Job Discussion Forums

[tobin]

Does anyone know if there is minimum legal amount of paid vacation time for ALT positions?

I just looked over a contract from a job offer and they offer no paid vacation time. They only pay by actual working days.

Thank you for any help.

[inkansai]

Part time workers are entitled to paid vacation time. A lot of employers deny it. It is a very tricky issue. It depends on what kind of ALT contract you have. Did you sign away all your employee rights? Join a union, only visit the Labor Standard Office as a last step. Both are going to piss your employer off but they ain't going to be happy to get a visit or call from the Labor Standards Office. Let's face it, these dispatch companies know they are breaking the law.

[tobin]

Thanks a lot for your input. I have no interest in dealing with shady dispatch companies so I will avoid the offers.

[einsenundnullen]

I think that no matter what your job, you get 5 days off (but not necessarily paid) after 6 months of work. I think the only compensation you get is that by labor law, you can't be punished for these days. That is, you can't be canned.

I'm a dispatch ALT, I don't think I get any days off. If you have the flu, however, you're in the clear. The school doesn't want you there anyway.

[yamanote senbei]

You should get a minimum of 10 days off after you've worked for six months. You can take these days off whenever you want to even in the middle of a semester. This is in addition to any school vacation that you might get between semesters or during exams.

I don't know where the 5 days figure came from. There is a case where an employer can fix all of an employee's paid vacation, and say schedule them during the semester break or during exams, but there's specific legal process that has to be followed and I doubt that many employers have done it or even know that it can be done.

http://nambufwc.org/issues/alt/

[einsenundnullen]

Yamanote,

Is it 10? I didn't mean to claim 5 as a set-in-stone figure. It's just what came to mind. Let's see... 10 days, only two more weeks of school... hmmmm. Thanks for the tip! j/k

[[email protected]]

Call the Labor Standards office by all means Tobin, but don't believe everything you read here.

There are a lot of very biased union types who write in all the time on this site telling their own lies. Almost every school board in Japan has decided to hire these "shady" dispatch companies. The unions CLAIM these contracts with the dispatch companies are illegal but isn't it funny that more and more of them are doing it every year.

Less than one percent of teachers here have bothered to join a union. That should tell you something.

[stillnosheep]

many of the dispatch companies contracts with their teachers are illegal. Also many of their contracts with BoEs. BoEs continue to use them because it saves them the bother of setting up procedures to hire in any other manner. Some BoEs have changed their procedures when presented by unions with the evidence of the illegality of dispatch companies actions. Others continue to use them as the govt does little to ensure compliance with the relevant laws. Unions can only act in so many cases. Lack of funds prevewnts them from taking on all the BoEs over this.

Many EFL teachers do not join unions here as they are unaware of how often problems occur and how unions can help. Also the unoins are only strong in certain areas (eg greater Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka) so it is a chicken and egg situation: The more people join, the more they can do.

Encouraging them not to join is encouraging them to deprive themself of a major weapon when problems occur. Far too often teachers realise this after it is too late.

Join now.

[yamanote senbei]

I noticed a typo:

There is a case where an employer can fix ALL BUT FIVE of an employee's paid vacation days, and say schedule them during the semester break or during exams, but there's specific legal process that has to be followed and I doubt that many employers have done it or even know that it can be done.

Most privately employed ALTs don't even know that they have paid leave that they can take any time they want.

[luckyloser700]