▲Click above to subscribe 点击上方蓝字关注我们
Today, October 24, is about 2 months before Christmas and almost 3 months away from the Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year. There are no public holidays left for this year and it is time to reflect on the goals one set to accomplish this year lifewise and careerwise.
If you are planning to change or leave your job, then it is also important to start making proper arrangements earlier to ensure a smooth transfer or termination of your employment in the country.
It's also a good time to review your contract and other documents. It is best not to leave or change your job in a rush, to ensure that you get your transfer documents, severence pay, recommendation letter from your employer, etc.
This article explores in depth, with real life cases, what to do before leaving your current employment so you can save yourself some headache and troubles that may come along with it if you didn't prepare yourself well in advance.
1. Review Your Contract
Reviewing your contract, both in English and Chinese, is crucial when you want to leave or change your job, and understanding the local labor laws would also prove to be a big plus if there are illegal quotes in the contract you signed with the employer.
You might be tempted to brush off the above tip as you may think that you had already reviewed the contract before signing it and understood everything you signed for.
However, there are countless number of cases reported of foreign employees getting in trouble when they tried to leave their employment due to clauses cited on the contract, leading to litigations.
Real life case 1: A teacher from the UK had signed a six-month contract and after 5 months decided to change the job. She gave her employer a 30-day notice to terminate the employment, which she said was a legal requirement time for an employee to agree to end the employment.
Her employer was not happy with the decision and presented her with the contract that she had signed. The contract had a section that said the employee should inform the employer of the termination 60 days prior.
Although legally an employee should notify their employer 30 days prior to the termination of employment, she had signed the contract and that meant she had agreed and was bound to the 60 days requirement by the contract.
This led to a complex situation and litigation as the employer refused to let her go and so the employee decided to hire a lawyer to represent her. In the end, the lawyer found undeniable evidence of misconduct by the employer (not related to the 30-day or 60-day notice).
The employer agreed to let her go, and even agreed to pay her severance pay.
Real life case 2: John was hired by a company in Shanghai as a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and signed a contract that was due in 2023. However, when the contract ended, the company informed him that he was no longer needed.
John asked for severence pay, of which he was told that he was not entitled to.
John knew that he was entitled to the severance pay per the labor law, and filed for arbitration with the local labor dispute office. The office ordered the company to pay John the severance pay, however, the company appealed the decision and filed a case with a local court.
The local court revoked the decision made by the labor dispute office on the basis that there was no obligation statement for the severance pay mentioned in the contract that John signed with the company.
John was let go without severance pay.
So, in conclusion, read the contract thoroughly, and when you are in doubt, seek an advise from a lawyer before signing it and review thoroughly the contract before starting/ending your employment.
2. Avoid Emotional Quitting
Real life case 3: An international student in southern China's Hunan Province secured a part time job in a kindergarten, however, he quickly learned that the students there were hard to manage and the school refused to arrange a Chinese teaching assistant to put the class in order when students misbehave.
His class was always noisy, undisciplined, and students neither listened to him nor engaged in activities he had prepared. To make matters worse, he was constantly scolded by the teachers for not being able to maintain discipline in the classroom.
After a month of teaching at the kindy, he collected the salary and went on to switch his phone off, quitted the job without telling anyone and decided to concentrate on his studies.
When he switched on his phone a few days later, he received messages from the head teacher of the kindergarten informing him that they will report him to his supervisor at the school he is studying at and threatened to put him on the blacklist so he would never be able to find any job in China.
He ignored the messages, and he has never been able to find any job since then.
Real life case 4: A UK certified English teacher took a job to teach in a primary school in Shanghai and was excited for the new job that promised to cover her accommodation and meals.
That was until she saw the apartment the school had arranged for her. The apartment was cozy but paled in comparison with what her friends were living in, in the same city, she wrote on social media that she was dissappointed when she saw it.
She complained that her friends' apartments were huge and had a pool, which she didn't have.
She also wrote on social media that she was dissatisfied with meals at the school's restaurant, as she had to eat at a public restaurant with all students and staff.
The teacher also got into disputes with other teachers who complained that her teaching methods were rather rigid. For example, she had a whistle which she used to call the students, other teachers told her that students are not pets that you use whistles to call.
She also refused to partake in teaching methods training for Chinese students, arguing that she is a qualified teacher in the UK so she did not need any training for teachers at the school.
After less than a month at the school, she decided to leave the school without a notice and joined another school which offered her better conditions.
Police quickly found her and informed her that she was working illegally. That is because her work permit was provided by her former school and the school had already cancelled it when she left and she didn't apply for a new one.
She was fined and deported. This leads us to the next point, transferring/cancelling your work and residence permit.
3. Transfer/Cancel Work and Residence Permit
There are so many confusions about work visa, work permit and residence permit in China. Such as, can you just work anywhere in China after securing a work visa and enter China?
Simply speaking, a work visa is just a document given by the embassy in a third country allowing one to enter China for the purpose of work in the country. However, to be able to work legally in the country, one still need to be verified by local authorities and given a work permit which would allow one to work in their jurisdiction.
A visa just allows you to enter the country, if it is a work visa, then it is expected that you would apply for a work permit within a period stated on the visa page.
A residence permit allows you to be registered by the local community to live in the region specified.
Both, the work permit and residence permit are issued by the local police and the information would be entered on a database.
Many regions in China have now made it easier for foreigners to apply for a residence permit and a work permit in a single visit. Before, one needed to apply for the permits separately.
It important to note that your work permit is bound to your place of work. So, if your work permit is by company A, then working at a company B is illegal.
And so is your residence permit.
That being said, if you plan to work part time at company B, then you must sign a contract for the job with the employer and infrom company A, and then inform the local police that you have secured the part time job at company B.
Real life case 5: Mr. H from South Africa was working at a company in Wuxi, eastern China's Jiangsu Province. H met a boss of a technology company in Hangzhou during a visit there and he offered him a part job which required him to work on Friday and Saturday every week.
Six months later, H was approached by the immigration management police as he was about to enter the building at the office in Hangzhou.
Although the Yangtze River Delta has already implemented policies that one only need a work permit in one city to be able to work in the rest of the cities covered in the region, H got in trouble because his work permit only allowed him to work in the company in Wuxi and didn't inform his employer and local police that he had a part time job in Hangzhou.
He was given a fine and asked to sign a contract with his Hangzhou employer and inform his employer in Wuxi.
A release letter is a document you would certainly need from your current employer. If you are leaving the country (even if for good), you may think that you don't need it, but that is a misunderstanding of what the release letter stands for.
For people who are planning to leave the country, the release letter is also a proof that you have been working in China and would help to secure more jobs in the country you are headed to.
And for those who left the job, but are looking for better jobs in the country or just retire, setting their own companies, etc., the release letter means that you can transfer your work permit and residence permit to other permits depending on their situation.
Simply speaking, without a release letter, you may not be able to secure a residence permit or work permit from other companies, and may be denied further stay in China.
*The opinions expressed in the article are solely those of the author.*
GBA Community: Sharing news, hot topics, fun, job opportunities...
外语圈：BAFLA's Chinese channel 中文频道
add to communicate or join groups
Foreign Tips