Job Discussion Forums

[chengdu619]

I was contacted by Globe Education Organization after I put my resume up on a tefl site. They contacted me within a day after my resume went up. Here is the contract they sent me. Does this seem legit? I expect that soon I will be receiving more contracts and I would like to know what to look out for. I guess what I'm asking is: Does anyone know anything about Globe Education Organization? And, how does this contract look?

Thanks all

Employment Agreement


1. Globe Education Organization (hereinafter �the Employer�) (hereinafter �the Employee�) as an ESL teacher. The two parties, in a spirit of friendly cooperation, agree to sign this contract and pledge to fulfill conscientiously all the obligations stipulated in it.
2. The period of service will be from 2009 to .2010
3 The Employer�s obligations
a The Employer will inform the Employee of the laws, decrees and relevant regulations of the Chinese government, and of the Employer�s policies and procedures concerning the administration of foreign experts.
b The Employer will conduct direction, supervision and evaluation of the Employee�s performance.
c. The Employer will help the employee to solve the difficulties and problems in daily working.
d. Anything related to processing a visa and work permit for the Employee in order to work legally in China will be responsible by the Employer, and the cost will be paid by the Employee.
4 The Employee�s obligations
a. Prepare lessons well prior to teaching，and discuss the teaching plan with other teachers(two hours each week).
b. Assess students' studying, organize the English middle and final exams.
c. The Employee will abide by the teaching time of the school and may not be late, absent or leave early without permission from the school. In the event of an unexcused absence, the Employee will be penalized in the salary at the rate of 200 RMB per class session. If the Employee gives notice to the school of illness or other good causes, he may then make up missed lessons or forfeit pay for missed teaching time according to the Employer�s arrangement
d. The Employee will observe the Employer�s policies and procedures concerning administration of foreign experts and will accept the Employer�s arrangements and management. The Employee will not sign a contract with any other school during the life of this contract, but can do tutor or other part time job.
e.The Employee will plan and deliver international standard lessons to students, subject to the Employer�s requirements and schedule in order to assist students in improving their language level (listening, speaking, reading and writing skills).
5 The salary treatment
a. Direct payment
The Employee will be paid 6000 Yuan RMB for each month. The accommodation allowance is 500 Yuan RMB for each month.
There is no pay for summer, winter vacations or missed sessions. The Employee will be paid monthly from the day he begins his work and will be paid on the 15th of each month following the month he has already finished( E.g., for the pay period ending September 15th, the Employee will be paid on October 15th ). In case the time is shorter than a whole month or the number of the month classes is less the total number of a full month, the pay is caculated by the teaching sessions which are actually covered by the employee. The Employee will pay the required Chinese income tax and any agreed deductions from the salary each month.
6. Work Time, Rest and Holidays
a..The work time of the Employee shall be 16-18 hours teaching face-to-face delivered to the students every week.
b.The Employee can take a break during the following holidays and festivals in China:
New Year's Day, Spring Festival, May Day, National Day and other holidays stipulated by laws and regulations.
c. As a rule the Employee is supposed to work in China not longer than 5 continuous years. The next employment in China should be two years after.
7 Sick leave and private affairs leave.
a. Certificate from doctors for foreigners appointed by the host institution should be presented when the Employee asks for sick leave. If the total amount of the leaves exceed 30 days, the Employer has the right to terminate the contract
b. Private affairs leave of the Employee shall be approved by the Employer. The Employer will deduct the salary by teaching session. In the contract term (two semesters), the private affairs leaves should not exceed 10 days. The continuous private affairs leave shall be no more than 3 days, and two days' salary will be deducted for each day thereafter.
In case of absence from work without the Employer�s permission, 3 days' salary will be deducted for each day absent. For serious circumstances, the Employer has the right to terminate the contract and investigate the liability of the Employee for violation of the contract.
c. The Employee should accept the employer�s arrangement to make up the missing lessons after resuming the normal work, and will be paid extra by teaching session by the Employer.
8 The Probation period of the Contract
The probation period of the Employee shall be 30 days. In the probation period, if the Employer finds out that the Employee is unfit for the assignment specified in the contract for reasons of health or professional ability, it has the right to terminate the contract. Salary could be increased if both the employer and employee find it is necessary after the probation period.
9 Revision, cancellation and termination of contract
a. Both parties agree to abide by the signed contract and refrain from revising, canceling or terminating the contract without mutual consent.
b. The contract can be revised, cancelled or terminated with mutual consent.
c. The Employer has the right to cancel the contract with a written notice to the Employee with a 48-day notice, under the following conditions:
1) The Employee does not fulfill the contract or does not fulfill the contract obligations according to the terms stipulated, or does�t obey the Employer�s arrangement, or has failed to amend after the employer has pointed it out.
2) The Employee misses a teaching session, being late, or leaves early over three (3) times without permission. The Employee takes three (3) personal days in a row or accumulates a total of ten (10) personal days. The Employer has the right to cancel the contract with a written notice and look into the contract breach of the Employee.
3) According to the doctor's diagnosis, the Employee cannot resume normal work after a continued 30 days sick leave.
4) The employee is found not fit for teaching due to his or her own unbarable temper.
e. The Employee has the right to cancel the contract with a written notice to the Employer with a 48-day notice under the following conditions:
1)The Employer has not provided the Employee with necessary working conditions as stipulated in the contract, then the Employee has the right to cancel the contract and look into the contract breach of the Employer.
2) The Employer has not paid the Employee as scheduled..
10 Breach Penalty
When either of the two parties fails to fulfill the contract or fails to fulfill the contract obligations according to the terms stipulated, that is, breaks the contract, it must pay a breach penalty of US$500 to 2,000 (or the equivalent in RMB).
If the employee asks to cancel the contract due to events beyond control, it should produce certifications by the department concerned, obtain the employer's consent, and pay its own return expenses; If the employee cancels the contract without valid reason, it should pay its own return expenses and pay breach penalty to the employer. If employer asks to cancel the contract due to events beyond control, with the consent of the employee, it should pay the employee's return expenses; if the employer cancels the contract without valid reason, it should pay the employee's return expenses and pay a breach penalty to the employee..
11 Contract effective dates:
This contract takes effect on the date signed by both parties and will automatically expire when the contract ends. If either of the two parties asks for a new contract, it should forward its request to another party 90 days prior to the expiration of the contract, and sign the new contract with mutual consent
12 Solution of disputes:
The two parties shall consult with each other and mediate any disputes which may arise about the contract. If all attempts fail, the two parties can appeal to the organization of arbitration for foreign experts affairs in the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs and ask for a final arbitration



