Gaijin Horror Story

[Molokidan]

This just happened this morning, and I'm still amazed at how badly my friend was screwed up the tailpipe.

He had gotten a 2 week-notice from NOVA one week ago, telling him that if he didn't shape up, they were going to fire him. He was hired at the beginning of September, straight out of college, with no japanese experience. You know, fresh meat. So obviously, compared to his replacement, who was a gaijin with 3+ years of experience, as well as a great teacher, this guy was cream of the crap. But he was a great person, he had energy, and could have become a wonderful teacher if given the chance.

However, this is Japa, and this is NOVA.

So anyway, it is now one week later after he recieved his "warning." He got a phone call from his superior, telling him that he had until 11 AM this morning to get completely vacated from his apartment. Unfortunately, my friend can hardly speak japanese (his superior knows this) and mistook the "11" to mean "November."

So he goes back to sleep, and gets a knock on his door, at 10:40, from his superior, who is now speaking in English, who tells him he has 20 minutes to get all his shit out of his apartment and onto the road. This guy has just been here for 2 months, knows a lot of gaijin as acquaintances, and has no true japanese friends.

So right now, this guy is sitting outside on the street, with his stuff piled up. Our mutual friend, who I'll call Dave, has a big apartment and is going to let him crash there. Dave is still at work, as am I, so my friend could go pick up the key, but he has no way of getting all of his stuff a few miles down the road without even a bike to help him. (When I'm saying stuff, I'm talking computer, bed, clothes, even a sofa.)

This is the first time I've encountered something this extreme in the world of eikawa. It's ridiculous. Now, my friend, instead of going home, has told me (we've been communicating through keitai) that he is going to try to find some way to work under-the-table and stay in Japan. Dave is talking to a Japanese lawyer.

Any comments? Do some of you super vets up in Tokyo see this every day? And more importantly, do you have any suggestions on how to help this poor guy? He got his last paycheck, which was just for October, but after that, he might be cooked.

[CLOWNPUNCHER]

Don't let those jerks at NOVA get away with it contact the general union now. He should also refuse to move out of the apartment on such short notice.

http://www.generalunion.org/

[Skankster]

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A strongarm eviction


cool

Isnt Nova fantasic?

[oyajikun]

From what I've been told by friends that have lived here for 20+ years is that you cannot be forced to move out of a place. I have even heard a story about an apartment owner that ended up paying a tennant to leave that had not paid his rent in over 6 months.

I would have waited for the authorites to show up.

[Taro Toporific]

.... he had until 11 AM this morning to get completely vacated from his apartment. Unfortunately, my friend can hardly speak japanese (his superior knows this) and mistook the "11" to mean "November."
So he goes back to sleep, and gets a knock on his door, at 10:40, from his superior, who is now speaking in English, who tells him he has 20 minutes to get all his shit out of his apartment and onto the road. ...
So right now, this guy is sitting outside on the street, with his stuff piled up. .

Ahhh, poor nama gaijin. He didn't know all he had to do refuse to leave and it would takes months to get rid of him until his visa was cancelled. Japan has no simple way to evict a person from their dwelling.

I don't know the speed NOVA is getting to cancellation a work visas.
Anybody have an idea about when they are gonna jerk his visa (which is real problem now)?

[CLOWNPUNCHER]

.... he had until 11 AM this morning to get completely vacated from his apartment. Unfortunately, my friend can hardly speak japanese (his superior knows this) and mistook the "11" to mean "November."
So he goes back to sleep, and gets a knock on his door, at 10:40, from his superior, who is now speaking in English, who tells him he has 20 minutes to get all his shit out of his apartment and onto the road. ...
So right now, this guy is sitting outside on the street, with his stuff piled up. .

Ahhh, poor nama gaijin. He didn't know all he had to do refuse to leave and it would takes months to get rid of him until his visa was cancelled. Japan has no simple way to evict a person from their dwelling.

I don't know the speed NOVA is getting to cancellation a work visas.
Anybody have an idea about when they are gonna jerk his visa (which is real problem now)?

1) The law regarding evicition from dwellings was changed a couple of years ago making it easier for landlords to get rid of undesirable tenants.

As in refusing to renew a rental contract at the end of a two year rental contract ( As a homeowner I have looked into this )

2) Once the Visa is stamped in your passport it's yours,nothing to do with NOVA and there is nothing they can do to have it cancalled. it's valid and there is nothing to stop you from taking a job else where.

