Job Discussion Forums

[timmyjames1976]

Long story short....


I have worked in Taiwan in the past. I came back with my Taiwanese wife. I have a visa and ARC through her. I met an employer, we agreed to terms ( I thought) and we signed a contract. The contract begins at the end of August. She asked me to sub this week, since I now assume the other teacher needed a vacation, or who knows what.

This week o subbing (only 2 days so far) has shown me that we have diering views on the soft and non-specific wording in the contract. Basically she wants me in the school from 1-9 even i I do not have classes, and I have already prepared everthing. This, of course, is mostly unpaid. Only teaching hours are paid.

Now, I don't have a problem with some office hours, but I no way agreed to 15ish unpaid oice hours a week. She thinks that I did, and is using the non-specific contract wording to try and make her case.

So, can I break/cancel/void the contract since it technically has not started?

Also, the contract does not include any wording about breaking contract penalties, or time periods.

Could I just give 30 days notice, which would then require me to only teach a week? Because it starts about 3 weeks from now, and I am sure they would just go out and find someone new anyway>)

Any ideas?

[clark.w.griswald]

You would probably be okay no matter what you chose to do considering that the contract has not started yet and that you don't need an ARC through her.

I would give her written notice that you have decided not to take the job and that you won't be turning up as planned at the end of August. That is about a month away so she has plenty of time to find a replacement and can't claim damages.

As for the subbing work I would just tell her that you don't have time to do any more sub-work either.

Clean break and find a more suitable job elsewhere!

As far as the unpaid work that you refer to are you being paid per hour and she expects you to be there for 15 hours unpaid, or are you paid monthly and she planned for that to include more hours at the school than you had orginally thought?

[dvasas]

IMO you can break it, they are not doing your visa, and you may be able to negotiate those office hours seems strange but it is normal to have office hours if it is a monthly salary.

[timmyjames1976]

Thanks for the replies. I told her the problem today, and she was actually very reasonable. We worked out our differneces, so I hope all goes well rom here. Thanks again.



(Just a side note....claiming that it was all my mistake seemed to allow her to save face, and she was more than happy to work with me on the issue.)