Resigning

Hello,

After having a less then professional meeting with my boss, in the sense they degraded me verbally, the other week about my 2 month notice I have a few questions, if people can help me find the truth I would be very grateful.

I am on my second, 2 year contract with my English school here in Fukuoka I decided to quit due my second contract due to several reasons which I will state later. My contract sets forth I must give 3.5 months warning before resigning from the last date of employment stated in the contact. I take this as tell them 3.5 months if you decide to not renew. They see differently.
I followed what I researched, and asked about, Japanese law said, which is 1 month. I thought things may be hard for current teachers and finding a new one, thus I gave them a slightly longer than 2 month warning. Am I doing anything wrong? Am I breaking any laws?


P.S. One f the biggest reasons about me leaving is this but first understand that I am trying to not talk about it with my boss as I feel this woul make matters worst, I will be in the same city for undetermined time and do not want to make that worst and i want clean break. So please consider the previous before reading this.
There is a money issue. I have not been getting paid as I have two contracts between 2 places, on there request. One place pays me directly and the other does not. Niether contract mentions the other one. Thus not giving me any reason for why this is happening. This has been occuring for a long time and decided to just end it. I know many people wil say I should talk aout this but I decided to just end it.

thank you

Sorry to hear of your situation.

If you are a full-time regular employee ("seishain," with no predetermined duration of employment), you need to give at leat 14 days' notice; if you are on a contract of 6 months or longer and your remuneration is determined for the whole period (for example on an annual remuneration scheme), 3-months' notice (Civil Code 627); if you are a fixed-duration contract employee, you cannot quit until the end of the contract unless there is unavoidable cause (Civil Code 628), or if the contract is longer than 1 year and you have worked already at least 1 year, in which case you can leave any time (Labor Standard Law 137).

(I don't know if you already started your second 2-year contract, and if you have, you'd have to work for one year at least until you can leave.)

So if your contract says 3.5 months' notice, which I find rather long, and if your contract is until the end of December, you'd have to give notice by middle of Sept. if you intend not to renew the contract.

Having said that, not paying you is breach of the contract by the employer; is there any clause in the employment contract for terminating the contract due to causes like that? (Or at least non-payment should be a basis that you can negotiate early departure from the job.)

Thank you so much for your reply!

I am not sure where you found this but it is of great help to me. I am actually on my 2nd year of my 2nd contract, thus giving me option to leave at anytime. That's great to hear. On that I do not believe I would be a kaishin because even though my contract was to work 40 hrs they have me work 10 and I work around thirty at the BOE.

As for not being paid, my contract gives a base salary I should receive from them every month. Since I only receive money from the other employer I feel that is grounds for the contract not being fulfilled and thus, under Japanese law if the contract is not fulfill immediate resignation is allowed. But again I am trying to avoid this. But it is good to have this knowledge in my pocket.

Thank you so much this really helps me. I can't express the amount of help this already as been!

If possible, I'd recommend speaking to a lawyer. You can often find free legal consultation services for foreigners offered at your city hall or ward office.

Yes, I (the first guest poster) recommend consulting too. Particularly considering that that you want a "clean break."

Best wishes that things work out.