[CLOWNPUNCHER]

taken from the general union website.

Seriuosly tell him to contact them NOW !!

The Labour Standards Law states very simply that except in the most extreme of circumstances (you punch your boss, an earthquake destroys your workplace), an employer must give 30 days' notice or thirty days pay in lieu of notice. If you are fired, it is relatively easy to get this (Articles 19, 20).
The part of the law that is difficult are the many Japanese court rulings and Ministry of Labour guidelines on the propriety of firing someone. In Japan it is very difficult to fire someone in the middle of their contract (or workers who have an unlimited term contract) or someone with a one year contract which has already been renewed many times. 'Very difficult' means that in a civil court, unless the firing is done for "socially acceptable reasons" (which is up to a judge to decide), a firing could be overruled.
The problem with these precedents and guidelines is that the Labour Standards Office either won't enforce them or in many cases is powerless to do so. So unless you are prepared to go to civil court there is very little an individual can do to stop an unfair firing.
If you are fired call the union immediately and we can examine your situation. As stated in the Trade Union Law Q & A, a union can negotiate anything with an employer even if you are the only union member at your company.
On the other hand if you believe you have been fired for your union activity, we have many other ways to help you outside of the Labour Standards Law. Please see the General Union Q & A on the Trade Union Law.
If you are fired, remember one very important thing: tell the company that you don't accept their decision, offer to continue working, and make it clear that you are willing to work. Don't sign anything and don't try to one up your company by stating that you quit. The reasoning for this is that if you accept your firing or if you say that you quit, legally you are accepting it and it will make it more difficult to deal with this in the future.

Last week my boss fired me and told me to leave. He said he would pay the 30 days' dismissal allowance. Today he called me and ordered me back to work from tomorrow for the remainder of the 30-day period. He said I'm still an employee, and that I must obey him. Is he right?
No. If he wants you back to work, he must withdraw the firing completely. The employer-employee relationship ended on the day he fired you; the 30-day dismissal allowance is not a month's salary, it is an allowance which must be paid within 7 days of the firing (Article 23). The only problem here is proving that he really told you not to come to work again. He may claim later that he simply gave you 30 days' notice of dismissal. If you have documentary evidence, or a tape-recording, you will almost certainly win your case through the Labour Standards Office or in a Small Claims case at court.

I want to quit my job before the end of my contract and now my employer won't pay me this month's wages. He also wants me to pay a fine of one month's salary. Is this allowed?
No. Your employer cannot set a predetermined fine for quitting during your contract (Article 16). Furthermore your employer must provide you with all outstanding wages, tax forms and a certificate of employment within seven days of you leaving your job (Article 23).
If this happens, it is very easy to retrieve both the fine and the back wages using union's expertise and the Labour Standards Office.
If you do quit your job without the proper notice you are liable for damages, but the company must actually prove business damage in a civil court for you to have to pay any damages regarding your quitting. We have never actually seen a language company sue an employee for quitting a contract without proper notice.

It is stipulated in my contract that I can be fired without notice during a three month probation period. What does the Labour Standards Law say about this?
Regardless of the length of probation written into your contract your employer cannot fire you without notice (see section regarding firings) after you have completed 14 days of your contract. During the first 14 days your employer may fire you without notice (Article 21).

[Molokidan]

I asked him a few of these questions, and he told me about NOVA's evil plan. It's quite diabolical, really.

First off, he didn't own his apartment -- he didnt even have a lease on it. He was paying NOVA for it, but they were the real owners. And it's in his contract that they can take it away whenever they want.

About the firing, he was still in the 2-month probation period, that is stated that they can pretty much fire him whenever they feel like it. That Labor Standards Law that clownpuncher brought up was interesting, however, couldn't NOVA just say that the "shape up or we'll fire you" comment was a warning? I'm sure there's some loophole the corporate bastards could snuggle themselves into.

Finally, about his VISA, yeah, his VISA is totally exempt from the whole NOVA gig, which is I guess why he's not being deported or something right now. He's trying to find a job to work under the table with now, but it's iffy really if he'll be able to find one or not.

I'm still blown away by all this.

[Taro Toporific]

--->First off, he didn't own his apartment -- he didnt even have a lease on it. He was paying NOVA for it....
--->About the firing, he was still in the 2-month probation period
-->.his VISA is totally exempt from the whole NOVA gig, which is I guess why he's not being deported or something right now.

