Job Discussion Forums

[Trebek]

. Breach Penalty
When either of the two parties fails to fulfill the contract or fails to fulfill the contract obligations according to the terms stipulated, that is, breaks the contract, it must pay a breach penalty of US$ 800 to $3000(or the equivalent in RMB).

I could understand having to pay back incurred expenses such as airfare, but airfare isn't paid until the contract is over.

Is this normal for a Chinese Uni contract to have this penalty clause and if so, for this much?

[slareth]

The clause and the amount are both normal.

[Trebek]

Thanks Slareth, I like this University and the rest of the contract. And I've stayed for 4 and 10 years at the last two schools I've worked at, so I don't anticipate not fulfilling the contract. But what if something happened? I might have to find $3000 in order to leave the country (- airfare)? That's a little scary...

[slareth]

Take the clause with a grain of salt. If you want to leave the country, nobody will check your name against a list of 'runners' and fine you. If an emergency happens, your employer has the choice to be a dick or not but they won't be able to stop you from leaving unless they control your passport.

The only slight issue might be regaining employment since you need a release letter from your previous employer. However, if you do leave the country...I believe you may be able to have a new employer initiate the Z-Visa paperwork from scratch without the need of any release letter.

[Happy Everyday]

slareth is right !

Another thing. You might have to pay the school. If you have a good reason, you might not.

It's also possible that you give a reason, pay the school, and they say bad things about you. Possible but not likely.

If you run without paying, they may complain to SAFEA for breaking contract and seek to have you temporarily banned from the country.

I know a FT who ran. Later, he contacted them and said his mother died. No fines, no complaints, no ban for breaking contract.

[Trebek]

Thats good to know. I've never ran from a contract, and I've dealt with some real shit on occasion. But if a parent or child got Ill, or something drastic... Don't wanna think about it. Now if I can just get half that plane ticket within a month on arrival I might sign the thing.

[Non Sequitur]

US$3000 is over RMB20000.
That's way in excess of the likely harm done by departing early, given that they get to keep the airfare too.

[Happy Everyday]

Didn't someone on Dave's mention that thay they negotiate it to one month's pay and half the trip ticket?

A reasonable thing to do would be to try and negotiate it down to a pro-rate.

[slareth]

Perhaps I have misunderstood the whole thing.

I can not imagine where anyone would have to pay the breach penalty. Chinese have a million and ten ways to dodge it and foreigners have one (more or less).

Leave the country.

You can come back sponsored by a different employer and have zero issues. I thought this to be true, maybe it is not.

[Trebek]

Seems to me that if you returned to China with a $3000 judgement against you, they would find a way to get the money or bar future employment. I'm merely guessing here.

[Happy Everyday]

Someone recently posted the URL to a page on SAEFA. It gave the name, country, and birth of a FT who ran.

We don't know all the details. Maybe he owed the school money, and that is probably how they were able to report him. It was like a memo being sent to all the school FAOs to not hire him for three years. Maybe schools can ignore it, I don't know.

[flyingscotsman]

[flyingscotsman]

[bythebookie]

[Trebek]

Bookie: Who are you talking to? I haven't signed this contract yet, I'm merely asking the experts whether this is a standard clause.