to have had, though.

No, it wouldn't Wink

ssjup81

Joined: 15 Jun 2009
Posts: 664
Location: Adachi-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 2:21 pm Post subject:

seklarwia wrote:

ssjup81 wrote:

As for reg doctor's visits, I just pay out of pocket. Just went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago for a check up. Cost me over $1100 for the visit.

WTH did they do in that check up that amounted to that much!? I knew doctors bills were high in the US but... wow!

They keep talking about how cheap Patient First is, but it really isn't. I hadn't been to a US doctor in over a year, so many tests and all that. Now, imagine if I had to see a specialist and how much that'd cost. I wear glasses, which means an optometrist visit soon.

Quote:

This is why I'm not too picky with the insurance stuff Japan offers, but I do know that private probably would've been nicer to have had, though.

No, it wouldn't Wink

Oh, so no real difference? Oh well. lol

seklarwia

Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 2:47 pm Post subject:

ssjup81 wrote:

Oh, so no real difference? Oh well. lol

What the other poster is talking about is Shakai Hoken which is another form of goverment health insurance combined with pension; the one that employers should enroll FT employees but that many entry-level ESL employers skip out on.

Private insurance is not great in Japan because it works much like health insurance in the US:
-not all plans will be accepted in all hospitals.
- you sometimes have to fork out 100% of the cost up front and then have to try and get the insurer to reimburse you.
- you may have to get some more expensive procedures pre-approved by the company.
- if you require urgent but expensive medical care, you may have to sit in the hospital lobby whilst the company haggles with the hospital to cut costs to them.
- it doesn't normally cover pre-existing or long term illnesses.
- you normally have to pay heaps extra to get coverage for dental.
- don't forget the excess!

On Shakai Hoken and Kokumin Kenko Hoken you will not have any of those issues and although you will have to pay a small percentage of your bill, I believe there is a cap to on the maximum you will ever have to pay in a single visit.

yamanote senbei

Joined: 28 Jun 2005
Posts: 435

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 8:09 pm Post subject:

ssjup81 wrote:

The loophole was that I was only allowed to work 30 hours a week, no excuse, but they would always randomly ask me to help out with stuff or do other work, but since I cared about the actual kids, I let it go and just did it.

That loophole doesn't actually exist in the law, and besides, you probably worked much more than 30 hours a week if you included school lunches, etc.

ssjup81

Joined: 15 Jun 2009
Posts: 664
Location: Adachi-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 2:54 pm Post subject:

yamanote senbei wrote:

ssjup81 wrote:

That loophole doesn't actually exist in the law, and besides, you probably worked much more than 30 hours a week if you included school lunches, etc.

Well, if you work less than 40 hours (or 37 1/2 hours), you're not allowed to get benefits. I wasn't allowed to clock in more than 30 hours a week, even if I did end up working more than 30 hours a week and how it was closer to 40.

yamanote senbei

Joined: 28 Jun 2005
Posts: 435

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 3:19 pm Post subject:

ssjup81 wrote:

Well, if you work less than 40 hours (or 37 1/2 hours), you're not allowed to get benefits.

That's definitely not true. Who gave you that information, please don't tell me that it was your supervisor at Heart. The law says all workers must be enrolled by their employer. There is no specification as to how many hours you must work to qualify.

ssjup81 wrote:

I wasn't allowed to clock in more than 30 hours a week, even if I did end up working more than 30 hours a week and how it was closer to 40.

If your contract specified 30 hours a week, but you were forced to work closer to 40 hours a week, Heart has the legal obligation to to pay you for the difference. If they didn't then they were breaking the law.

If you were paid that unpaid overtime it would have effectively raised your salary by up to 25%.

ssjup81

Joined: 15 Jun 2009
Posts: 664
Location: Adachi-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 4:52 pm Post subject:

yamanote senbei wrote:

ssjup81 wrote:

Well, if you work less than 40 hours (or 37 1/2 hours), you're not allowed to get benefits.

ssjup81 wrote:

I wasn't allowed to clock in more than 30 hours a week, even if I did end up working more than 30 hours a week and how it was closer to 40.

I now understand where the misunderstanding is coming from. I was talking about here in the US, not Japan. I said I found that more shady than anything Heart ever did, was all. I was forced to do that when assistant teaching here in my county (in Richmond, Virginia) at my former middle school.

Sorry if I wasn't very clear about it. I was comparing my AT job here to Heart, and how compared to my AT job here, Heart was a much better choice.

That aside, I already mentioned earlier that I was paid (through Heart) for any extra hours I worked.

