Job Discussion Forums

[Tim]

I have just completed my teaching contract

My contract was from the 6th February to 6th July. They want to pay me today (to the 5th July).

My contract states; 'The teacher shall pay for his/her transportation fromhis/her current place of residence to the port nearest Wuxi. The employer shall reimburse the fare paid at the successful completion of this contract, subject to a maximum amout of USD$400.'

Now, today, the school tells me that most contracts are for six months, and so I can get only 333 USD, as my contract was for five months. I canunderstand them paying a protracted smaller rate to people who resign, giving a proper month's notice. In fact this had happened. But I am finishing the contract, not leaving early. I am being told that I don't understand the meaning of 'subject to a maximum...'.

My understandiung, and that of several other people and schools I have worked with in China, is that they will pay the cost of the transportation, but if that comes to over 400 USD then I only get 400.

The school tells me that I get 400 USD if I stay for six months, and a protraced rate for less time.

But, the contract clearly states the dates of my contract, and that I get 400 USD on completion of the contract. I have done this. I am not talking about the actual cost of transportation, just the amount they should be willing to give me

What does anyone else think?
Does the contract say I get less monry becasue my contract was shorter? or doesit say that I can't get more than 400 USD, if my flight happens to cost a bit more?

BTW, I am being told this by an American.

[JamesD]

I write contracts for my school (yes, I'm in management) and this is my take on it.

You should get the 400 USD because the contract says "successful completion of the contract."

If it had said, "completion of the contract with travel reimbursement prorated based on 6 months." then I would think they are right, but they are not.

They need to be more careful of how they word their contract. And yes, if the contract dates were for 2 weeks and you successfully completed the two weeks then you STILL would have "completed the contract."

This is why there are proration clauses in contracts, to protect the employer. Too bad they goofed, tell them an American manager with experience writing contracts says they screwed up.

The maximum has nothing to do with it other than limiting the total paid to a teacher finishing a contract.

[Tim]

but I have not got very far so far.

There is also a clause about being at fault by discussing anything to do withthe contract with ANYONE. That is why i am not mentioning the company name here! Also, they may realise they are being a bit silly, and change their minds, so I'll withold the name in case of that too!

[Tim]

the school is now claiming that there are clearly differences in our understanding of the contract, and they should be decided by the courts.

They claim that the 'subject to a maximum' bit means that you get 400 usd for 6 months, and so they will pay me 5/6ths of this for working five months.

They also refuse to give me aletter to state this. I am asking for a letter that says why they want to pay me 333.35 usd , not 400 usd, and explaining their interpretatio of the contract. They refuse to gie me such a letter, saying that the courts should decide.

IO am worried that in september, when i am back in China and would like to take this to court, they will deny all knowledge, or change explanation.

Also, does anyone know about the possibility of doing this in HK?

[Gray000]

You're going to take someone to a chinese court over less than 600 Yuan? Unless you have a burning desire to be educated in the Chinese court system and great Putonghua so you can understand it, I doubt it's worth the trouble. Dude, let it go and learn a lesson about end of contract bonuses and why you insisist on getting them pro-rated each month. And then, since you'll never work for them again, smear them all over Dave's.

PS Don't get me wrong - your interpretation is quite obviously right. Tell your foreign supervisor he is a pu$$y for not taking up your case with your employer, and smear him BY NAME on Dave's. When a Director or Foreign Teacher co-ordinator sells you out, it's worse and that person should be punished.

[China Pete]

I know a guy that signed a contract to rent a building for 3 years. After paying 8 months rent and using it only 6 months, he decided not to use it for some reason. After a year or two, the owner started getting impatient to get his money. Finally, he took my friend to court to try and collect 3 years of rent.
CHINESE COURT.
My friend took the judge and his lawyer to dinner.
The final order of the court was that the owner give my friend his 8 months rent back and pay a fine for something or another. Seriously, even though I'm happy for my friend, who got his money back even though he was just the defandant, I do feel sorry for the owner of the building.
Think about it, is it worth going to Chinese court over 400 something yaun?

I am thinking about taking someone to court though. I had my laptop repaired by a large, fairly reputable place. Aside from taking like 3 months to repair it, they finally got it to work, but 'oh we formatted your hard drive'. (And not on accident). I had told them 1)the contents of the HD are very important, 2)make a backup cd right away. 3)dont even mess with the hd.
Initially, when they took my laptop, I took the HD home with me so nothing would happen. But they needed it to complete the repair, and they just thought they'd format for me...

I am so steamed about that- I had 3 english teaching books I had written on there, 5 years of every single lesson plan I had done, thousands of pictures I had taken of life here... Grrrr id better stop now im getting red in the face just thinking about it.

