It's easy to stay quiet, especially with established companies involved. But today, I decided not to do so. I want to share the awful experience I had with ViewSonic Taiwan.
I had just signed a contract with ViewSonic, but in order for me to work in Taiwan as a foreigner, I had to return to my home country to exchange my visa for a work visa.
Although I shared the risks of doing this during Covid times with ViewSonic, we both agreed on moving forward as they were fairly optimistic about the situation and remote work would be possible. Unfortunately, that’s when Covid hit Taiwan and the visa issuance took much longer than expected.
First, ViewSonic suddenly shared that remote work was not an option anymore for unclear reasons. I had to wait for months before I finally received my visa. When I finally got it, I was then informed that due to internal reorganisation, my role was uncertain and that I needed to re-interview with a new supervisor, who wasn’t even aware of my situation and was actually surprised the company kept me waiting for so long. After “the interview”, they informed me on social media: "unfortunately, we can't cooperate anymore.” So it was clear my position wasn’t cancelled recently, but earlier. I was in shock, I wanted more clarification, but due to the holidays they just mentioned multiple times that they were too “busy" to call.
I consulted Taiwan Labor Law experts, they mentioned the company had in fact violated the Taiwanese Labor Law by not officially terminating the contract. If the company wants to cancel my position, I should at least receive compensation for the expenses I made for this job. I invested a lot of time and resources, rejecting other offers before. If they could just inform me in time. ViewSonic tried to escape their responsibility by claiming the contract was just a “pre-contract” and using screenshots of our social media conversation out of context in a desperate attempt to argue.
I wouldn’t have spent time drafting this post if they had just shown a bit of respect. This decision impacted me and my fiancé’s life a lot and gave us no choice but to leave Taiwan.
If they ignore the Labor Laws, which other laws will they also not follow? I just want to share this experience out there to everyone to be aware of what ViewSonic has done and protect yourself when dealing with them. Difficult times like Covid, reveal a company’s real behaviour.