-->Ahh, the apartment is a "company dorm": yep they can throw you out of dorm at anytime. However, if he just sat it out they would not called the police (lazy cops would not want to get involved). If he was quiet-aggressive, snarled and then reasonably said he would need x-more days to move out, they would have backed down.

-->Yep, the 2-month probation period is the NOVA loophole.

-->The bright side he seems to have a work visa that's valid one year. GREAT, he screwed NOVA because the work visa is 99% of the battle in starting out in Japan. :P

Back in the bad old old days, the work-visa became invalid because you lost your guarantor. Schools used to call Immigration to complain, ask for depotation, cancel their guarantee of slave-teacher, etc.

[Molokidan]

-->The bright side he seems to have a work visa that's valid one year. GREAT, he's screwed NOVA.
Back in the bad old old days, the work-visa became invalid because you lost your guarantor. Schools used to call Immigration to complain, ask for depotation, cancel their guarantee of slave-teacher, etc.

That's pretty scary. So I guess he actually got off easy, then. Insane.

Well, now that we've solved Problem #1, here comes the even more dangerous one. Anyone know where to find illegal work?

[Taro Toporific]

well, now that we've solved Problem #1, here comes the even more dangerous one. Anyone know where to find illegal work?

Hey, he can walk into any 7-11 with a help wanted sign and get a night clerk job if he speaks any kind of half-assed drunk-monkey Japanese.

No Japanese? Well, he can wash dishes at a nomiya for more than 800yen an hour. This ought to put food in his mouth till he finds a real job. A coin locker, a cardboard box, some free blankets, expired conbi-bento, singing for beers from the locals.....

Gee, I've made money caging change from fat-cat expats and cute OLs at Shibuya station:
"Excuse me I hate to bother you, but I don't have the 180 yen to get to work this morning. Could you help me out."

(After a long night of drinking, those exact lines got me 5,000 yen an hour at Shibuya Station. Hell, it was working so well, I couldn't stop and I ended up being late for my job as a butt-head bucho, hee, hee.)

[sillygirl]

[sillygirl]

DP. Sorry

[Taro Toporific]

What about a letter of release?

Yep. Make sure he gets the Letter of Release "rishoku-hyo" written on the standard government form. By law they have to give it to him. If he does not get the release then he can't get another job. He really needs to get the rishoku-hyo dismissal notice from his employer to to find a future employment,
take it to his local "HELLO WORK" ( the public employment security office) and to get his next
visa extension. IT'S THE LAW.


Check out these "rishoku-hyo" horror stories and info:
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=comment&id=53
http://www.tfemploy.go.jp/en/spec/spec_1d.html
http://www.eslcafe.com/jobinfo/asia/sefer.cgi?display:998092199-15697.txt

[jingai]

(After a long night of drinking, those exact lines got me 5,000 yen an hour at Shibuya Station. Hell, it was working so well, I couldn't stop and I ended up being late for my job as a butt-head bucho, hee, hee.)

Taro the Gaijin bum, I never would have guessed!

[Steve Bildermann]

Gee, I've made money caging change from fat-cat expats and cute OLs at Shibuya station

I knew we'd met before!

[AssKissinger]

I'm gonna join the chorus here about not letting yourself get unfairly evicted. To any newbie here take heed to these words. Fight for your rights! Don't let some cunt like that toss you out! The temptation is to just beat his ass into a bloody fucking pulp but you don't want to do that either unless you think you can handle the J-pokey. But there ain't no law against getting up in his face, screaming like a looney and scaring the shit into his skivies. Another thing is to fucking yell your head off at him in front of others, especially at the work place if you know it's over anyway. I've done it and it's quite refreshing!

[Buraku]

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A strongarm eviction


cool

Isnt Nova fantasic?

up the bum...so much for Nova

[Buraku]

NOVA suck ass! I totally got fired from them 'cos "my face didn't fit". Why can't your friend just go and work for another Eikaiwa? Does it have to be dodgy work?

By the way, the Nova union guys are useless, didn't help me a bit. When I got the chop, over 100 students sent a petition to the head office in Osaka protesting my 'non-renewal of contract' and didn't help one iota. Fuckers.

Nova and the law

http://www.eslcafe.com/jobinfo/asia/sefer.cgi?display:998540992-24491.txt