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Interac vacation - how many weeks a year?
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lisa111082

Joined: 20 Sep 2007
Posts: 37
Location: Too close to Mt. Fuji

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 8:57 am Post subject:

I don't stick around. Over the summer I did part time work for two weeks, and then spent the remainder traveling all over the country. I spent all of winter break traveling, and will spend spring break doing the same. They require you to tell them where you are going and how to contact you (apparently this is in case another natural disaster hits, so they can get in touch with you). I have never been called in on days off, or days where I am not scheduled for classes and am instead "on call." The golden rule is to look at your schedule. If you are not scheduled to be at a school it's a day off. They won't call you up and be like COME IN OR LOSE PAY/GET FIRED! so don't worry about that.

rxk22

Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 9:14 am Post subject:

lisa111082 wrote:

I don't stick around. Over the summer I did part time work for two weeks, and then spent the remainder traveling all over the country. I spent all of winter break traveling, and will spend spring break doing the same. They require you to tell them where you are going and how to contact you (apparently this is in case another natural disaster hits, so they can get in touch with you).

I have never been called in on days off, or days where I am not scheduled for classes and am instead "on call."

The golden rule is to look at your schedule. If you are not scheduled to be at a school it's a day off. They won't call you up and be like COME IN OR LOSE PAY/GET FIRED! so don't worry about that.

Depends. This year for me, ALL of my 'office days' have been something. had to sub for a lot of other teachers or whatnot. While other years, I had tons of time off.

marley'sghost

Joined: 04 Oct 2010
Posts: 255

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 11:34 pm Post subject:

stumptowny wrote:

marley'sghost wrote:

Now, most of those days during school break will be "on call" days. The company could call you up and make you go judge a speech contest or sub for one of the business English teachers or something. They might schedule a meeting in there too. That way, if you want to be safe, you'll have to burn your actual vacation days for an uninterupted month of adventure in exotic foreign lands.

Can you explain vacation planning some more? do you mean you must burn your 5 flexible paid holiday days to cover the on call status during vacation days? what do you mean "actual vacation days." How does it work?

Can you just say no if you are requested and say, I will be out of the country or I have plans already? I suppose most teachers want the same...

The goal is to buy plane tickets early.. how can I but tickets in advance and be covered with the profit machine? I do not want to hang around waiting to see if I will be called in to cover a speech contest or business class... is it optional? those staying in Japan during the breaks can work if they want?

this will be a total utter buzz kill if we are expected to stick around...

Sorry, my explanation was a bit rambling.
You'll get a notice detailing your work days during school vacation. It will be a calendar with the days marked "vacation" or "on call/office days" or something like that. The "on call" days you are expected to be available for any and all assignments the company may give you. If you want to be sure that the company will not call you up you'll have to "burn", I call it, your paid holiday time. Which means you'll waste the paid time off, if it turns out (most likely) that there is no work during that time. But you won't have to worry about the company saying, "Mr. Stumpy, please come in next Monday." and you having to answer, "Uh, I'm on the beach in Bali, how about next week?"
Unfortunately, you won't get the notice in time to buy tickets early. Sort of have to take a gamble.
In my case, it's never really been a gamble, they've never called me up.

kenishi86

Joined: 07 Feb 2011
Posts: 27

Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 7:15 am Post subject:

rxk22 wrote:

I am a dispatch worker, if I am not scheduled for a class, I don't have to be at school. A bit earlier this year, it wasn't the case, as the situation has changed. A lot of ALTs don't know about it though. I am quitting, so I don't care. Other ALTs don't know, or don7t want to create waves, so they don't.

you're not getting paid to sit there like a lump. Why waste your life?

Can you please quote some actual hard evidence for this? Because I've been bitching about this on my facebook and in other places this past year because I've had a lot of days where my schedule is blank for a day and its all "planning" time. Yet Interac tries to say that our real "work" time is when we are in class. To put it another way. There are Japanese teachers in my school system who only show up and stay at school till their specific classes are done, say they work Home Ec. or are a special needs teacher, they leave after their classes are done; yet, Interac says we must be there till 4:30 every day, even though they try to do the 29.5 hours thing. People tell me "ooh your salaried thats why, so you are still on the clock." But I think its a load of bullshit. I haven't pushed the issue though because I can't test them (Interac) on this really. If I sign up for 社会保険 though I could. If they refuse to pay half their share, which they are obliged to and cite the 29.5 hour thing, then its proof that we aren't really being paid to sit in a room all day and do nothing and I can be at home.

