Persistent issues with salary pay as a postdoc in China: What can I do?
Invited by the OP to post my comment under another post here:
Courts in China are often unwilling to rule in favor of foreigners in economic dispute cases. Not to mention that Chinese law already provides inadequate protection for workers in this case. I am not a lawyer myself, so I do not feel qualified to talk about the legal details, but in general it is very hard for workers to get what they deserve when they end up in a wage dispute, and especially if you're foreign. (Source: a close family member has experience working as an attorney-at-law in many wage dispute cases, including a few involving foreigners).
China can be pretty unfriendly for foreigners living in the country, as there are a lot of limitations on them. I would not suggest avoiding the country, but do expect a lot of difficulties.
More:
To solve this problem, you do need to know some Chinese politics. In China, universities are placed under direct administration of either the Ministry of Education or the provincial Department of Education, and they have no administrative autonomy whatsoever (unsurprising, because there is no separation of power in the Chinese government system, even on paper).
So, a court might not solve your issue. The court, as another government agency, would be unlikely to rule against another government agency. Also, this is a case of economic dispute and you are a foreigner. If you really want to go to court, find an experienced lawyer. Note, however, that Chinese courts can forbid foreign citizens with unresolved civil litigation from leaving the country; if your bring the case to court, you might risk not being able to leave the country until the case is resolved.
You might have a better chance if you escalate the issue to a higher level governmental agency. The Ministry of Education 教育部 might be a good choice (they likely are your university's direct supervising agency), so is SAFEA 国家外国专家局. Do try to contact them.
If you think there's corruption involved, try the Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection 中央纪律检查委员会 (aka 中纪委). The Ministry of Supervision (now the National Supervision Commission) is in fact just another name under which the CCDI operates, so no need to contact them individually. The CCDI is an extremely powerful agency, so they might be the most helpful to you (of course, that's if they do take your case seriously).
Do write a letter to the CCDI if you are confident that misuse of public funds is present. However, instead of writing to your university's president 校长, perhaps writing to your university's Party Secretary 党委书记 might be more helpful. Also, see if there's a Central Inspection Group 中央巡视组 inspecting your university. If there happens to be one, you might as well report to them directly.
Do consult a lawyer. Be sure to choose a lawyer with experience working with foreigners.
Your first stop should be: Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security 中华人民共和国人力资源和社会保障部 How you will contact and make a complaint without knowing of Chinese language, I am not sure. I would suggest you a lawyer, but the culture is not the same, so what is consider lawyer in West it is not considered as usual in China.
there is also Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Also, there is Ministry of Supervision 中华人民共和国监察部 I mention them because the information you provide clearly indicates misuse of public funds.
if you dont know the Chinese language I recommend going for help to Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China. they should know English and they can advise you where and how to complain.
I wish to ask whether anyone here had a similar situation, and would know what could be done? Particularly in China?
I might add my feedback on this, comparing it to my experiences. I've been a postdoc at Nankai in Tianjin, and have worked here ever since. I love China!
Miscommunication is normal here: you plan your life and career based on the information they provide, only to find out what you envisaged is incorrect. If you're particularly concerned about money, China is probably not the place to be.
I signed a postdoctoral fellow contract for a 120k RMB salary per year, with a promise of an extra 60K RMB per year to be provided by the college.
I'm an associate professor with years of experience working in China, many Chinese co-authors, and a fellowship; I'm a native English speaker, I speak Chinese (sort of), and I have a Chinese green card. Regardless, this salary would be higher than my current salary. Very few postdocs (any?) in China will get such a high salary.
I needed a certain official document about which they claim they were unaware.
This happens a lot: rules and regulations change in China quite frequently, and officials don't update the websites (both the Chinese and English ones). It's normal to find out mid-way through an application that something else is required.
In reality, they never paid me that 1st month while dismissing it by saying "probably will fix that later".
I arrived in January, started getting paid in May, and they backdated it to March. During this time, I wrote papers which would probably impact me far more than a few months salary. I also get to live in China! China!!
I also didn't (and still don't) pay rent as the university covers my accommodation, and I barely pay bills.
Then I was told some unspecified large sum is retained to fund my expenses to any trips/conferences I might wish to attend. I was not clearly informed of when or even if I would get the withheld amount.
I've racked up some huge travel bills: 9 countries this year; 10 countries last year. The payment of flights, accommodation, and registration is usually done by the university, so I don't have to do much. That's quite a lot of life experiences!
...everyone tells me "not to worry".
I've learned not to worry. I just work hard, gain experience, and publish, and money sorts itself out.
Exit procedures included preparing lengthy reports which had not been requested before.
I was asked to write a report at the end of my postdoc too (something like 70+ pages); something like a "postdoc thesis". I copy/pasted my papers into it, put in a whole bunch of conference photos, etc. Nobody is ever going to read it.
They would pay me a "reward" for completing documents, plus one month of basic salary, and promised a large sum adding up to the final amount... in exchange for invoices.
I've never heard of this. Here, invoices are needed for reimbursement (e.g. for hotels, taxis, etc.), but never anything else.
They explicitly instructed me to buy invoices from companies they'd recommend by paying 10-15% of the declared value to "reimburse the rest of my salary". They insisted this is common procedure, offering help to "find invoices to exchange".
I've never heard of it. I'd probably refuse too.
They explain that what is declared on the contract as salary includes a significant amount which is to be spent with research only, and that invoices ensure the university can pay/reimburse.
That explains the extraordinarily large salary, and the mysterious invoices.
It sounds like your colleagues were trying to find a "workaround" ("buy invoices from companies they'd recommend") so you can claim the research-allocated funds.