I’m not ‘supposed’ to divulge any information about the particulars of the contract that I had with Star Education, however, when they disregard the contract and refused to pay me – any legal or moral authority they had, or may have had in my eyes, vanished.
12. Party B hereby pledges to keep to keep the content of this contract only known by party A
and Party B. If party B was found letting out content of this contract, 2000RMB will be punished from the tickets reimbursement.
So I signed a confidentiality agreement attached as part of my employment contract, of course this is totally uninforcable and is basically a way my former employer can keep 2000元 back from my final salary.
This is not a standard clause and I have never seen it before in a teaching contract in China. And normally with a confidentality agreement, the employer pays you to be quiet not the other way around. This raised concerns for me at the time, but I foolishly thought it would be okay
So stuff what the contract says, and if they want to try to enforce it – BE MY GUEST (like I said it was them who didn’t pay me).
Anyway this is China, contracts are not like the ones we have in the west. Here they are more like guidelines, or better still a promissory note between employer and employee. Here the employer is king – the Foreign exit/entry dept at the PSB will not help you (even though it’s supposed to be their jobs) and as i’ve experienced it will probably backfire onto you.
The chinese don’t like it when a foreigner blows-the-whistle (loss of face) and this is a culture that does not welcome individuals speaking up for themselves – especially outsiders.
Arbitration is also worthless (in Changchun at least) and could and probably will backfire on the Foreign teacher.
It’s all about relationships or guanxi (关系). Who you know, a friend of a friend – can they help you – can you help them. And of course, Company bosses inevitably have more guanxi than the Foreign Teacher- who probably isn’t even sure how guanxi works.
So you can forget doing anything about it legally.
Huge multinational companies reguarly take their Chinese competitors to court for copyright violations.
A good example of this is GM, who unsuccessfully sued SAIC (they people who were going to buy Rover) for copying design patents for their QQ car.
In a country with a free and independent judiciary this would be a cut and dry case – some parts of the QQ were identical and interchangeable with those on the GM model – now if that’s not copying then I don’t know what is!
My point being the Chinese tend to side with the Chinese even if its obvious that they are in the wrong, it’s just the way that it is.
The Chinese legal system is chronically underdeveloped compared to a western country. There are quite simply not enough courts, not enough judges (no juries here!) and cases are taken based on their importance. Infact there is no right to go to court in China, you have the right to petition that is ask to go to court. To do this, takes time and money, lots of time and money. I have heard the backlog for some cases can run up to 10 years.
So a contractual dispute isn’t going to be at the top of their priorities, even if a petition were granted and both parties were around long enough to see the trial.
Here’s a breakdown to some of the more interesting parts of the contract that I had with Star Education. I hope anyone who is considering working for them (or any other teaching company in changhcun) reconsider now!
With a 1 year or 2 semester contract (September-July) you have to expect return airfare paid. At 长师 i was paid 5000 yuan once i arrived (one way) and the other 5000 yuan at the end of the contract in July. Sometimes they will give you the one way money once you have finished your first semester- to stop those rogue teachers that take the cash then vanish.
Star offers a poultry 525 yuan per month payable at the end of the contract. I had a 10 month contract with them, and so they would pay me 5250 yuan come the end. 5250 yuan is not enough for a return ticket to the UK even if you buy your ticket here.
5.1 After Party B fulfil the contract, Party A will reimburse Part B a Round trip air ticket, according to the actual price of the ticket at the time, from Beijing to the country of Party B (which should not exceed 5250RMB)
Of course there is no guarantee you’ll get this, and based on their prior dealings with me, it’s pretty bloody unlikely you’ll even see 1 fen of it!
Afterall once you’ve completed the contract, you’ve lost any quid-pro-quo you might have had.
When I signed, I signed assuming that I would never see this money – even if i completed the contract.
Another little scam they have is to pay you on the 10th of every month but only pay you for the last calander month.
4.3 Party B will receive wages of the classes he/she has taught in one month ( 1st to 30th or 31st)
4.5 Party B will be paid on the 10th of each month
I though nothing of this at the time, but i now know this is a common tactic used with chinese workers. It means that you will have to work 10 days in the month before you receive your pay for the previous month.
Which translates : if you want to quit after payday (why would you do that????) , you will lose out on 10 days pay. But more malevolently it means you may never see your last months 10 days pay. It is a classic retention clause on the part of the employer and totally unfair and illegal – but as you probably grasped, that doesn’t mean much!
There’s some more good information on Chinese teaching contracts here and here
Dinner time, i’m hungry.
More on the contract to come later…..
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