Job Discussion Forums

[Ivana]

Hi everyone,
I just got to Japan, have been to a couple of interviews and I am noticing some of the schools ask that YOU pay THEM should you do something wrong. For example, one school demanded that you pay 5,000 yen every time you are late, while another charges you 10,000 yen if you cannot make it to work without notice. Obviously these are things you are not going to do anyway, but still, accidents/emergencies can happen... my question is, is this normal in Japan? It sounds a bit sketchy to me, but maybe it is standard practice out here. Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I have noticed it at two different schools now, so I thought it was worth asking about... thanks!!!

[PAULH]

[PAULH]

Can I be fined for being late?
First we must clarify what a fine is. For example, if you came to work 5 minutes late and your employer didn't pay you for those 5 minutes, this would not be a fine. A fine is the amount subtracted from your pay over and above the deduction for the time you were late.
Even though the General Union considers fines to be unfair, they are legal if they fall within certain limits. The fine for one instance of lateness cannot exceed half a day's pay, and the total fines in a month cannot exceed 10% of your monthly salary (Article 91).
One important factor when deciding if your company has the right to fine you (or suspend you without pay) is whether your company has properly registered working rules (please see the question on working rules). If your company doesn't have working rules then they cannot fine you for lateness. Moreover, courts have ruled that procedural fairness is also necessary. A minimum condition is that the penalized person be given the opportunity to defend himself or herself. If this is not allowed, the fine could be ruled an "abuse of the right to impose discipline".

[Eleckid]

In my contract, it says that if we're late 5min from our class, then there's a fine. Basically that means I can show up minutes before my class begin...BUT one time I came to work 4min late...like my first class starts at 4pm, I came in at 2:04pm (my working hour starts at 2pm), cuz of that, I got in so much trouble! I was surrounded by my employer and the rest of the Jap staffs & to be yelled at. I think they're only like that to me cuz I'm asian. That's really unfair, considering that other "white" teachers come in like an hour late & they don't say anything to them!!! wtf!! But yeah, if someone's late for 3 times in one month, then there's a fine, 2000yen per 30min or something...or a day of salary. I'm not so sure cuz that never happened to me before.

For being absent, in my contract it says that I have 2 paid sick leaves. So, I only called in to get a day off cuz I was really sick in bed with a high fever & a bad cold, thinking that I'll use up one of my sick leaves, right? BUT the following week, I had to do double lessons to make up for my missed lessons AND that I got fined...13,000yen! AND the 4500yen overtime I had earlier...got taken out for some reason. I told my boss about this & she said "that's ok, you'll have the other 2 sick leaves vacant then~" and that there was no negotiation whatsoever! I was in shocked and anger! I also talked to the head native teacher of our school & he said "That's how it works out." what do mean "work out??" nothing got worked out! Really unfair!!!

Is there anything I can do about that? kawaisou watashi...

[guest of Japan]

This is a wild guess - I think the people in your school want you to leave.

[Gordon]

If this happened to me, I would be looking for another job, heck I would have been gone a long time ago.

[Eleckid]

Nah, they didn't want me to leave, at least not my boss. Actually, she asked if I'd wanna stay for another year. She's really cheap, the Jap staffs told me that they had to do a lot but get a really low pay. You know, I asked my boss for a renewal contract raise, she gave me 20,000yen raise...& sorta told me that it's a set...is that an avg raise in Japan? (I started off with the standard 250,000yen/month) Well I'm gonna talk to her tmw regarding my contract, hopefully I can get some ans before I go to work on Monday.

I don't get yelled at for being a few min late anymore, cuz after working there for 1 school term, my popularity got higher & thus the Jap staffs like me more & respect me a little more...maybe. Ya know, it's really tough being an asian teaching in Japan...is there anyone who's asian here & got discriminated or got picked on? (I don't get that anymore, that's why I've decided to stay)

Oh btw, it's not like I haven't tried looking for another school, but it seems like the schools with offers better than my school doesn't want to hire native teachers who are asians, so I gave up. I mean so far ECC has the most paid holidays, right? (7 wks?) my school offers 6 wks & close down during typhoon days. The boss also makes dinner for us sometimes & takes us for free trips. The staffs are pretty close, we hang out sometimes for lunch, dinner, trips, or karaoke. I've made really close friends with a few of the Japanese staffs whose age is close to mine. Actually, my boss is just cheap, but very nice & "motherly". When I got sick, so cooked congee for me & gave me medicine. Not so bad for a small private school~

This is the 1st school that I've worked with, so I have no clue if it's like that for other schools. How is the employer-staff/colleague relationship for your school?

[Joannda]

Sorry, I don't mean to be picky, but you are an English teacher after all, so I just thought I'd point this out for your info I've noticed a lot of Asian people do this actually, so you're not alone, but the word "Staff" is always staff, there is no "Staffs". It doesn't matter whether it is single or plural; it is one staff, two staff, one hundered staff. It's like sheep; one sheep, three sheep, not sheeps. English is a bit funny like that with some words

[Eleckid]

Hi Joannda, thanks for pointing that out. After you mentioned that staff is always staff, I was curious so I checked the online dictionary from Encarta. Please take a look at this:

http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/staff.html

It seems like the dictionary says that the plural to staff is staffs. Maybe it's just a North American thing...well I'm not sure, actually (can anyone help me out?). Anyway, I'm not here to argue, when it's outside the classroom, I'm not so picky on ppl's spelling or grammar, esp to others. I'm just here to discuss about topics relating to teaching or living here~ no one has perfect Eng spelling or grammar, & that the English language changes all the time~

[Lovechild]

[king kakipi]

Eleckid

I concur with Joannda.

I think the plural becomes staffs only when you are talking about stick-like objects, not a body of eg teachers, workers etc.

[stillnosheep]

[Eleckid]

Wow, then I gotta tell my school about this, cuz everyone (that includes all other native teachers) say it wrong! Thanks a lot!

But why did we switched the topic of this post to spelling? Oh well...

Hey, today I finally had a chance to talk to my boss in private. She offered the 20,000yen raise and that was final. Oh well, it's better than nothing...and I've heard from my boss that she might put the bad Jap staff to another branch~ so no more biatching from that person! I also had the chance to complain about that bad staff to my boss, so now I think my boss is really looking for another person to take over her~ yay~~

Hope everyone else is doing fine!

And Joannda, where are you gonna work? Like which city?

[lajzar]

[taikibansei]

[quote="lajzar"]