I. Overtime pay

The supervisor stated that there would be no overtime pay.

The company does not provide overtime pay during overtime periods.

Based on clock-in/out records,

I frequently worked outside the regular working hours agreed upon with the employer,

but was not additionally paid overtime.

In addition, the employer or supervisor would sometimes require employees

to work outside regular working hours (distributing flyers, recruiting students, etc.).

Afterward, no compensatory time off or overtime pay was provided.

II. Employment contract and pay slips

The company and I signed an employment contract.

I wanted to obtain a copy of the employment contract for my records

to avoid any related disputes in the future.

However, the supervisor told me

that the employment contract could not be given to me.

I instinctively thought that an employment contract should be made in duplicate,

so I asked, “Why?”

The supervisor replied, “The boss said employees cannot take it home.”

In addition,

employees were also not allowed to keep their own pay slips.

The supervisor told me:

The contents of the pay slips

could be asked about and copied,

but they could not be taken home.

The supervisor said this was also instructed by the boss.

Note: After 2017,

new amendments to the Labor Standards Act came into effect.

I do not know whether this has changed by now.

III. Salary payment

The company had a special rule regarding salary payments.

Salary was paid separately as the base salary and the difference between the salary and the base salary.

For example:

My salary was NT$28,000.

The company would transfer NT$20,008 (the base salary)

into my salary deposit account.

The remaining NT$7,992 (NT$28,000 − NT$20,008),

after deductions for labor and health insurance and other items

(I have also forgotten exactly what was deducted, because I was never given a pay slip),

was then paid to employees in cash.

IV. Salary withheld from new employees

The company had another rule concerning new employees’ salaries.

The probationary period for new employees was three months.

During these three months,

NT$5,000 would first be withheld from their salary

and paid all at once on the payday of the fourth month.

For example:

If my salary was NT$28,000,

the salary I received in the first month was NT$23,000 (NT$28,000 − NT$5,000)

(and it was withdrawn partly through salary transfer and partly in cash).

The salary received in the fourth month would be

NT$28,000 + (NT$5,000 × 3) = NT$43,000.

However, new employees who resigned within the three-month period

could not receive the NT$5,000 that had been withheld.

For example:

A new employee who resigned in the second month

could not receive the NT$10,000 withheld from their salary.

It seems that someone really did resign during this period, and the money was actually withheld and could not be recovered.

V. Break time

Basically, there was 30 minutes of break time per day,

but employees had to find time for this 30-minute break themselves.

Moreover, there was no free time throughout the day.

Even meals had to be eaten while doing other tasks.

The 30-minute break effectively existed only on paper.

VI. End of the workday

Usually, employees could clock out and leave at 10:00 p.m.

However, other colleagues were usually still there

because they had not finished their work,

so leaving on time was impossible.

There was also a rotating duty shift,

namely, closing up after the other colleagues had left the office.

This usually did not end until around 10:30–11:00 p.m.

Sometimes, if the work could not be finished, employees were also required to come to the company early to handle it.

However, none of these additional working hours came with overtime pay.

Apparently, it was simply our own fault for lacking competitiveness and not finishing the work, haha. ㄎㄎ