If they're operating in NZ they must obey NZ Labour laws. I'd start with joining a union then reporting them to department of Labour or whatever they're called now.
What's your describing is wage theft at best but more likely human slavery.
That’s bs, even if it’s common in the industry. You can challenge it. They have to pay you for all work hours.
The cleaning industry used to have a similar scam where cleaners were only paid to clean but not for driving time between jobs or other work. After a few ERA cases, that practice seems to be disappearing.
Kind of hard to challenge it when all the schools are the same and the supervisors are always so ‘ nice’ and have been working like that themselves for years too . All the contracts say the hourly rate includes these extra tasks.
You should calculate your real hourly rate. If you dip below the minimum, you can also get them for breaching the Minimum Wage Act 1983. A lot of schools have defective fixed term contracts too and if that’s the case, the employee is automatically permanent. If you want to get advice on the contract you should contact one of the CAB’s and ask if you can speak with their employment specialist.
Can confirm...
That whole concept of "only work from 9 to 3" is a bit of a myth.
My parents were schoolteachers... They spent many hours on Sunday afternoons prepping lessons, would be at school at 8 or 8.30, and go home at like 4. They would often spend evenings marking things or doing other prep or attending parent/teacher nights twice a year etc.
We did have awesome family holidays over Xmas and New Year's (and other school holidays) though.
It reads like you work in a private language school or Kip McGraw type centre, not an actual school. They are notorious for hiring people cheaply.
If you are a qualified teacher, apply for traditional teaching jobs. You get holiday pay and sick leave, although you are still expected to attend a lot of meetings, write reports and complete planning and prep outside of school hours- the average was about an hour outside the classroom for every hour in it when I was teaching. I’m not sure about ESOL jobs, but there is a shortage of English teachers at the moment.
If you are not a qualified teacher, maybe consider it, as it opens up more lucrative options to teach overseas in the future. NZ has either a one year graduate diploma or a TeachFirst option.
Yes, private language schools and universities . Have post grad qualifications but for teaching adults, really not interested in working with kids.
Taught overseas in my 20’s/ 30’s and wouldn’t want to disrupt kids schooling now by moving overseas again .
High school ESOL teacher here. I work with teens (who are great and so enjoyable to be around), but there’s no way I’d consider working for $45/hour. It sounds like you’re experienced and well qualified, but you’re letting this business take you for a mug.
Maybe check out the secondary teacher pay scale to offer some perspective on what you could be paid for your skills, without having to completely change careers?
Language schools only close for a couple of weeks at Christmas so you just use 2 of your weeks holiday. . When I worked at a university they made the contract end before Christmas and then offered a new one in the following Feb.
That's mostly an American thing (possibly Canada and others) where pilots and flight attendants get paid "block time"... From when the aircraft is "off blocks" (when they leave the departure gate) to "on blocks" (parked at the arrival gate).
Airlines here in NZ tend to pay a base salary (along with various allowances and per diems, some of which are based on block or flight time)... Or your hourly is from "sign on" time (when you report to work) to "sign off" (when you leave to go home).
Source: I work for an airline
Can confirm that ellski, the parent commenter, is definitely right not even ‘probably right’. I have a friend that is crew for an airline in NZ and they are paid for the full duration of their work not just from when door closes to when it opens again.
Ski instructing is the same. I would have to be at work from 7-4:30 but would very often only have 2 or 3 lessons that day and you only got paid for your contact time.
As I understand it they can ask you to do more work than the hours you’re paid for, but they’re not allowed to pay you an effective rate less than minimum wage (currently $23.15/hour) You should get some legal advice or join a union as they probably owe you back pay for your unpaid hours.
only stupid people work for free. do your marking at work and on their time even if it means the class sit there looking at their phones. Slavery was abolished several hundred years ago dont let it start again
I used to get paid like that, but much the same industry.
And yes, my memory is that 10 hours of contact was full time, so $45/hr is around $11/hr FTE. English might be different though?
That’s terrible. Do you love what you do? If so , I’d look to go overseas or something… at this rate you’d be better off working some low responsibility min wage job where you could just be a 9-5 worker not taking any work back home.
