Job Discussion Forums

mesmerized · Joined: 19 Aug 2012 Posts: 1

Dear Fellow Users,

I need your advice on my current situation. My employer, a training centre in Taiyuan, is trying to impede my plans to leave and find a job somewhere else in China. I've been working for them for abou 11 months and my contract is about to be over. I don't want to stay with them as I'm dissatisifed with their conditions. I wanted to wait till the end of the contract to get all documents from them and then just leave. Now, they're making it incredibly difficult for me and I don't know how to play this game.

1) Can a company refuse to issue a letter of termination and a letter of recommendation if I've fulfilled my part of the contract? Is that legal?

2) Can a company refuse to give me the Foreign Expert Certificate? They keep it in their office. Is that legal?

What can I do?

Help needed. Thanks in advance.

johntpartee · Joined: 02 Mar 2010 Posts: 3258

Legal or not, there ain't a whole lot you can do. You can try talking to an attorney, but........

Lobster · Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 3:34 am Post subject:

1) Not legally for the contract completion form (termination form), but can refuse a recommendation.

China Labor Law: Article 50. On the date of termination or ending of an employment contract, the Employer shall issue a proof of termination or ending of the employment contract and, within 30 days, carry out the procedures for the transfer of the worker�s file and social insurance.

2) Yes. They can request or keep the FEC after completion. Your new employer can get you a new one.

What can you do? Obtain a copy of the official release form and hand it to them to be completed and stamped. If they refuse to cooperate, you can always say, "seeing as how I've completed my 1-year contract, I expect my 1-month's severance pay with my last pay cheque."

Article 47. A worker shall be paid severance pay based on the number of years worked with the Employer at the rate of one month�s wage for each full year worked. Any period of less than one year shall be counted as one year. If the monthly wage of a worker is greater than three times the average monthly wage of employees in the municipality directly under the central government or municipality divided into districts where the Employer is located, the rate for the severance pay paid to him shall be
three times the average monthly wage of employees and shall be for not more than 12 years of work. For the purposes of this Article, the term �monthly wage� means the worker�s average monthly wage for the 12 months prior to the termination or ending of his employment contract.

Most schools here really don't want FTs to know about this little requirement. If I were you I'd trade off the severance for a smooth transition and tell them I'm willing to do so.

RED

rogerwilco · Joined: 10 Jun 2010 Posts: 1549

My guess, and it is only a guess, is that there might be something not quite right about your residence permit and FEC.
Maybe this training center does not have the proper permits to be able to hire foreigners, and on paper you are actually working for a different school.
The training center cannot give you the release letter because you legally do not work for them.

It is also possible that they want to cheat you out of your final salary and airfare.

Your best bet might be to have your future school ask your current school for the release letter.

The Great Wall of Whiner · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Posts: 4946 Location: Blabbing

It's all about the money.

You said you were not re-signing, and this costs them money because they have to hire a new teacher, pay a recruiter, etc. etc.

They do it to Chinese workers too in their contracts so it's not exclusive to us foreigners.

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

Lobster · Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 8:32 am Post subject:

Yes it's for real. Employers don't want you to know that most Chinese employees work 12 months a year but get paid for 13. I also get paid an extra month's wages at the end of every year. You would be entitled to 7 months' pay when you leave the company.

RED

dakelei · Joined: 17 May 2009 Posts: 351 Location: USA

I was once in a situation similar to yours but not exactly the same. It was actually a public university that I'm quite convinced was up to something shady. For quite a while they kept putting off giving me any sort of reference or recommendation letter at all and there was a woman in the FAO who actively trashed me whenever another school called to ask about me. (I set a trap by having a Chinese friend call and pretend to be from another uni. She told him I was "trouble" and shouldn't be hired. When I confronted her with this she looked me right in the eye and shamelessly lied about it.) I was never quite sure WHY they were doing this but it definitely wasn�t because they wanted me to say. Anyway, I finally walked in with a somewhat "neutral" letter written on school letterhead (in both English and Chinese) and rather firmly insisted they sign and stamp it right there on the spot, which the FAO Director did. There was also a matter of them owing me somewhere between 5 and 15 thousand yuan, depending on one's "interpretation" of the contract. I was not paid anything for at least a few months after I left but after some threats and angry letters they finally paid me. (Less than I wanted but it was at least something.) I'm generalizing, of course, but my experience is that many Chinese bosses hate/fear confrontation (mostly because they're not used to it because other Chinese almost never confront their boss about anything) and will do anything to avoid it. You need to be assertive but not aggressive and you'll eventually get what you need.

samhouston · Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 418 Location: LA

keeperofpythons · Joined: 28 Jan 2010 Posts: 152 Location: zhu san jiao

Get out of Taiyuan ASAP, regardless of the circumstances.

Miles Smiles · Joined: 07 Jun 2010 Posts: 1294 Location: Heebee Jeebee

One former employer broke half of the terms of our contract. By mutual agreement, the FAO canceled the contract. I finished out the term. I tried and tried to get a letter of release, but she said that since i was leaving to go home (Huh?) she did not have to provide one. Worse, the job I had lined up for the next term evaporated, and other schools to whom I spoke were no longer interested. All this in a matter of days.

Someone who had worked in the city for many years said that other FTs who left that same school got the same treatment since the release letter requirement was instituted. Thank god i didn't sign the five -year contract i was offered after I renewed for the second year.

One can kiss butt, ask nicely, suck up, and/or demand, but if the powers that be say no, there's nothing you can do about it.

I think the advice the OP is getting here is all good, but one shouldn't expect everything to come up roses.

Lobster · Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 2:34 pm Post subject:

samhouston · Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 418 Location: LA

Am I the only one on here who's feeling a bit bamboozled that this is not common knowledge? I have a friend who worked in Korea and said it was standard to get severance pay there. I thought, wow if only China had this rule! And now it turns out they do but it's just ignored? What a royal gyp.

Lobster · Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2012 3:13 am Post subject:

Unfortunately, many get bamboozled here because they don't bother to check the law or their contracts to see exactly what their rights and obligations are. I've been urging folks on this board to know their rights and check and negotiate their contracts carefully. It seems that each time I do, I get the chorus of "they won't follow it anyway, so you're wasting your time in this corrupt system where the boss is a demi-god. You can't negotiate your contract!" Please follow the links in the other thread on this topic and try to make things better for yourselves. You may not get everything, but each little bit helps.

RED