[Roger]

You have my sympathy, although I must concur with previous posters: it is a next-to-hopeless case. They are shortchanging you for one-sixth - but they also let you off one sixth of the time earlier, which in Chinese logic puts any onus on you. Forget about the court - you must hire a lawyer and pay upfront! The ruling is a toss, and let's be frank - all cards are stacked up against you.
If you won it would spell trouble for uncounted training mills that hire expats 'just-in-time', meaning they have rounded up a class, now they need a foreign face, they hire YOU. The class is dwindling over time, the management decides to terminate you five minutes before your class begins one fair day - you can't claim any wages then! Happens all the time!

Make up your loss during summer recess (plenty of work!) and change your employer in September.

A piece of advice for your future: Prorate airfare from the beginning in such a way that they pay it to you in monthly instalments!
Because in a manner of speaking, you have been LUCKY, mate: Many employers do not even bother to pay airfare AFTER completion of your job!

[Tim]

Ok, thanks for the points. I am mostly doing this to get opinions, and everyone seems to agree with me

This is only the end of a very long story, which several of us already plan to put onthe job experiences board after we all leave.

I know that I would get nowhere with a Chinese court, and that it is only 600rmb. But the ampount is not the point.

I do have enopugh contacts around to make their life difficult, though.

problems - they are a private school. The directors and the foreign teacher liason peopr are the same people. The school is run and owned by a trio, canadian, American, and Chinese. They do it all. And they have screwed every teacher who has left so far.
Also, I am on a business visa (as are all the teachers and directors at the school), so i can't take it to court without getting myself into trouble, but the local police already don't like the company

So, keep an eye on the experiences board over the next few days.

I can see the pro-rata point, but the point is that there is nothing about pro-rata in the contract, and that dates were quite clearly aggreed on before I even arrived there!

and where do you draw the line? They are screwing you for money or thay are not! There is alot mre to the story, so watch the other board.

Teachers stay in crap school to get the completion bonus, that is why many school do not put it on t emonthly pay, but I have never heard of a school doing this before.

[PanamaTeacher]

tim both you and the school are wrong you are not entilted to $400 or any prorated portion of that amount; you are entitled to a reimbursement based on the following formula:

[Tim]

second point

no, there is absolutely nothing in the contract that suggests a six-month timeframe, or any ambiguity. I have spent the day showing the contract to several other school managers and lawyers and teachers and businessmen in town (western and Chinese) and they have all aggreed.

first point - as I said earlier, I am not talking about the actual cost of the transport, but about how much they should be willing to give me 'up to...'

As it happens, the school has never asked about actual cost, just taked about how much they will give us (yes, I am not alone here, and other have left recnetly with proratet pay because they resigned and finifhed their contract early)

I do take the point that if I could travel for less the 333usd then I make a profit, ut that is still not the point. However, the cost of the transport (flight) is above 400 usd anyway.

Yes, the school has been generous to give ANYTHING to the people who resigned - but I made the effort to stay through a lot of sh*t (see my previous reply), and they still try to screw me!

[arioch36]

Well, after you leave, post the name of the school. I wouldn't worry too much about getting in trouble. They would get in more. But it goes to show a point I was just trying to make, that the foreigners are as bad as the Chinese when they smell money.

As always, I would advise going to the provincial education office about such things...unless you knowingly worked illegally, in which case both you and the school don't have much right to complain about anything

[Tim]

actually, I do happen to know the head of Foreign affairs for Jiangsu - he is a friend of my old boss, and I had dinner with him a few times. Am already thinking about it!

Yes, i accept that legally there is little I can do - but i can make it hard for them to get teachers and clients - I am not exactly new or Niave around China. That should have got them treating me fairly!

anyway, thanks for the points,please watch the job experiences board for 'Wuxi Mega Foreign languages Institute' over the next few days.

Tim

[China Pete]

Yeah arioch is right, AFTER you leave, post the name of the school. They cant touch you. People looking at Daves for a job will see it and run the other way, but typical employers will not browse Daves to see if there happens to be mention of this guy that just applied.

Get as much as you can in writing. After youre done, I'd wonder if you could go to the local public security bureau (PSB) and file a complaint that their teachers have no work visa, and possibly that they just forced you to work by illegal means... or maybe not... uhh just tell them youre friend is being forced to work illegally. Maybe that upon arriving how were you to know that you need this or that visa, but its the school's responsibility to get you this info, and to provide the proper working conditions. See what happens. It could hurt them pretty good unless their special friend just so happens to be the PSB themselves...

[Tim]

the local psb don't ike them - they have to get the visas one in Shanghai

unfortuinately
1 - i am leaving today (train to beijing, then fly on wednesday)
2 - They refused, point blank, to give me anything in writing beyond an itemised reciept.

[China Pete]

write a letter? hmm... have a friend go for you to log a complaint? Yeah, well good luck.