As ECC doesn’t require its instructors to be proficient in Japanese, members feel that is only fair that payslips are in English or bilingual. Other major language chains provide their employees with English payslips, and we think it is only fair that ECC does too.

In December 2006, the General Union formally asked ECC to consider providing English pay slips to all native instructors. ECC answered positively stating that they would proactively look into the matter. Language is not the only barrier, the accounting techniques used can be quite confusing. Checking whether overtime has been calculated correctly is no simple task.

One example is when an instructor works overtime on their legal rest day. The number of minutes worked are multiplied by 1.35, but this is not clearly noted.

On the other hand, Japanese staff do get quite detailed pay slips clearly showing all the different kinds of overtime (Legal rest day OT, 1.25 OT, late shifts OT), and other usual information such as the number of ALPs remaining. Let’s hope that ECC can find an ideal solution soon, so payday is less of a headache!