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anonymous
Q: How can I force a school to give me a release letter?
I needed to leave my school so I could have weekends off the school said they couldn't do it and in a round about non way fired me. I said okay Ill pay the rest of my advance to you minus my last pay check. Now they wont relese me from my contract and wanna cancel my Visa. I cant start new job till I give them 8000 rmb. I don't have the cash and cant get it till I work, Does anyone know of a loop hole to get me full out of my contract at my shady school so I can start my new job?
11 years 36 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
I don't mean to sound crude, but if you broke the contract, the school is not being shady. The problem lies with you. They are just enforcing the legal document that was signed by both parties. It doesn't matter if they ever intended following it; but...
Not being privy to the original details, but if it stipulated you were supposed to work weekends, guess what...you were supposed to work weekends. Also, I don't know the details about the amount of the advance (plus your last check), but it doesn't sound like a great amount, seeing as how they still want 8000rmb.
The only hope would be if you can find the clause in the contract that stipulates an amount for breaking the contract (usually a penalty of some sort), and if this amount is more than the advance, minus the balance and say you will pay them that, and then show them the figures. Above all, be nice. They don't have to do anything to help you. In other words; they hold all the cards, and from your description of things, you were the one who reneged on the agreed conditions of employment.
I know this is not what you want to hear, but, from my understanding of the situation, time to take the boss out to dinner and a KTV party (think baiju and pretty girls). This would go a long way to smoothing over the situation. Best of fortune in your employment endeavors.
A school as to give you release letter,it could be good or bad but they have too give you one,phone PSB,if your on a z visa
giadrosich:
He may have a difficult time of it if he broke the contract. I don't know if this is 100%, but here is an except. Website address follows so the full account can be read:
"The most important factor in keeping your work permit is getting a letter of release from your current/old employer company. Technically, as long as the employee has not violated its contract, the employer company is required to provide this release letter. However, as you can imagine, people often have problems obtaining this letter when they don’t have a good relationship with the company they are leaving. I am not sure how it works, but it seems that there are ways that the company can strip you of your permit so you are left with 30 days to leave the country."
http://www.chinalawblog.com/2011/12/how_to_change_your_china_employer_and_keep_your_work_visa.html
Of course, in China, where there is money, there is usually a way! Scrolling down for the comments is interesting, also! 
If you don't finish a contract you don't get a release letter.
You'll have to start over and get a new Z visa, nobody is going to renew you now.
alls you had to do WAS give a 30 day written notice and you could have left clean shame on u
#1teacher!:
I love my kids and have phenomenal work ethic. Never being able to take a weekend off no matter how many days you ask in advance is bullshit, give good advice or shut up.
WhiteBear:
he was not talking about 30 days "asking" before weekend, but about ending the contract...
giadrosich:
You have a "phenomenal work ethic" but don't want to work weekends? Lol. Look up the word "phenomenal," lao shi.
"Handing me a release letter or go to the f*cking hell?Tell me your answer."
Good lesson maybe you learned here... the hard and possibly the expensive way. A contract is a contract and I've never seen in over five years in China a private English training center, good, bad or so so, that guaranteed weekends off. In fact, they usually tell you upfront weekends are their busiest times, so nobody is off. IF someone gets weekends off, they are usually a teacher with seniority. In the future, if you don't like this, or something else in a contract, discuss it before signing and accept no verbal promises. If it's not in the contract, then it never existed, and BTW, the Chinese contract rules. Not the English version.
It's never a good idea to break or breach a contract unless you have clear legal grounds. When you in essence tell an employer...F**K You, you will usually learn they say, "NO F**K You! and hand your head on a platter.
if you had fullfilled your contract and they did not issue release letter , the new school can contact psp and file protest of the old school. this usually works very well , the new school calling and making the threat of protest is usually enough, during the protest period the old school is on hold for new teacher visas and the money train dries up , so they relent.
this only works if you fullfilled the contract though, good luck. you may have to bite the bullet and offer to work another 6 months on weekends to get a release letter but get this in writing
