Re: Can a China employer legally hold a "deposit"

I say it's not cool and you shouldn't tolerate it!

Your contract if it is like those I've had in three separate schools including private and public schools already contains a stipulation about a fine if you leave without giving proper notice. So, there's no need to withhold from your salary. This also raised the very unpleasant possibility that at some point they may let you go for trumped up reasons and thus also not reimburse you for the money they owe you.

I strongly disagree with the sentiment that if you singed a contract it is necessarily legal!

This flawed logic is used for all manner or privately owned schools in China to exploit Chinese teachers. Private schools may hold a Chinese teacher's documents and identification, and give a contract saying they will have to pay 50,000 Yuan if they quit without fulfilling their contracts. This is a crock-load of sh!t. China has labor laws!

Individual contracts that business men conjure in their wet dreams have NOTHING to do with the law. You can sign a contract that says you are not entitled to your salary if you are one minute late, and that you will give your first born if you miss a day, but it's NOT legally binding. It's an illegal contract. Sadly, most people fall for this.

There are commonly abused laws such as that a teacher in a initial probationary period should get no less than 80% (if my memory serves me) or an established teacher, and there is a limit to the length of probationary periods. Yet, A-hole bosses will give Chinese teachers half the salary while they are on probation, or no salary, and extend that period for up to a year. I've heard of such bosses doing this to Chinese teachers working for foreign owned private English schools in China.

I say if you can scrape together enough money to disentangle yourself from whatever employer is trying to garnish your salary (probably to invest the money or otherwise build interest on it), do it. Let them eat the dust of your trail. Go somewhere else and if you get the same crap keep on going.

Quite possible, if you work for a public institution, the withholding of any of your salary is a violation of your contract, in which case you can leave without paying any fine.

And as another poster said, if someone did a midnight run, well, there's a good chance there was a good reason they needed to do that, and it might have been the institution in question.

You can withhold your teaching until you withheld salary is returned.

You may not get on well with your employer if you demand to have all of your salary, but, the alternative is to get along through giving in and getting screwed.

Re: Can a China employer legally hold a "deposit"

I'm unsure about the legal situation re educational establishments in China holding back a foreign teacher's pay. That said, I believe it is a rare occurrence here in China.
Before the start of this semester, a uni in Jixi city of Heilongjiang tried to pull that stunt on me. My recruiter said that was on account of a former foreign teacher there having done a runner, so causing the uni to become distrustful of foreign teachers en masse. When 'the runner' entered into the discussion, I immediately lost interest in the post.
I'm just wondering how one can enter into a contractual agreement with an employer whose contract states that it is signed 'in the spirit of mutual trust and cooperation', while the employer's proposed action confirms he does not go along with the first of those worty sentiments.
In any case, foreign teachers having done runners is enough of a red flag to wane my enthusiasm drastically re working for any employer who has 'lost' a foreign teacher in that sad way.
Good luck, all the same - the situation where you are needn't necessarily be bad in other ways apart from the holding back of part of your monthly salary payments. But like me, many a foreign teacher wouldn't be prepared to take a chance on that!

Can a China employer legally hold a "deposit"

Hey everyone,

I have recently started working as an ESL teacher in China. This is my first time in China and I am not familiar with the laws here. Per my contract, the school holds a deposit from each paycheck for the first 5 months to guarantee that I will complete my contract with them they have had issues in the past for reasons that are becoming more and more apparent every day.
This being said, can an employer legally hold a deposit? I have talked to other teachers/foreigners and they say it is illegal but of course they are never for sure. I would appreciate any help I could get from the other users on the board.

Thanks a ton everybody!!! =0)