Labour Law - Breach of Contract

[CanOz]

I have a mate that's working in China. He like me, has a knucklehead for a boss. Unfortunately for his boss it looks like he now has breached his contract with my mate. His contract states that he will paid once per month, not on the same day, but during the month after the work was completed. In other words he should be paid sometime in October for work done in September. Being November 6th now he still has not been paid. To me this is a material breach of his contract.

Any opinions?

CanOz

 

[McLovin]

What's the end game? If I remember my contract law, he will only be allowed collect actual damages or compel performance.

Of course any sort of legal action is going to make life at work very tough. It's one of the reasons a lot of lawyers suggest shadow writing to try and find a solution before they start firing off legal prose.

 

[CanOz]

What's the end game? If I remember my contract law, he will only be allowed collect actual damages or compel performance.

Of course any sort of legal action is going to make life at work very tough.

Well i think he just wants out of the contract McLovin. The contract has a clause that says he must pay the headhunter fee (something like 20% of his total package) if he resigns within 12 months of hire. My wife's classmate works for a large law firm, Dacheng. I was going to ask him for an opinion as well.

CanOz

 

[McLovin]

Well i think he just wants out of the contract McLovin. The contract has a clause that says he must pay the headhunter fee (something like 20% of his total package) if he resigns within 12 months of hire.

CanOz

Material breach doesn't automatically allow for termination of a contract (unless there is a specific clause but I think even then it's a grey area), it needs to be a fundamental breach. IANAL (and it's been a long while since I studied law!), but I imagine most lawyers would say being a little over a week late in paying wages is not grounds to terminate an employment contract.

 

[CanOz]

Material breach doesn't allow for termination of a contract (unless there is a specific clause but I think even then it's a grey area), it needs to be a fundamental breach. IANAL (and it's been a long while since I studied law!), but I imagine most lawyers would say being a little over a week late in paying wages is not grounds to terminate an employment contract.

Yeah, i would think he may be a little concerned as well because the other employees have not been paid for 8 weeks either.

These bloody privateers are a law unto themselves...

CanOz