School Refuses To Pay Housing Allowance As Stated In Contract.

[manarak]

Since you were fully legal to work, then It seems that you would have little to lose. 15,000 baht is a fair amount of money and it's probably worth a visit to the MOL.

Thanks for your positive reply. The only reason I have hesitated somewhat is that my Thai girlfriend, also a teacher, knows the director and she argues with me about going to the MOL because it all about her loosing face, and I hoped that my contract may have been renewed. Only this week they informed me that it would not. Only Thais loose face, not foreigners.

I had some success in the past with reminding Thai people about Buddha's teachings, and sometimes by turning the "face" thing against them.

[brucetefl]

The MOL really favors the worker in Thailand. Its definitely worth taking this to court. I once had an employee who signed a resignation, received his final pay (by CHECK so it was verifiable) and still took me to Labor claiming he had been fired and never been paid. And it still took us a long time to get the court to agree we were in the right despite having all the evidence.

Edited January 29, 2013 by brucetefl

[chowny77]

Go for the throat and cut their balls off as well...............They broke the contractual requirements not you!

[WonnabeBiker]

Welcome to the underbelly of Thai schools. Someone else has embezzled that portion of your salary!

Am in the very same situation.

First, the director ignored calls from my known cell phone. Then I had someone call on my behalf, speaking Thai.

The excuse was that he hadn't thought that I would want to get paid. Then he promised to tell HR. That

was a few weeks ago.

Q1: Do you have a Thai friend who can print something off the Labour Court's website?

And help you fill in a complaint?

I was referred to their website when I walked in... But you can also walk in and someone will

sit down and take your complaint and make you sign it. Please bring a translator if you go

to a Regional Labour Court (not Bangkok).

You are doing this for many future teachers as well.

***

There will be an arbitration hearing during which the court's attorney will push hard for a settlement

Agree and it will be over there and then.

Otherwiese, these ..... ..... get the idea that it's like taking candy from a baby.

Go for it. You have nothing to lose! .

[mike123ca]

Most schools believe the foreigner will not stick around and fight for what is legally due. There is some truth to that because most have to leave Thailand if they are no longer employed here.

It's too bad all the websites here in Thailand are afraid to name and shame the bad schools.

It would be nice to know if your entering into a good school or a cesspool.

[brucetefl]

The libel laws in Thailand are very strict.

Most schools believe the foreigner will not stick around and fight for what is legally due. There is some truth to that because most have to leave Thailand if they are no longer employed here.

It's too bad all the websites here in Thailand are afraid to name and shame the bad schools.

It would be nice to know if your entering into a good school or a cesspool.

[yourauntbob]

I have heard the Department of Labor is sympathetic to the works and generally does a good job of representing you. If you were working legally I would definitely fight it.

To all the posts talking about offending the school etc, they are not going to give him a good reference anyway at this point. If foreigners start burying their heads in the sand then we will start getting pushed around all the more. I have had several fights over compensation with (public) schools here in Thailand and pushed each time until I got what I had earned. The schools that didnt want to hire me for this reason are the same schools who will pull the same garbage. I have always been able to find new work. Currently I am now working my fourth year at an international school. When the question of why I was looking for a new job came up I simply said "I want to teach, they wanted a clown." nuff said...

Edited February 14, 2013 by yourauntbob

[manonthemon]

Do go to Department of Labour - the do help, they are on our, teachers side.

I had an Issue with an agency - no workpermit or visa provided despite the contract, no money for a couple of months. It took one visit to the DOL to get the money back, cash in hand.

DOL is teachers best friend in Thailand.

[WonnabeBiker]

Do go to Department of Labour - the do help, they are on our, teachers side. Would you care to share a name and contact number? Could you find an English speaker?

I had to have a Thai make calls and was told they don't regulate schools, go to the MoE etc.

I had an Issue with an agency - no workpermit or visa provided despite the contract, no money for a couple of months. It took one visit to the DOL to get the money back, cash in hand. Glad to hear that - I've failed by phone. And there seem to be a dozen government agencies. Labour Protection, Labour this or that... We ended up calling the in house lawyer of school district # .. (their in-house lawyer o n l y speaks Thai). Days went by and no response. The idea was that them calling the school's director might trigger something, as he was incredulous anyone would sue in Labour Court over a little thing as unpaid salary!

DOL is teachers best friend in Thailand. There's a lot of school which never bothers with a teachers' license or a WP and which like their staff being on Tourist Visa. Regional corruption? With the cost of Visa runs every 60 days, doing it legally would save both time and money. And there is a race on and many Western teachers are replaced by Asians or folks from African countries.

[manonthemon]

Do go to Department of Labour - the do help, they are on our, teachers side. Would you care to share a name and contact number? Could you find an English speaker?

I had to have a Thai make calls and was told they don't regulate schools, go to the MoE etc.

We didn't do anything over the phone - just went straight here. The office in in Din Daeng. we just went to the reception and said we wanted to complain. The took us to the right place, proivided a translator and all. Reall good service.

The address is here:

http://www.labour.go.th/en/index.php/contact/2011-06-03-07-15-48

regards,

[Scott]

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