Job Discussion Forums

[mcloo7]

Up until now I would say the pay at the college where I work has been pretty good. Last semester I made 7000 rmb per month for 20 teaching hours. The semester before that I made either the same, or slightly more for teaching 21 hours per week.

Before I took the job, about two years ago, I was worried about working at a college and not having many hours or much pay. I asked the people at the school and they told me the working hours would be between 18 and 22 per week, and that I could choose how many I work. So it sounded like the pay would be good enough and I took the job.

Things have changed this semester. When we had our first meeting before the start of the semester, the other foreign teachers and I got our schedules and saw that we all only had 14 hours per week, and the pay is now drastically reduced to about 5100 rmb per month after taxes. The other teachers' contracts say that they have to work at least 16 hours per week, so they were given a kind of QQ office hours where they have to talk to students to make up the additional hours. The person who wrote my contract (says she) made a mistake and wrote that I would work 20 hours per week for 7000 rmb. I was happy when I noticed this in my contract earlier this semester because it means that the school is contractually bound to give me at least 20 working hours per week, and pay me at least 7000 rmb. It also says that if 20 class hours are not available than I will be given extra activities or assignments to make 20 hours.

After I noticed the specifics of my contract I went to the office and pointed it out to the people in charge of my department, and they said that they would give me extra things to do to make up 20 hours per week. So Ive been doing office hours on QQ (on Sunday night) and in person, for the past month. They also said they would give me 1.2 class hours per hour because I'm teaching classes that were, last year, split between two teachers. Today I got paid, and my pay was exactly the same as last month. Nobody notified the foreign affairs office, who pays us, about my additional hours.

The kicker to this story is that at the end of last semester my school was talking about hiring extra foreign teachers, and splitting some of the classes of the other foreign teachers, creating more classes and more class hours. They never did these things, and as you've already read, we all have less hours than we've ever had before. Now for what I think to be the reason for all of this:

During winter break, two foreign teachers, husband and wife, and their baby, who was born in China last summer, went back to the US to visit. When they came back to China towards the end of the break, they were told they had the wrong visa for the baby, and were deported, back to the US. Since they had to pay 3000 USD out of pocket for the flight back home, and then again for the flight back to China, about two weeks later, the school said they would reimburse them the 6000 USD for the tickets. It was the school who messed up the visa, and obviously, they should pay for the plane tickets.

But I think this is actually the reason why we all have reduced hours and reduced pay this semester. The budget at the school seems to be tight at times and I was wondering where the money for the tickets would come from. It seems like it's come out of the foreign teachers salaries.

What do you all think about this? I've suddenly become motivated to start looking for a new job for next year. I was comfortable here, but I need some guarantee about pay. Plus, I'm sure there are more interesting places to live and teach then the district where I've been teaching. So maybe it's best not to spend three years there anyway.

[Deats]

Get the hell out of there. And as they have broken their contract with you, they are liable to pay a fine - as the contract should stipulate. However, I would merely hang this fine over their head and just demand the money that you are due and make sure they understand that you expect 7000 a month for the remainder of your contract.

There are plenty of jobs paying the same or more for less hours. But you want to get your butt into gear because a lot of the best uni jobs have already gone.

[zacharybilton]

Broken the contract? Liable? Fine?

Who's a lawyer here?

Actually, the contract is written in such a way that "good faith" includes intent and covers mistakes. It's stated that she made a mistake and thus is all she needs. Besides, an employer is NOT obligated to honor a contract when it can't be met. If the contract says you will teach 100 students, but the next term they enroll only 20 students, they are not obligated to pay you for 100. There are "extenuating circumstances" that meet business needs and so on.

I'd love to see anyone here fight it in court.

You're welcome to tell them they violated the contract and you want out. But, you know you're out of luck.

This is not a new story, this happens all the time. University programs change term to term, year to year and are exempt from many things due to the university/government relationship.

China is not the place to come if you're going to claim labor and contract law and so on.

[Deats]

Read the post again:

"After I noticed the specifics of my contract I went to the office and pointed it out to the people in charge of my department, and they said that they would give me extra things to do to make up 20 hours per week. So Ive been doing office hours on QQ (on Sunday night) and in person, for the past month. They also said they would give me 1.2 class hours per hour because I'm teaching classes that were, last year, split between two teachers. Today I got paid, and my pay was exactly the same as last month. Nobody notified the foreign affairs office, who pays us, about my additional hours."

They found 20 hours of work for the person to do. OP did this work then he wasn't paid. This IS breaking the contract. Or do you suggest the OP works for free. You must be a great employee, you do the work and accept 75% of your salary without complaining. Duh.

[mcloo7]

Thank you Deats.


I also said that the contract specifically says if the class hours are not enough the school should provide the teacher with additional assignments or activities to fulfill the required amount of hours.

[Markness]

[mcloo7]

I did text someone at the top of my department yesterday and she said that they would pay me the amount they owe me for this past month, plus the full 7000 rmb for May, next month.


I'm not thinking about leaving before the end of the school year. I'm just wondering how I should handle the situation. I was asked to give a lecture about some aspect of Western culture in early May. Yesterday I was thinking about saying that I would do it after I got paid the full amount for last month.

[Markness]