Court rejects teacher’s compensation claim because she signed contract with foreign firm
Source:Global Times Published: 2013-4-23 23:13:02
A district court has rejected a teacher's demand for compensation from her foreign employer because her contract didn't qualify for protection under Chinese labor law, Shanghai Jing'an District People's Court said Tuesday.
The teacher, whom the court called He Qian, was hired by a foreign education company on August 12, 2011 as a bilingual mathematics teacher, according to a press release from the court.
According to the two-year contract, He earned a probationary monthly salary of 10,000 yuan ($1,617) during her first two months at the company. If she had passed probation, her salary would have been bumped up to 12,000 yuan per month.
On November 21, the company informed He that it would terminate her contract because she did not meet its standards.
However, He claimed that she was fired because she had uncovered problems with the company's operations and management.
She sued the company in February 2012, asking for 38,000 yuan in compensation, including back salary, severance pay and an extra month of salary because she was dismissed without the customary 30 days of advance notice.
The court, however, determined that He was only entitled to 9,400 yuan in back pay because her contract was not in line with Chinese labor law. Under the law, an employee cannot sign a contract directly with a foreign company.
The employee must instead sign a contract with a Chinese labor dispatch agency, which then sends the employee to work for the foreign company.
Because He signed a contract with the foreign company, it was difficult for her to obtain compensation under the labor law, the court said.