Job Discussion Forums

[Desperately_seeking_help]

Hi there,

I currently work at a franchise of EF. I won't name it or any of the staff, but you might know the one I mean.
After a while of being deeply dissatisfied with the way in which myself and other staff and teachers were being treated by the upper eschelons of the franchise, I decided to look for other work in Jakarta and, when I was offered a job at a different English language school, I handed in my one month's notice at EF.
Since then I have been informed that the owner of the franchise has seen fit to charge me Rp.7.5mil for what she calls 'administrative costs'. Normally this amount would be to cover the cost of a KITAS work permit, but the fun part in this story is the fact that I have never been issued with a KITAS, and have as such been working in the country illegally on a renewable business visa that allows a foreigner to do no more than attend meetings and 'train'.
Now, in my contract with EF, it states that the company will provide all necessary legal documents required for me to work in this country, which they quite clearly haven't. As such, the company broke the contract before I ever got to it, and for this woman to try to charge me such an amount seems little more than extortion.
The way I see things, I have four options:

1) I can pay the full amount as demanded by this woman.
2) I can negotiate with her to lower the amount, since what she's demanding is ridiculous.
3) I can ask my new employer to cover some of the cost, since I'm incurring this cost in order to work with them.
4) I can ignore my remaining notice period with EF, and simply not turn up to work today. I can leave the country and come back on a tourist visa and crash with my friends or girlfriend until I can start work with my new employer. And hopefully never hear from EF again.
5) ..?

I appreciate that I am breaking my contract in this whole situation by leaving the company to work somewhere else. However, my employer broke the contract first and has been employing me illegally, and is now trying to charge a ridiculous amount for a document I never got.
I would appreciate any help anyone can offer me in this matter, be it recommending one of the choices I suggested, pointing out any further options, or telling me that I should never have gone to work with that company in the first place and that it's all my fault, etc.

Thanks a lot!

[sushikurva]

,,,

[limakaki]

[chezal]

As far as I'm aware you don't need an EPO for a business visa. I've just had a look through my passport and there was never an EPO for the business visas only the KITAS.

Have a look here for more about visas and documentations. http://www.expat.or.id/info/docs.html#EPO

[limakaki]