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Heart-English school recruiters
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rxk22

Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 12:33 am Post subject:

the4th2001 wrote:

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?

you are right, sorry about that. They just don't pay their half. Which hurts the system.

Also nice, not having to go to the conbini and paying, PIA there.

OneJoelFifty

Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 463

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 2:14 am Post subject:

rxk22 wrote:

OneJoelFifty wrote:

rxk22 wrote:

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.

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.

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

I could live comfortably without the extra classes, but I decided to apply myself. I make an extra 50,000+ Yen on a normal month now, through lessons that don't require a lot of preparation and are generally enjoyable to teach.

Re: having to go through Heart and the BoE for every little thing...yes, my contract is like that. But thankfully, and with my encouragement, the school are comfortable to ask me for help with bits and pieces day to day. Heart are the people that pay my wages, but I feel very much a part of the school I'm working in.

gittelbug

Joined: 08 Feb 2010
Posts: 43

Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 2:04 pm Post subject:

ssjup81 wrote:

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.

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.

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.

Maybe your contract is a bit different than mine was. By the contract the school was not allowed to ask me to do anything. If they wanted me to say stay latter than the time my contract scheduled me to leave they would have had to call Heart who would have to talk to the BoE to approve it or not. If I were to stay latter than my scheduled time without permission from Heart and the BoE I wouldn't have been paid for it. It may have changed but we were told many, many times anytime outside the times written into the contract were not paid unless otherwise stated by Heart. So I can't help but be curious about this time you are coming in early or staying late without contacting heart. Have you checked your time sheet against your payment slip Heart sends out? Were you really paid for that extra time?

ssjup81

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

Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 10:39 pm Post subject:

gittelbug wrote:

ssjup81 wrote:

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.

Yeah, I was paid for it and I did used to match what I had on my time slip with their pay slip. Maybe my contract was a bit different. Too bad I don't have a copy of it anymore.

Seems the only time the school would call Heart for anything, is if I had to leave earlier than expected, like the time I had to go down to city hall for something (can't recall now).

yamanote senbei

Joined: 28 Jun 2005
Posts: 435

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 8:39 am Post subject:

ssjup81 wrote:

I never had this problem. If the school asked me to stay back and help, I just did it.

Depending on the contract between Heart and the BOE, it might have been illegal and you were exploited by both of them and by your school. Indirect employment is highly regulated in Japan, but if the teacher is never told this they would never know that anything was wrong.

The only long term way a school can have ALTs work there and have them give you any instructions is to get rid of the middlemen and hire directly.

seklarwia

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

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 8:46 am Post subject:

yamanote senbei wrote:

Illegal or not, he was paid for his extra time... that's hardly exploitation.

yamanote senbei

Joined: 28 Jun 2005
Posts: 435

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 8:54 am Post subject:

seklarwia wrote:

Illegal or not, he was paid for his extra time... that's hardly exploitation.

If it was a gyomu itaku contract, or a dispatch contract that exceeded the dispatch implementation period, it was Intermediate Exploitation according to Article Six of the Labour Standards Law.

Quote:

(Elimination of Intermediate Exploitation)
Article 6. Unless permitted by Act, no person shall obtain profit by intervening, in the course of trade, in the employment of others.

Other laws would also be violated at simultaneously.

seklarwia

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

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 9:26 am Post subject:

yamanote senbei wrote:

If it was a gyomu itaku contract, or a dispatch contract that exceeded the dispatch implementation period, it was Intermediate Exploitation according to Article Six of the Labour Standards Law.

Quote:

(Elimination of Intermediate Exploitation)
Article 6. Unless permitted by Act, no person shall obtain profit by intervening, in the course of trade, in the employment of others.

According to the Oxford dictionary, extortion is a situation in which somebody treats somebody else in an unfair way, especially in order to make money from their work... what's unfair about being paid for extra work?

But even if we played by your legalese, your arguement still doesn't hold up. Firstly, not all dispatch contracts are gyomu itaku so it is wrong to assume especially since everything he has said thus far suggests that his very well may not have been. Secondly, even if he did, Heart paid him for the overtime (and may have actually taken a slight hit in their profits for that very reason), so who are you pointing your clause at as having made a profit at his expense?

yamanote senbei

Joined: 28 Jun 2005
Posts: 435

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 10:23 am Post subject:

The pay for the extra work probably came out of their own pocket. I'm not claiming that there is any extortion, but that it could be exploitation by the government's own definition.

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