So PLEASE, if you have some hard proof, say from a court case at Supreme Court level or what not. Post the link because I fucking hate sitting around all day doing nothing.

stumptowny

Joined: 29 May 2011
Posts: 310

Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 3:44 pm Post subject:

rxk22 wrote:

lisa111082 wrote:

Depends. This year for me, ALL of my 'office days' have been something. had to sub for a lot of other teachers or whatnot. While other years, I had tons of time off.

lisa111082, thank you. this was the straight juice I was looking for. golden rule seems plausible here. and thanks rxk22...

a question for either or both of you...or anyone else.. are 'office days' and 'on call' the same thing? is there a difference? if they are the same thing, being used synonymously, your experiences are completely different, which does not help a newb like me except to realize it's totally up to luck if I will have to actually work during those times or not.

one of you is saying plan according to when the kids are not in school the other is saying, plan as such but expect you may be called in?? am I off here?

if the latter case is true, how do I cover myself (preserve my 5 flexible paid holiday days) if I have already bought tickets for that time? will they automatically use your 5 flexible paid holiday days time? if I tell them in advance, when I am leaving ('in case of a natural disaster') how will they handle it? I think it is a crock! if they know when you are leaving they can burn more of your floating days to save money.. saying, we wanted you to work 5 days during that time you are traveling so, guess what, you just used up your five days.

stumptowny

Joined: 29 May 2011
Posts: 310

Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 3:59 pm Post subject:

marley'sghost wrote:

stumptowny wrote:

marley'sghost wrote:

oh my. I am just reading this response after I just responded to another post. my apologies for any redundancy folks..

thank you marley's ghost.. so how do you play it? don't tell them a thing and preserve your 5 days, hoping they don't call? or tell them in advance so they burn your days? you said in your case, its never been an issue. How many years have you been this lucky?

what happens if they contact you to work and you are out of the country? can they penalize you beyond burning into your 5 days? anyone had this happen or know any other teachers that did?

if you tell them in advance that you are leaving, and they do not call you in, do they still use your days? I suspect they will do anything for money... including screwing you here. weak!

and if you tell them in advance, how many days do they typically use? I just wrote on the other post, that I suspect, if they know you are leaving, they will take more days to make more money.. as in, 'oh, we had planned for you to work 5 days so, guess what, you have lost all your days..'

please feel free to speak on what you have heard from other teachers.

kenishi86

Joined: 07 Feb 2011
Posts: 27

Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 3:13 am Post subject:

stumptowny wrote:

if you tell them in advance that you are leaving, and they do not call you in, do they still use your days? I suspect they will do anything for money... including screwing you here. weak!

and if you tell them in advance, how many days do they typically use? I just wrote on the other post, that I suspect, if they know you are leaving, they will take more days to make more money.. as in, 'oh, we had planned for you to work 5 days so, guess what, you have lost all your days..'

please feel free to speak on what you have heard from other teachers.

First off, yes they'll still use your vacation days (I assume thats what you mean?) even if turns out they weren't calling you in.

Secondly, this isn't a "pay for everyday they are in school" thing. Interac makes their money by getting a contract that says the BoE will pay X amount each year to have the ALT in school. The reason they don't tell you "go do whatever, because we really don't have anything for you." is because then it would be an admission you are not working and then your pay for the month would be prorated. Work days are usually the result of the SCHOOL taking time off at some point which treads on Interac's workworkworkwork. Theres nothing going on here. The real going ons are either in how they let you use Vacation days or time in school deal which I'm hoping rxk22 will get back to me on.

marley'sghost

Joined: 04 Oct 2010
Posts: 255

Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 3:25 am Post subject:

stumptowny wrote:

[thank you marley's ghost.. so how do you play it? don't tell them a thing and preserve your 5 days, hoping they don't call? or tell them in advance so they burn your days? you said in your case, its never been an issue. How many years have you been this lucky?

what happens if they contact you to work and you are out of the country? can they penalize you beyond burning into your 5 days? anyone had this happen or know any other teachers that did?

if you tell them in advance that you are leaving, and they do not call you in, do they still use your days? I suspect they will do anything for money... including screwing you here. weak!

and if you tell them in advance, how many days do they typically use? I just wrote on the other post, that I suspect, if they know you are leaving, they will take more days to make more money.. as in, 'oh, we had planned for you to work 5 days so, guess what, you have lost all your days..'

please feel free to speak on what you have heard from other teachers.

They will use half of your days off to cover the time you are not working during school vacation. In Japan, employers can do that. So, it doesn't matter if you tell them your plans in advance or not. Half of your time off days will be assigned to you during school break.
If they call you and you are out of the country, well, I don't know what they'd do. Fire you, if they think you are a screw up and they have a replacement handy. Make you take the days you are unavailable as unpaid leave at best. Remember, the school is not your employer, Interac is. And they can tell you to stand on a street corner handing out tissues all summer if they wanted to. (Thank god there are no such thing as Interaciawa!) I play it by being honest, stupid, and burning my days. I've been around long enough that I get a few more than 5 days. Also, family obligations and other jobs rarely allow me to split all summer anyways.

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