A lecturer has filed a lawsuit against a Ho Chi Minh City junior college, alleging it had miscalculated his salary and unilaterally terminated his contract, amidst further accusations by his colleagues that the school circumvented a ministry regulation on faculty to enroll students.

Nguyen Tien Thuc, a lecturer at the Saigon College of Art, Culture, and Tourism (Saigon ACT), said the school had contracted him to be a permanent faculty member from June at a monthly salary of VND5.5 million (US$260).

He was paid VND11 million ($520) for June and July in accordance with the contract’s terms, Thuc said.

But the junior college suddenly announced on August 31 that it would end the contract with him the same day.

It would make Thuc and many other permanent lecturers semi-permanent faculty members, which means their salary would shrink.

Saigon ACT told him this was to cut costs as it could not recruit as many students as expected earlier, according to Thuc.

The lecturer complained that the so-called cost-cutting effort has hurt his benefits because the school is only willing to pay him more than VND8.7 million ($412) for the last three months. It should be VND16.8 million ($795) before tax, Thuc said. 

“Clearly they cheated me,” the educator protested. “They did not calculate my salary the way we agreed on in the first place.”

So the payment has yet to be settled so far.

In a recent interview, a school official explained to Tuoi Tre that Thuc had violated the contract’s terms so it could not continue hiring him as a permanent faculty member.

“We found out he had his health insurance paid for by four different workplaces while our contract says a permanent faculty member is not allowed to work for any other employer,” Nguyen Huu Ngoc, a Saigon ACT personnel chief, elaborated.

But some Saigon ACT lecturers have accused that maybe the junior college employed Thuc and some others in June to temporarily meet a requirement for tenured faculty count set by the country’s education ministry.

The school hired them only to increase its number of permanent lecturers to the compulsory level so that it was allowed to enroll, they said.

Saving money by laying off the lecturers after that will automatically follow, the educators added.