Job Discussion Forums

tuvia · Joined: 29 Mar 2006 Posts: 34 Location: beijing

ive been considering a job in guizhou, but one sticking point is that the school withholds 20 percent of your salary until the end of the contract (they said to ensure that the teacher fulfills the contract). i was provided with a couple of ft's email addresses and have been in contact with them; they are both signing on for another year and said they received their money back at the end.

is this sort of thing common? 20 percent over the course of a year long contract seems like a great deal of money to leave out there in limbo.

Super Mario · Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 4:00 am Post subject:

Not standard by any means; sounds like they've had some runners. I'd refused to be penalised due to the misdemenours of those who came before me.

HunanForeignGuy · Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 989 Location: Shanghai, PRC

Forgive me, but you are sure that the email addresses are real email addresses of teachers and NOT the email addresseses of teacher-clones made up by the school? I had that one happen before.

Frankly, get two telephone numbers and also request the email addresses of teachers who are no longer with the school.

And NO, the practice of withholding is not common at all...

I would urge extreme caution, extreme caution here.

tuvia · Joined: 29 Mar 2006 Posts: 34 Location: beijing

i decided to take a train down there to have a look; i think one of the ft's is there over the summer. i dont like this 20percent withheld bit, so if they dont back off that then i very likely will pass. thanks again.

no_exit · Joined: 12 Oct 2004 Posts: 565 Location: Kunming

I had a school that did this for the first three months, just to ensure that you wouldn't take off immediately after starting. It was annoying, but the months flew by and at the end of the third month I got a nice big paycheck.

I wouldn't do it for the whole year though. I wouldn't be concerned so much that they wouldn't give you the money, but what if you need it before then. You've already earned it and they're keeping it for you for a whole year? Not really reasonable.

pandasteak · Joined: 01 Apr 2004 Posts: 166

that's messed up.

I would encourage bidding them a swift "goodday" and showing them the back of your hand.

Tezcatlipoca · Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1214

Absolutely unacceptable.

Sure, it may turn out okay... but if it doesn't, you're the one that gets hurt.

Standard practice from what I've seen is to have the teachers be paid on the 5th of every month for the previous month. This means that teachers will lose 5 days of salary if they pull a runner (or more if they leave in the middle of a month.

Any more than that is a sign that the school has severe trust issues. While that may not be their fault, it is not indicative of a good work environment.

cj750 · Joined: 27 Apr 2004 Posts: 3081 Location: Beijing

this is an insult and should not be accepted..this action assumes that you are not trustworthy and also gives them the advantage as to quality of care given the FT..in other words they can give substandard care due to the fact that they are sure you will stick around to collect your juice...

shuize · Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Posts: 1270

Right. As cj750 points out, the longer you stay in such a situation, the longer you have to stay just to get what you've already earned. If you agree to that, you're really letting your employer get you by the short hairs.

latefordinner · Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Posts: 973

Looks like a scam, sounds like a scam, feels like a scam, tastes like a scam, smells like a scam. Don't step in it.

KES · Joined: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 722

I'd accept, but only on the condition that I withhold twenty percent of my teaching to ensure I was paid. Fair deal.

Outsida · Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 4:38 pm Post subject:

You mean leave class 20% earlier? Or just teach them 20% less English? Laughing