Job Discussion Forums

[sambeckett]

Que Onda.
Let us first acknowledge that Mexico is one of the world�s top economies. There is no excuse for international teacher salaries in Mexico either in private or private institutions to average lower than nations existing on international life support such as Laos. (Or for that matter, the hard working Mexican staff member who must work several jobs to survive).

I am one hundred percent for this posting. I know from personal experience that we are entitled to all the above as any Mexican national.

There are too many operators and schools-though they desire native speakers�are unwilling to pay for them. I understand that there are schools with clients not able to afford business rates for instruction. To work in such an institution is up to the discretion of individual teachers.

Many of these schools may offers rewarding experiences yet I found in my three years of experience teaching in this wonderful nation that many unscrupulous owners or managers are unwilling to offer basic benefits solely to line their own pockets. Can any one dispute this fact?

Saludos cordiales,

[scottmx81]

Are the part-time teachers (working whatever number of hours) entitled to the same full load of benefits as full-timers?

Another thing that Mexican employers do very frequently is under-report employee earnings. Most of these benefits such as Infonavit, IMSS, legal Christmas bonus, etc, are based on percentages of employee income. So what they do is report to IMSS (Social Security) that you are making practically minimum wage, while still paying you your regular salary, which is much higher. It's all find and dandy from the employee's perspective, who may not even know until, of course, they have a car accident and can't go to work for a month or two, and receive a dismal employement insurance payout from IMSS, for example. People working as independent contractors probably would not receive any EI payments from IMSS at all if they are injured and can not work, unless they are properly taking care of all the paper work on their own.

Here is a webpage that contains a more formal outline of legal benefits which employees are entitled to. Scroll down to the "EMPLOYMENT AND WORKING CONDITIONS" section. If you don't receive these benefits, you should be making more money than the standard 50 or 60 pesos per class hour to cover yourself in the case of such things as not being able to work due to injury, paying for your own medical insurance, etc., particularly if you are intending to working long term or indefinitely, not just for one or two semesters as a short-term travel abroad opportunity.

http://www.mexico-trade.com/DOINGMX.htm

Personally, as far as medical insurance, I'd go with private insurance. The premiums are not unreasonable if you are going into it without serious health problems.

Also, if you are living there long-term and aren't paying into a health insurance plan, and / or don't have insurance in another country, it is probably in your best interest to make sure you are registered with IMSS. Even though it is government run, as far as I know IMSS will not give you coverage for pre-existing conditions. It isn't like here in Canada where you are covered no matter what. With IMSS, there are pre-existing exclusions so you can't just go sign up for insurance one day (private or public) if you have a problem or are diagnosed with a serious medical issue. So this is another reason why it is in your best interest to make sure your employer is properly paying into your IMSS plan, and declaring your full income.

[MELEE]

IMSS does cover you for pre-exisiting conditions. But you must start from the begining with IMSS. First go to your designated family doctor and have him "diagnose" the problem, then he recommens you get an appointment with X specialist, then the specialist sees you and you get tests done, then you start treatment--that all can take several months. We've had several teachers come with pre-exsiting conditions and they get IMSS treatment.
Personally, when I had ISSTE through my husband, I arrived at my first ever ISSTE appointment knowing I needed gull bladder surgery, two days after having been "dada de alta". I brought the tests I'd had done at a private doctor and showed it to the ISSTE doctor--he pocked around at my stomach and wrote up an referal to the ISSTE surgeon. I was also seeing IMSS about the problem, but ISSTE operated on be before I even had my first appointment with the IMSS surgeon.

However, it pregnancy is your pre-exsiting condition, then yes, you need to have been registered in IMSS before you were pregnant for them to cover you maternity leave, they will attend you and your baby no matter what, but if you want your maternity leave paid you have to have been in IMSS at least 6 weeks before conception.

[scottmx81]

I'm surprised, but maybe you were entitled because your husband has been paying into ISSTE for a long time and you are entitled to it as being a family member of his. Also, it is a two-tier system, public servants and others working for public institutions get ISSTE, while everyone gets IMSS. ISSTE is known to be a bit better than IMSS, I believe.

I'm still skeptical as too what extent IMSS would cover pre-existing conditions. The fourth result for "IMSS pre-existing condition" on Google.ca clearly states in both the summary and the article that "The only thing that is not covered at anytime is pre-existing conditions". I didn't do any searching beyond that, but I wouldn't count on IMSS treating pre-existing conditions without properly checking it out, even if your ISSTE coverage through your husband treated you.

http://www.ajijiclaw.com/IMSS.htm

Here is another link that lists which pre-existing diseases are not covered (2nd result):

http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/dt/dtimssregs.html

[Samantha]

Yes, I also know foreigners who are on IMSS and are being treated for pre-existing conditions. If you can believe it, an American lady just had heart surgery for a heart condition she has had for years, though she has only lived in Mexico for 4 years. I thought she was rather brave (I've seen the local IMSS emergency room) They sent her to another city to one of their top heart surgeons and she can't say enough about the system and how well she was treated.

[MELEE]

[Samantha]

Scott, your response was detailed but it still didn't answer my question, which I am sure was an oversight. For how long have you taught English in Mexico?