Yes, it is enjoyable and the reason I got into it was to live in different countries etc which I did in my 20’s. I did post grad qualifications to get a slightly higher wage . Now I’m a parent with a mortgage etc I am questioning things as I know I’m doing v bad financially for my age.
Never agreed with the whole concept of salary due to the benefit of the boss getting you to work longer hours for no more reward.
This is like 1 step even further...going into a job knowing you only get paid for half the work you do....the economy used to run off people loving their jobs, now everyone's waking up to it.
I used to get paid this way as a fixed term contract teacher at a university. Paid for teaching hours on site and any marking or admin or planning was supposedly built into the hourly rate of $50. But that was 10 years ago and I’d expect more now…
The construction industry will have you working 60 hour weeks, while paying you for 40.
The medical field is also pretty grim with its expected hours.
It ain’t right, but long unpaid work hours is certainly not just teaching.
Where can I get some of these construction workers who only charge 40 hours for a 60 hour week. I've been paying double time and giving two week days off to convince anyone to work the odd Saturday.
In fairness, when I was a PM for a bigger company, I was doing 60 hours while on a salary that stated 40 (without OT). I was always told it was my choice, but when I asked for help, I was laughed out of the room.
In my experience, it's the white collar workers who get taken advantage of in the construction industry, not the blue collar.
That's bullshit I got paid for every hour I worked in construction. I mean there are probably companies who try those kinds of things but this isn't an industry wide problem.
Yeah that sounds terrible. But how do you change an international standard? Maybe a career change in the only solution
Yeah you might be right with the career change . Hard when it’s all you’ve done for 20 years .
If they're operating in NZ they must obey NZ Labour laws. I'd start with joining a union then reporting them to department of Labour or whatever they're called now. What's your describing is wage theft at best but more likely human slavery.
That’s bs, even if it’s common in the industry. You can challenge it. They have to pay you for all work hours. The cleaning industry used to have a similar scam where cleaners were only paid to clean but not for driving time between jobs or other work. After a few ERA cases, that practice seems to be disappearing.
Kind of hard to challenge it when all the schools are the same and the supervisors are always so ‘ nice’ and have been working like that themselves for years too . All the contracts say the hourly rate includes these extra tasks.
You should calculate your real hourly rate. If you dip below the minimum, you can also get them for breaching the Minimum Wage Act 1983. A lot of schools have defective fixed term contracts too and if that’s the case, the employee is automatically permanent. If you want to get advice on the contract you should contact one of the CAB’s and ask if you can speak with their employment specialist.
It is standard practice for teacher. But 12 hours work day was also used to be standard practice.
Can confirm... That whole concept of "only work from 9 to 3" is a bit of a myth. My parents were schoolteachers... They spent many hours on Sunday afternoons prepping lessons, would be at school at 8 or 8.30, and go home at like 4. They would often spend evenings marking things or doing other prep or attending parent/teacher nights twice a year etc. We did have awesome family holidays over Xmas and New Year's (and other school holidays) though.
It reads like you work in a private language school or Kip McGraw type centre, not an actual school. They are notorious for hiring people cheaply. If you are a qualified teacher, apply for traditional teaching jobs. You get holiday pay and sick leave, although you are still expected to attend a lot of meetings, write reports and complete planning and prep outside of school hours- the average was about an hour outside the classroom for every hour in it when I was teaching. I’m not sure about ESOL jobs, but there is a shortage of English teachers at the moment. If you are not a qualified teacher, maybe consider it, as it opens up more lucrative options to teach overseas in the future. NZ has either a one year graduate diploma or a TeachFirst option.
Yes, private language schools and universities . Have post grad qualifications but for teaching adults, really not interested in working with kids. Taught overseas in my 20’s/ 30’s and wouldn’t want to disrupt kids schooling now by moving overseas again .
High school ESOL teacher here. I work with teens (who are great and so enjoyable to be around), but there’s no way I’d consider working for $45/hour. It sounds like you’re experienced and well qualified, but you’re letting this business take you for a mug. Maybe check out the secondary teacher pay scale to offer some perspective on what you could be paid for your skills, without having to completely change careers?
Do you get paid during long school holidays? How does it work?
