Basically as the title says.
I was encouraged to ask around the foreigner community on reddit because a co-worker was concerned that the way my transfer was handled is really shady and they said it would be a good idea to get an idea of other people’s experiences.
Without going into all the bullshit about the timing of transfer seeming deliberate to make it difficult for me to look for work (they told me I was being transferred not long before new years and they didn’t even show me the new contract I would be working under until after new years), ill give you the bullet points of what’s going on with some details left fuzzy so I don’t out anyone or my company before even know if I’m being taken for a ride here:
\- My company, like many companies in Japan, is a ‘group.’ Ie. it has the main company has a lot of daughter companies. I was transferred from one daughter company to another.
\- I had been working at my old company going on 5 years or so. Either this would have been my 5th year or it would have been my 6th had I not been transferred.
\- Without giving details, I had a relatively senior position as a teacher at my old company. When I came onto this new company I was asked to take a reasonably substantial pay cut. I assumed I was being hired for what would be the average pay for the teachers there, that I could probably accept (I’m not the top dog anymore, so it’s not fair for me to expect them to pay me like I am). Apparently, I am now the lowest payed English teacher at the company. I wont speak for the other staff since I don’t really feel comfortable asking the non-English teacher staff what their salary looks like haha. Some people at the company are being taken on as new hires with no experience and are being offered substantially better salaries than me. I have 11 years of experience, a relevant degree, TESL certification, and 5-6 of my experience were building this organization’s English program which was, before I arrived, in shambles save one branch.
\- Given I was with my old company for around 5 years, I started with 10 days of paid holiday a year (which is probably industry standard for teachers in Japan) and I had worked that up to 15 days. It is my understanding that is being reduced back down to 10 and its my understanding that the paid holidays I had from last year (of which I used none) are not being carried over. Its difficult to say if this part is even accurate or not, as I have been with this new company now for 2 months (going into my third) and I have never received an English copy of my contract to sign nor did they provide anyone to translate our conversation from Japanese into English. My Japanese is pretty ok, but its not discuss, read (I literally can’t read), and understand contracts good. I tell my co-workers and superiors that my Japanese isn’t that good LITERALLY constantly (on a daily basis), but I think they are under the impression I’m being humble so they don’t really offer that service to me. In my company’s defense here, I was told my old contract would be honored until the end of February when it was supposed to complete, however its now been 11 days and I have yet to see my new contract. Ill be asking again tomorrow, here’s hoping I see it lol.
\- I almost feel like I don’t even need to say this part, as almost everyone whos lived and worked in Japan has experienced this, but it goes without saying that, of course, it is my understanding that I am not being offered a 正社員 position in spite of the fact that I’ve been with this organization for 5 or 6 years.
Some of this stuff is, I assume, totally legal. I’m sure its totally legal, for example, to ask someone to take a pay cut and, if they agree to it, there’s really no problems in the eyes of the law (even if its kind of frustrating and a bit of a dick move given all I’ve done for my old company). What my coworkers told me I should be concerned about is specifically regarding not being offered a 正社員 position and the reduction of paid holidays while also not ‘honoring’ my saved up paid holidays.
Basically what I’m wondering I guess is are companies legally required to give you a 正社員 position after a certain number of years? If they are, then does that time put in count if you get transferred to another company inside the same group? I mean my checks are all signed and sent, not by the company, but by the group. Lastly, I’m curious if its legal for them to make a cut to my paid holidays as they have and not honor my paid holidays saved from my pervious company?
I’m assuming the answer to most of these questions is going to be something along the lines of, ‘Yeah sorry buddy, but its technically a new company so you’re out of luck. Quit if you really don’t like it.’ But in the off chance I am being kind of taken for one here I’d just like to know what my rights are in this situation.
by spectrumics