OneJoelFifty

Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 463

Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 8:02 am Post subject:

Just to add to this; it's true that Heart don't pay overtime as a rule, and they use the 29.5 hours loophole to get around enrolling staff in the pension/insurance. The contract this year had a breakdown of the hours at school that included school lunches and every 10 minute break between lessons as 'free time'. Personally I have no problem with this. Health insurance is paid for monthly through the town hall at a convenience store, and I've found that trips to the doctors have always been quick and cheap. However, Heart have always been very keen that we mark down any extra time we're asked to stay at school late on our timesheets. This is then used to compensate for any time we have to take off school that would otherwise be deducted from wages, or stored up to allow the equivalent time off in future. I've personally never been asked to stay late by my school for longer than ten minutes or so to record a listening test, and even then it's always a very polite request with plenty of thanks.

rxk22

Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629

Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 9:23 am Post subject:

OneJoelFifty wrote:

Just to add to this; it's true that Heart don't pay overtime as a rule, and they use the 29.5 hours loophole to get around enrolling staff in the pension/insurance. The contract this year had a breakdown of the hours at school that included school lunches and every 10 minute break between lessons as 'free time'. Personally I have no problem with this. Health insurance is paid for monthly through the town hall at a convenience store, and I've found that trips to the doctors have always been quick and cheap.

However, Heart have always been very keen that we mark down any extra time we're asked to stay at school late on our timesheets. This is then used to compensate for any time we have to take off school that would otherwise be deducted from wages, or stored up to allow the equivalent time off in future. I've personally never been asked to stay late by my school for longer than ten minutes or so to record a listening test, and even then it's always a very polite request with plenty of thanks.

So paying more for your HI is ok? Also that just sounds so shady in general. Not sure how you are cool with that situation.

the4th2001

Joined: 04 Oct 2010
Posts: 130
Location: Tokyo

Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 11:08 am Post subject:

rxk22 wrote:

So paying more for your HI is ok? Also that just sounds so shady in general. Not sure how you are cool with that situation.

Why would his health insurance cost more? Have you ever been in a position to compare kokuminhoken and shakaihoken contributions/deductions?

OneJoelFifty

Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 463

Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 4:52 am Post subject:

rxk22 wrote:

OneJoelFifty wrote:

So paying more for your HI is ok? Also that just sounds so shady in general. Not sure how you are cool with that situation.

I did plenty of research on dispatch companies before accepting a position, so I knew about the usual money-saving tactics the companies employ and what to expect when I got here. So you're not going to find me whining about it. More money would be nice, it's true - so I found myself some extra classes outside school to beef up my pay.

yamanote senbei

Joined: 28 Jun 2005
Posts: 435

Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 6:17 am Post subject:

OneJoelFifty wrote:

I've personally never been asked to stay late by my school for longer than ten minutes or so to record a listening test, and even then it's always a very polite request with plenty of thanks.

If that BOE has a gyomu itaku contract with Heart, it would be illegal for the school to make any request of you directly. Every work order would have to go from the school, to the BOE, then through Heart and then from Heart to you, including your JTE asking you to "please read this", etc.

gittelbug

Joined: 08 Feb 2010
Posts: 43

Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 11:38 am Post subject:

yamanote senbei wrote:

OneJoelFifty wrote:

I've personally never been asked to stay late by my school for longer than ten minutes or so to record a listening test, and even then it's always a very polite request with plenty of thanks.

My contract with Heart was exactly like that. Was not a good situation for me or the schools at all.

ssjup81

Joined: 15 Jun 2009
Posts: 664
Location: Adachi-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 1:19 pm Post subject:

yamanote senbei wrote:

OneJoelFifty wrote:

I've personally never been asked to stay late by my school for longer than ten minutes or so to record a listening test, and even then it's always a very polite request with plenty of thanks.

I never had this problem. If the school asked me to stay back and help, I just did it. No problems at all, and I was paid for the time. I was never penalized nor did I ever get in trouble for it. I also never got in trouble if I chose to stay back myself, like if I helped with a club (I was encouraged to write down how long I stayed back for that too, even though I chose not to). If had to do prep work, and stayed after school, I wrote those hours up. If I got to school early (which was the norm for me anyway), I wrote that down.

I never got in trouble for it. This really fits the ESID thing. I guess some places are more lax than others with this particular rule.

rxk22

Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 12:31 am Post subject:

OneJoelFifty wrote:

rxk22 wrote:

OneJoelFifty wrote:

So paying more for your HI is ok? Also that just sounds so shady in general. Not sure how you are cool with that situation.

That kinda sucks though. Having to do side work to make it by.

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