Hi! I’m a newly hired postdoc in a national university and my contract starts on April 1st. My salary is annual based and they just divide the amount to 12 months as long as I work 20days/month,40 hours/week. No overtime pay, no holiday pay.
I graduated on March 24, and was able to submit my change of residence status application on March 31st.
I got my new residence card with the status of ‘Professor’ on April 12th.
When I submitted a copy of my card to the office in-charged of my employment, they said that **I will not receive salary** from April 1st-April 12th, even if I worked, because I didn’t have the new visa status yet during this time.
I argued with them that since my salary is annual based, the money is already with them and they can just transfer the salary of April1-12 to other days. They refused and said this is against the law.
I feel like they are mishandling the money here for some shady reasons.
Has anybody experienced the same or has any suggestion how to handle this? Would really appreciate any help as I feel like I’m being robbed of the money I worked hard for. 🙁
9 comments
Legally speaking they cannot pay you until you have a valid work visa.
So they’re pro-rating the month until your visa became valid.
Now where you might have an argument is if you’re still on a valid student visa – in which case they could pay you as a baito for 20h a week (so half pay).
But yeah – unless you had a valid visa that allowed you to work and were working during that time you have 0 case here.
Did you actually work during those days? And did they know that you were working during those days?
They can’t pay you for the period that you didn’t have any legal status that allowed you to work. It would be better in the long run if you just accept that. Starting off a new job by creating an antagonistic relationship with your employer is never a good idea.
Labour law and immigration law are unrelated. Under labour law, you performed the work, and legally, they are obliged to pay you for it. Under immigration law, you were not supposed to do the work in the first place – but this does not absolve them of the responsibility to pay you for it now that it has been done.
Their concern about breaking the law is misplaced because they already broke the law by allowing you to work without the correct status of residence, regardless of whether you were paid for the work or not. You also broke the law by performing this work.
It’s entirely up to you how you wish to pursue this, but keep in mind that taking it to the labour bureau will guarantee that you have no future with this institution.
How far are you willing to go with this?
One option you do have is to go and tell them, “you had me work (show evidence of it) after I graduated. That work was performed without a proper work visa. Likewise you were in the wrong for working during this period without a work visa, but I did perform the work and should get paid”. While they can’t “pay” you for that time, they can make it up in other ways – such as a spot bonus or signing bonus that is equal to the amount of time worked. This would be paid under your current visa and legal…
I ask how far your willing to go because it sounds like they are unwilling to budge and your only leverage here would be to tell them that the alternative is to turn them into immigration for knowingly having you work without proper visa status and that you have evidence that they asked you to work during this period of time when your status was in limbo.
I ask how far your willing to go because this would burn some bridges and create a tone for the rest of your tenure there that you might not be able to ever get over.
NAL. But you were not eligible to work as a professor until April 12th. Thus if you receive payment as a professor, you committed fraud as you didn’t have the status of residence to work. You could end up losing your SOR, future renewals, and, if you push hard enough, potential detention and deportation. The schools might slip out of it, but they would lose points in the eyes of the Ministry as playing fast and loose with the rules.
If you actually worked, you broke the law, but the labor board and a lawyer could probably get you a few day’s pay and a few yen more as the labor board will look at the April 1st contract and not worry about SOR.
Still, they will also be admonished by their lawyer as your contract should have had a starting date that said to the effect of “on April 1st or when SOR is approved, submitted and approved by the University.” Egg on the face of those involved all in less than two weeks. Often called 問題児.
So you can push it and get a few yen, but already you have made enemies by your attitude. Word travels fast in academia, so by now, the BOD and the school’s President know, the lawyer who drafted the contract, general affairs, payroll, and all involved know that the new Ph.D. is complaining about 12 days of pay out of 30 years worth of salary and ever-increasing wages and bonuses, overseas paid research trips, and a double-paid sabbatical after 5 years.
Not sure of what they hired you at, but if you were not a tenured 教授on day one, be prepared to move, as you will never leave the post of 助教 or maybe 講師.
If you already have some title, expect a very slow walk to a professor, rejections when you try to change universities, early morning, late evening, or weekend classes, and a lower than expected discretionary bonus.
The best thing to do now is to apologize to everyone one by one for your bad attitude and misunderstanding of the system. Half of academia is the people aspect. If everyone has a terminal degree and papers, you provide no more benefits than any other professor, and perhaps some downside to your tenure there.
Academia does not recognize raw talent as does Faang; they want you to be a team player for the next 30-40 years. You are off to a poor start.
I would say, don’t let it slide. You could talk to your boss and ask him to give you free time for the days you have already worked or make some other arrangements. If the boss will hide behind paragraphs and is unwilling to accommodate you, I would take it as a sign to search for other positions.
This sounds more like a clusterfuck than anything nefarious.
Something to keep in mind, your salary might be discussed in an annual figure, but it is billed out hourly. Japan doesn’t have a non-hourly tracked concept of Salary in the western sense. Even the CEO will also have a timesheet, even if it is a complete fabrication.