I. Overtime Pay
The supervisor stated that there would be no overtime pay.
The company does not provide overtime pay for work performed during overtime hours.
Based on the clock-in and clock-out records,
I often worked for the employer beyond the agreed-upon regular working hours,
but was not given any additional overtime pay.
In addition, the employer or supervisors would sometimes ask employees
to work outside normal working hours (distributing flyers, recruiting students, etc.).
Afterward, there was no compensatory time off or overtime pay provided.
II. Employment Contract and Pay Slips
The company and I signed an employment contract.
I wanted to obtain and keep a copy of the employment contract
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 two copies,
so I asked, “Why?”
The supervisor replied, “The boss said employees are not allowed to 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 slip
could be asked about and copied down,
but it simply could not be taken home.
The supervisor said this was also the boss’s instruction.
Note: After 2017,
new amendments to the Labor Standards Act took effect.
I do not know whether this has since been changed.
III. Payment of Wages
The company had a special rule when paying salaries:
wages were paid separately as the basic wage and the difference between the salary and the basic wage.
For example:
My salary was NT$28,000.
The company deposited NT$20,008 (the basic wage)
into my salary-transfer account.
The remaining NT$7,992 (NT$28,000 - NT$20,008)
was reduced by labor and health insurance premiums and other items.
(I have also forgotten exactly what items were deducted, because I was never given a pay slip.)
The remaining balance was then paid to employees in cash.
IV. Salary Withholding for 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:
My salary was NT$28,000.
In the first month, I received NT$23,000 (NT$28,000 - NT$5,000)
(and withdrew it partly through the salary-transfer account and partly in cash).
In the fourth month, I received
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 indeed withheld and could not be recovered.
V. Break Time
Basically, there was 30 minutes of break time per day.
However, employees had to find time for this 30-minute break themselves,
and there was usually no free time at all during the day.
Even meals were eaten while doing other work.
The 30-minute break effectively existed in name only.
VI. End of the Workday
Usually, employees could clock out and leave at 10:00 p.m.
However, the other colleagues were usually still there
because their work was not finished,
so leaving on time was impossible.
There was also a rotating closing duty,
meaning the task of locking up after the other colleagues had left the office.
This usually did not finish 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, hehe.