What rights do foreign TEFL & ESL teachers have in China?

[Blink]

Your lawyer friend knows what he is talking about. Ms. Zhang at SAFEA in Beijing confirms that we now have all the same rights as Chinese executives so long as we have a Z visa and FEC. No Z visa = No Rights. There are 15 rights we have altogether. Here you go, my Christmas gift to all of my fellow teachers inbound to China (or already working there)...

* You have the right to receive an original hard copy of your contract that is signed and chopped (red sealed) at the time you sign an employee agreement.

* You have the right to receive a written job description prior to signing your contract. It is up to YOU to make sure that job description is specific, in English, and not so vague that your hours, working days, work location, pay rate, holidays, bonuses, visa costs, air fare reimbursement, release letters, etc are clearly spelled out in no uncertain terms.

* You cannot be compelled nor forced to do anything not specified in your job description (which you should insist becomes and exhibit to your contract and also gets signed and chopped. This stops you from being used as a marketing monkey in shopping malls on the street handing out flyers).

* Your probationary period cannot exceed one month for each year of your employment contract. So if you are asked to sign a one year contract, your probation period should not exceed one month. If however, you sign a contract that specifies a 3 or 6 month probationary period, you are implicitly waiving your right on this issue.

* If you hold an FEC (Foreign Experts Certificate) you cannot be compelled to work unpaid overtime hours without your consent. This one protection alone is worth about 5,000 - 10,000 rmb every month to some expat teachers in China

* You have the right to receive both an invitation letter and release letter free of charge (These are both legal requirements and administrative duties of the employer)

* You have a right to a Z visa if employed in China (Again, this is a legal duty of the employers and of anyone tells you that you only get a Z visa after you complete your probationary period they are surely a scam operation to be avoided).

These are just some of your rights as an employee in China. To learn all of them, we suggest you attend one of our seminars held on this subject twice a year in Beijing and Shanghai. If you wish to be notified of the next one, please send us an email to seminars@ChinaForeignTeachersUnion.org as seating is usually limited to the venues that are donated for these activities. To get the rest of your employee rights go to your nearest SAFEA office or visit http://chinascamwatch.org which also tells you how to handle a situation where your school simply ignores or breaks the terms and conditions of your contract.

[Norman]

Talk about shock and awe! I never thought this could be possible in China. This is great news and I appreciate that you took the time to share it with your colleagues peng you.

[Astro]

Very interesting. Every expat teacher in China needs to know about this. My agent never once mentioned this to me.

[serendip]

Be forewarned. Getting a teaching position in China is a little like playing Russian roulette. There are many scams abound. Teachers who exercise their legal rights often find themselves fired for some other related reason. Also not that your Chinese employer has a lot more Guanxi than you. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanxi.)

[Astro]

Having any rights in China are great, but how do you enforce them? I searched this subject online and found a great explanation:

http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/phpbbforum ... 82079.html

[Mizschel]

Hi. I’d like to ask your opinion regarding my situation. I’m currently working for a kindergarten in China and my boss wants to have cooperation with other kindergartens in this city. It means if we get cooperation with other kindergartens, we are going to have classes in their kindergartens aside from the classes that we have in the kindergarten that I am originally employed. Is this legal? I asked him about it and he said it’s okay as long as I have my legal documents and it’s approved by the one who hired me.