Chinese Pinyin - Is this school asking too much. Can't go to any competition for a year after I leave -

> Studying, Working and Living in China > Living in China > Teaching English in
China
Is this school asking too much. Can't go to any competition for a year after I leave
Home New Posts

Login: Pass: Log in or register for standard view and full access.





Page 1 of 2 1 2 >






Hero Doug -

I'm going to sign with a school on a sort part-time sort of full-time basis. I'm not concerned
about this as of right now, but I haven't closed the option of going to this school full time.

This thing is that they put this clause in their contract. I haven't taught at a private school in
a long time so I'm wondering if it's too much.



Quote:

After termination of this agreement, the Employee will not operate a business in direct
competition with the Employer within a year of the contract termination. Additionally, due to the
competitive market and in regards of unfair competition practices, the Employee agrees to not
accept employment with the Employer’s direct competitor(s) who shares the similar model to our
teaching style in the same city within a year of the termination date.

So their trying to tell me where I can and can't work. Like I said I haven't worked at a private
school since I first got to China, but *if* next year I was to go to this school, would I be
asking to much for them to remove the last paragraph, or are they asking too much by asking that I
accept it.



Pleco Software Learn Chinese with our Dictionaries for Palm and Pocket PC.
Learn Chinese in China Learn to speak Chinese 1MonthChinese.com -Mandarin School in China.
Chinese Textbooks Wide range, cheap, varied languages. Also Chinese cartoons, toys, gifts.
Study Chinese in Beijing Affordable Mandarin language courses at BLCU with ChinaUnipath.com.
HNHSoft Dictionary Learn Chinese on Smartphone and PDA with real person's voice.
XueXueXue IQChinese Get beyond the plateau.Take your Mandarin to a new level.
Chinese in Lijiang Short term Chinese study in a beautiful town with a focus on daily life.
MandarinTube Chinese Access to current everyday Chinese language and culture, 24/7.
Learn Chinese Homestay Chinese course, cultural activities & volunteer events in China.
Learn Chinese Online 1-on-1 instant tutoring, diverse courses, native teachers. FREE trial now!
Nihao Chinese Progam Free one-on-one Chinese lesson. Win 5-years of free lessons now!


About Ads (and how to hide them) -- Your message here









badr -

That's the first time I've ever seen or read such a clause in a teaching contract. The school is
asking for waaaayyy too much in this case.
I guess it's their right to put what they want on the contract but it's also your right not to
accept it.










roddy -

Haven't seen that before, and I'd be doubtful about how enforceable it would be - if they'd just
left it at 'teaching English' they might have a chance, but how do you decide on what is a 'direct
competitor' or a 'similar teaching style'?

If you have no plans to stay there (Nanjing?) long term, I wouldn't worry about it. If you do . .
. well, I probably wouldn't worry about it anyway. Could maybe quiz them about who they regard as
'direct competitors' and so on, but I'd wager they haven't really thought about it.










tianma -

I'd love to sign such a contract. According to the law, they have to compensate you after you
leave the company for not being able to work for a competitor. The compensation is normally being
paid every month and is 1/3 of your former salary.










kudra -

obviously they have some super-duper top secret teaching method, that they don't want you to
steal. I can't believe it would be possible or worth their time to enforce it.

On the other hand, when I was in Taiwan in the early 80's we did get training on how to teach a
group using hand cues and various materials they had developed. I suppose if I had worked there
and picked up their tricks, then set up a big competing school with a with backing from a bunch of
rich ivestors, the original school would feel some effect on their cash flow and want to take
action. But barring that kind thing, I can't see that it would be worth their trouble to enforce
such a non-compete clause.

Of course I'm not a lawyer, and I'm not there, so what do I know? answer: not much.










imron -

I would get them to remove this clause if you want to work at this school. If they don't, then as
they mention in the contract, it's a competitive market, and so you won't have a shortage of other
places to choose from.










Jockster -

I would not sign a contract with such a clause in it. I've seen non-competition clauses like this
before. What I think is fundamentally wrong is that when someone is educated for a certain job
then that is his bread and butter and therefore it is unreasonable to demand this from him/her.

If they have some teaching methods that they have developed themselves, then fine, those should be
protected. But that should be done with a non-disclosure agreement, not with a non-competition
clause.










imron -



Quote:

I'd love to sign such a contract. According to the law, they have to compensate you after you
leave the company for not being able to work for a competitor. The compensation is normally being
paid every month and is 1/3 of your former salary.

Tianma, do you happen to know of an online reference which specifies which law mentions this? I
imagine it'd be quite useful to have a copy of it










tianma -

I can't find the law right now but this should help as well ... If anyone finds the right passage
in the legal text it would be great if you posted the source here, thanks.



Quote:

It is therefore a relatively recent development to see post-termination non-competition provisions
in domestic enterprise employment contracts. In some cases that we have seen, such provisions have
been simply copied from U.S. companies' employment contracts. This can be less than effective in
China, since such a provision is only enforceable if they provide for non-competition compensation
in addition to the statutory severance payments.

The new labor law seems to protect employees even further:
http://www.sandpconsulting.com/news_...php?news_id=38

Here is a sample contract:
http://contracts.onecle.com/asiainfo...05.12.08.shtml

A court decision (please note that it is not binding - no precedence):
http://www.ccpit-patent.com.cn/News/2005081502.htm










zhwj -

It's my guess that this is designed to address two fears:

(1) After working at this school for a bit, you go off and start your own competing school that
uses the same innovative methods. Not very likely, but I've seen something like this happen in the
past.

(2) More likely, after working at this school for a bit, you get hired away by one of the
co-founders who splits off from the school to found his own place, taking many of the teachers
with him. In this case, the presence of the clause on teachers' contracts acts as a disincentive
to the current partners to break off, since they won't be able to take teachers with them.

It's not common, but I guess it's an understandable reaction for a place that may have been burned
in the past by teachers who've jumped ship, perhaps after getting some exposure in an ad campaign
or something. I'd take the opposite view to roddy's, and say that the "direct competition" would
give you more options if you walked - if the schools are targeted at different student groups, or
if they offer different certificates or something, they're probably not in direct competition and
you'd be OK.

If you can't get them to take it out, maybe you could try having something written in that voids
the non-compete in the event that you leave because they have broken some other parts of the
contract - if they fail to pay you for six months, for example, or some other unacceptable
behavior.












All times are GMT +8. The time now is 05:15 PM.














Learn Chinese, Learn Mandarin online, Learning Materials, Mandarin audio lessons, Chinese writing lessons, Chinese vocabulary lists, About chinese characters, News in Chinese, Go to China, Travel to China, Study in China, Teach in China, Dictionaries, Learn Chinese Painting, Your name in Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese songs, Chinese proverbs, Chinese poetry, Chinese tattoo, Beijing 2008 Olympics, Mandarin Phrasebook, Chinese editor, Pinyin editor, China Travel, Travel to Beijing,