The Employer The Employee

(Signature) (Signature)
Date: Date:


I know this is a lot to read. Heh. Any advice would be lovely

[megane]

i'm sure there are more qualified people than me to pick this apart, but to be honest it seems fairly sound to me. it appears to be based on the safea sample contract, which is a good sign.

the only major red flag that i see is in section 1, clause d, which says:

d. Anything related to processing a visa and work permit for the Employee in order to work legally in China will be responsible by the Employer, and the cost will be paid by the Employee.

as far as i understand it, the general standard is that the school pays for all of the work permits, foreign expert licensing and government approval/invitations. the only thing that the employee should cover is the cost of the Z visa processing in his/her country. so, you should definitely have that clause cleared up, otherwise you might be footing the bill for thousands of yuan (or dollars) worth of work permits and other paperwork!

[Sonnibarger]

dont like this... . "The Employee will abide by the teaching time of the school and may not be late, absent or leave early without permission from the school. In the event of an unexcused absence, the Employee will be penalized in the salary at the rate of 200 RMB per class session"

"The accommodation allowance is 500 Yuan RMB for each month." should be double or triple that!

"There is no pay for summer, winter vacations or missed sessions" shitty but more and more common..

"In case the time is shorter than a whole month or the number of the month classes is less the total number of a full month, the pay is caculated by the teaching sessions which are actually covered by the employee"

dont like that... if they drop classes u should still be paid full salary... if ur sick or miss class fine no pay... but if they have a sports day or somethin and 5 classes lost...

[xiao51]

First I haven't been following your threads so I don't know what qualifications are..

but I can tell you this, this contract is way, way undermarket, even for China.

No paid Spring Festival? Far from the norm...200 RMB per class penalty..if you have 4 classes a day, that's 800 RMB and that is punitive.

What city are they proposing? And the housing allowance? Do they expect you to live in a shed?

There are a lot, lot better contracts than this out there...even in Chengdu...pass on this one, or run away as fast as you can...it's trouble..

[Russell123]

Not the worst I've seen, but definitely too many red flags for me.

Did I miss something? I didn't see any mention of overtime, and other details (definition of a teaching hour for example...)

[chengdu619]

Hey everyone. Yeah it seems suspicious to me. I agree, just too many red flags. I'm passing, heh.

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

Chengdude, do everyone on here a favour. Reply to these people who offered you that contract and tell them why you're not taking it. Maybe one day, they'll get the hint.

[chengdu619]

I will do just that

[eddy-cool]

There will always be individuals that claim this contract is 'substandard' or 'under market' but in reality the majority of contracts signed in China look no better than this one. 5'000 yuan for less than 20 teaching hours a week is fairly standard.

But what struck me as a tad suspicious is the rule that stipulates you cannot stay in China longer than five years; a hiatus of two years must follow any five consecutive years spent in the PR ofC.

I have spent five continuous years with the same employer and wasn't asked to leave for the next two years.

Must be a province-specific rule.

[Hansen]

When I saw the "must leave in 5 year," I decided to call the Provincial FAO for an answer. I've been hearing this from various sources. Of course, he told me to talk to my school FAO about it. I also asked him about the leave at 60 or 65 age issue. Sounded like he said that was the usual pratice but again, talk to the school FAO.

The school FAO is a pathological liar and also quite ignorant,about FT matters, so that is not much help. What will be, will be.

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

[Adeem]

Just beware of these pro-rata contracts that calculate your pay according to how many classes you have done that month. This includes losing money for classes cancelled for reasons like sports days etc. Can be frustrating and generally it means lost money and aggravation when something crops up.

[tashidelek]

i will not sign such a contract, not the reason of the salary, i dont think it will happy working with such a group of people who mak esuch rules. It is easy to find better schools in china

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

If you want my honest opinion, I think the salary is too low for the amount of work you will have to do. With schools out there paying 12,000+, I always stand by saying that if you accept jobs at 6,000RMB, it hurts us all.

[Hansen]

There is a lot of variation based on location as to what an appropriate salary should be. It would be a real help to develop a province specific list of going salaries. 12,000 in these parts would put me into a class of people, few of whom would even spit in my direction now.

I have seen the pay stub of an assistanv VP at my school. He makes ~4,000/monthly. That's his on the books income. Whatever else he might make, that's his own affair.