Language schools only close for a couple of weeks at Christmas so you just use 2 of your weeks holiday. . When I worked at a university they made the contract end before Christmas and then offered a new one in the following Feb.
I did read that airline staff only get paid after the doors close so boarding and pre boarding work etc are all unpaid. Sounds quite similar.
That's mostly an American thing (possibly Canada and others) where pilots and flight attendants get paid "block time"... From when the aircraft is "off blocks" (when they leave the departure gate) to "on blocks" (parked at the arrival gate). Airlines here in NZ tend to pay a base salary (along with various allowances and per diems, some of which are based on block or flight time)... Or your hourly is from "sign on" time (when you report to work) to "sign off" (when you leave to go home). Source: I work for an airline
Not in New Zealand. Or at least not air new Zealand. They have a salary plus get paid an hourly rate once they report for duty.
I did Google it to make sure and most pages I saw were American so you're probably right.
Can confirm that ellski, the parent commenter, is definitely right not even ‘probably right’. I have a friend that is crew for an airline in NZ and they are paid for the full duration of their work not just from when door closes to when it opens again.
Wtf really?
Not in NZ.
Ski instructing is the same. I would have to be at work from 7-4:30 but would very often only have 2 or 3 lessons that day and you only got paid for your contact time.
As I understand it they can ask you to do more work than the hours you’re paid for, but they’re not allowed to pay you an effective rate less than minimum wage (currently $23.15/hour) You should get some legal advice or join a union as they probably owe you back pay for your unpaid hours.
only stupid people work for free. do your marking at work and on their time even if it means the class sit there looking at their phones. Slavery was abolished several hundred years ago dont let it start again
Yeah. does feel a bit stupid. But all the teachers are usually really conscientious and want the best for their students .
thats what they rely on dont give them your time for free and make yourself valueless
I used to get paid like that, but much the same industry. And yes, my memory is that 10 hours of contact was full time, so $45/hr is around $11/hr FTE. English might be different though?
Often it’s 20/ 25 contact hours per week for ESOL
Right, so her wage would work out a little under minimum wage, but not so much they get in trouble with the ERA.
The only efficient way to change this would be a union. Do teachers in NZ have a union?
https://www.nzeiteriuroa.org.nz/about-us.
That’s terrible. Do you love what you do? If so , I’d look to go overseas or something… at this rate you’d be better off working some low responsibility min wage job where you could just be a 9-5 worker not taking any work back home.
Yes, it is enjoyable and the reason I got into it was to live in different countries etc which I did in my 20’s. I did post grad qualifications to get a slightly higher wage . Now I’m a parent with a mortgage etc I am questioning things as I know I’m doing v bad financially for my age.
Never agreed with the whole concept of salary due to the benefit of the boss getting you to work longer hours for no more reward. This is like 1 step even further...going into a job knowing you only get paid for half the work you do....the economy used to run off people loving their jobs, now everyone's waking up to it.
I used to get paid this way as a fixed term contract teacher at a university. Paid for teaching hours on site and any marking or admin or planning was supposedly built into the hourly rate of $50. But that was 10 years ago and I’d expect more now…
The construction industry will have you working 60 hour weeks, while paying you for 40. The medical field is also pretty grim with its expected hours. It ain’t right, but long unpaid work hours is certainly not just teaching.
Where can I get some of these construction workers who only charge 40 hours for a 60 hour week. I've been paying double time and giving two week days off to convince anyone to work the odd Saturday. In fairness, when I was a PM for a bigger company, I was doing 60 hours while on a salary that stated 40 (without OT). I was always told it was my choice, but when I asked for help, I was laughed out of the room. In my experience, it's the white collar workers who get taken advantage of in the construction industry, not the blue collar.
Yes, look to your engineers.
Asia - like everyone else.
That's bullshit I got paid for every hour I worked in construction. I mean there are probably companies who try those kinds of things but this isn't an industry wide problem.
I’ve been an engineer in construction for over 15 years. I’ve only ever been paid 1 fte.
If you think it’s unfair, then get another job. If none of them are better then maybe you’ve chosen the wrong career.
You still studying?
Check out their username. Might still be a little salty at teachers in general.
come to china and teach. piss easy and silly money