Job Discussion Forums

[DaveW125]

My finacee and I were due to be coming to China from Korea to teach at a univerisity in Wuhan at the end of the month for a four month period. We had signed the contract and received all of the documents for the visa but not actually applied for the Visa. Our current job has had trouble finding replacements for us and asked us to continue on for a further four months. We are saving for a wedding and would be earning almost 5 times as much in korea as we would in China so obviously we can't turn that down. However we are looking to move to China (Beijing) to work in September. The agency we went through are threatening to report us to the State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs.

What would the ramifications be of not fulfilling this contract? would it potentially effect our next visa application? What exactly can the SAFEA do?

many thanks for your help.

[Rooster_2006]

[ttorriel]

The real professional issue is why you signed a contract you didn't intend to uphold.

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

[kukiv]

Precisely because stuff happens - we're allowed to quit a job - just as employers are allowed to fire us!!!!
Signing a contact doesn't sentence you to a period of indentured labour - there always an aspect of free-agent regardless of whatever you've signed.

It seems to me you have a pretty valid reason for staying in Korea - so I wouldn't feel to bad about it!!!!

As for the threat - well in the off-job forum somebody got near the same threat for doing the same thing - and low and behold the same agent who threatened them with the law offered the poster a new job - that paid more - when he finally decided the time was right to come.
A lot of threats here are harmless barks

[Rooster_2006]

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

I wouldn't worry, just tell them that when you are coming to China, you would like to continue to use their services and you hope to count on them for their help this summer.

What will they report you for?

Failure to obey their commands? Failure to work in a job you prefer not to work at? Or cannot at this time?

Situations change, people change. They would have no hesitation in doing the same back.

Bite < Bark

Don't worry.

[ttorriel]

Sure. A contract is an agreement to work.

So why shouldn't there be SERIOUS repercussions in a case where a school has signed the signed contract in good faith, has spent the time and money to acquire the necessary legal credentials, etc.?

Why shouldn't the employer also be able to legally enforce the breach of contract penalties (the up to $5000 clause) should the teacher ever come back to China ?

Why shouldn't the employer be able to have the person legally prevented from obtaining any other employment and visa in China for the length of the contract agreement, etc.?

[kukiv]

[rogerwallace]

Having been on the receiving end of bad contracts and corrupt school admin, before I understand, but this is not the USA were talking about. Its different from province to province and I am not in the business to be taken advantage of . At the same time I also see why schools double hire sometimes, but I haven't seen anyone able to follow through on threats like the one discribed.
Things are changing fast everywhere in the world as the new order takes hold and that means the corruption is in high gear, even more than in the past. I have never walked on a contract at home, but in China I was in bad strights and it was only so someone other than students could lie and make money by saying I was the bad guy... I wasn't!
Good luck everyone!

[Teatime of Soul]

A tale heard in passing...

Behind Beijing airport's terminal for International Arrivals sits a huge warehouse.

In that warehouse are countless suitcases, duffel bags, backpacks, and even steamer trunks.

Inside those containers, it is said, are the ethics that foreigners abandoned upon arrival in China. Some claim they were abandoned out of necessity, others, convenience.

Still others say that upon inspection, most were actually empty upon arrival.

The tales one hears...

[ttorriel]

[Austeach2010]

Chinese law

Article 111 If the quality fails to satisfy the terms of the contract, the breach of contract damages shall be borne according to the terms of the contract agreed upon by the parties. If there is no agreement in the contract on the liability for breach of contract or such agreement is unclear, nor can it be determined in accordance with the provisions of Article 61 of this Law, the damaged party may, in light of the character of the object and the degree of losses, reasonably choose to request the other party to bear the liabilities for the breach of contract such as repairing, substituting the goods, or reducing the price or remuneration.

Article 112 Where one party to a contract fails to perform the contract obligations or its performance fails to satisfy the terms of the contract, the party shall, after performing its obligations or taking remedial measures, compensate for the losses, if the other party suffers from other losses.

Article 113 Where one party to a contract fails to perform the contract obligations or its performance fails to satisfy the terms of the contract and causes losses to the other party, the amount of compensation for losses shall be equal to the losses caused by the breach of contract, including the interests receivable after performance of the contract, provided not exceeding the probable losses caused by the breach of contract which has been foreseen or ought to be foreseen when the party in breach concludes the contract.

The business operator who commits default activities in providing to the consumer any goods or service shall be liable for paying compensation for damages in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests.

Article 114 The parties to a contract may agree that one party shall, when violating the contract, pay breach of contract damages of certain amount in light of the breach, or may agree upon the calculating method of compensation for losses resulting from the breach of contract.

If the agreed breach of contract damages are lower than the losses caused, any party may request the people's court or an arbitration institution to increase it; if it is excessively higher than the losses caused, any party may request the people's court or an arbitration institution to make an appropriate reduction.

If the parties to a contract agree upon breach of contract damages in respect to the delay in performance, the party in breach shall perform the debt obligations after paying the breach of contract damages.

Article 115 The parties to a contract may, according to the Guaranty Law of the People's Republic of China, agree that one party pays a deposit to the other party as the guaranty for the creditor's rights. After the debt obligations are performed by the obligor, the deposit shall be returned or offset against the price. If the party that pays the deposit fails the perform the agreed debt obligations, it shall have no right to reclaim the deposit. If the party that receives the deposit fails to perform the agreed debt obligations, it shall return twice the amount of the deposit.

[Austeach2010]

These contract attachments can only be used as an attachment to the contract issued by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs.

[mat chen]

Koreans are like Chinese. They both like the big lie. Your mother has died. You have had a heart attack. You have been infected with swime flu.
Your high school home room teacher has requested you see him on his death bed. Remeber the lie has to be big to work.
Seriously I am tired of bullying by FAOs in China. I have seen it many times here. It will make it difficult to work with the same people again. But even this is a small probability with the number of turnovers of FAO's.
They usually have to leave the job after all the complaints they get from mistreating the foreign staff.
Stay in Korea my friend. You can experience China on your honeymoon.