Job Discussion Forums

[Magoo]

Does anyone have a definitive (by Chinese standards) answer for this?
I was wondering if government schools are obliged to include airfares in the contract, whether or not the FT already lives in China. In my last (private) school, the boss got round the question by giving a set 'bonus' of Y6000 at the same times as schools pay for tickets. I know that the Chinese would happily chew off their own feet to save money on shoe leather, but is there a law stipulating that they should at least pay something. I'm job-hunting, right now, so I'd like to know where I stand before I dive in with the negotiations.

[struelle]

Legally a school must reimburse you for the cost of your round-trip airline transportation. But if you are a local hire, this gets a bit muddy. The last school I worked at reimbursed me for a one-way ticket back to Canada, but the problem was that I didn't leave right away.

I got around this by having my boss call up a friend in the travel agent to write up a bogus receipt, then got my money in cash for it.

Some schools give cash in lieu of a plane ticket, be it a bonus. You should definitely negotiate this ahead of time, that is if you intend to stay around in China after working and/or you are a local hire.

Steve

[kev7161]

Your contract should state what is due to you. Generally, if you have the receipt for your plane ticket, then the school reimburses you (sometimes up to a predetermined amount . . . my school is 8000rmb). Most schools will probably want the original receipt and not a copy. If no receipt, then there should be a clause that states a certain lesser amount they will give you or a one-way ticket home will be purchased for you. If you are staying in country, then you should be able to simply ask for the money in rmb. I'm sure each contract varies, but most of us here probably agree that there is some sort of airfare reimbursment in a standard Chinese contract.

[Spiderman Too]

[Roger]

It is a legal requirement for schools hiring FTs to pay airfare after completion of your stint; struelle wrote they must pay you "a round trip", but to my knowledge they are only obligated to fund your trip back home, not your trip into China.
Any contract that claims to be legal must be approved by the PSB who in turn must enforce such regulations. Schools can flout it only by hiring you illegally.
On the other hand, there seems no hard and fast rule about FTs already in the country (although I have always been paid my home-bound flight). In recent time, some schools have asked to see your ticket and would in fact refund you the exact amount you paid for your ticket. This has not happened to me but to some that posted here.

The most oft-cited airfare was RMB 5000, but in some cases the school paid up to 8000.

[quanxie]

With the Expedia and a color printer, you can make an "original looking" ticket... I have managed to get over 9000RMB three times now...

[clarrie]

Once had a situation where I was employed in country, but the contract said I would be given a ticket back to native soil at end of contract. The school at some stage -forgot how this came about! - wanted me to re-write parts of the particular contract they had so it would better fit my/our situation, so in doing so I also added that an international ticket or its RMB value at time of intened departure would be given to FT.

I was going to move to another school in China at the end of that contract and the school got wind of it, so when it came for final settlements - there were other problems! - they suggested that because I was not going home there was no need for them to supply me with a ticket and that they should not have to provide me with airfare money, regardless of what the contract said. No problem, I told them, give me the ticket and I'll go home for a week and then come back. Annoyed them no end and they wanted to know why I would do such a thing if I was moving to another city/job in China. Told them that if it was a way of gettig them to fulfill their contractual obligations I would gladly do that. In fact, my intention was to get the ticket and rip it up in front of them. There's a lot more to this stort than just the ticket issue, obviously!

I did a search of ticket prices and told them how much a ticket would cost them and when I wanted it. 'Sanity' prevailed, well, sort of, and we negotiated a fair amount and I received payment in hand.

Sometimes you've got to be as devious as they are! Play the at teir own game, as it were.

[bendan]

My employer just wants a ticket, for tax/accounting purposes. They don't care whether it's for me or not, nor whether it's to my home country or not, as long as the value isn't greater than a ticket home.

[Roger]

If you are employed by a specially stingy boss then my advice would be to point out that you don't normally get a monthly salary for every single month of the 12 months of a year; Chinese public schools pay salaries only during roughly ten months, so that those staying on spend their airfare on tourism inside China.
The minimum 5000 they owe you roughly covers one to two months of paid work (minimum pay is 2200).

[stavrogin2001]

Where I am at in the NE the local college and uni teachers get 12 months salary plus a "13th" month salary. Ours on one year contracts are at the longest only 10 months. I guess this is up to local conditions.

But in terms of getting your money. I posted on this about a year and a half ago. You have to mention these things before signing the contract. If you assume you will get it, you are only setting yourself up to get angry.

Tianjin schools require reciepts for all plane tickets. period. I was lucky to get 1,500 because I had flown to Dalian during a break and still had the tickets.

Before signing any contract, these are the questions that should be asked and if you are still not sure, have them write it in the contract.