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Switching jobs after contract. Do we still get airfare?
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MacLean



Joined: 14 Feb 2011

PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 7:28 pm    Post subject: Switching jobs after contract. Do we still get airfare? Reply with quote

I will be switching jobs at the end of my contract. If I were simply to return to my home country, I'd get my airfare paid. But, as stated, I plan to move to another job in Korea. Can I expect to get the airfare in cashee? Or do I simply lose out?

MacLean
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ttompatz



Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea

PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 7:54 pm    Post subject: Re: Switching jobs after contract. Do we still get airfare? Reply with quote

MacLean wrote:
I will be switching jobs at the end of my contract. If I were simply to return to my home country, I'd get my airfare paid. But, as stated, I plan to move to another job in Korea. Can I expect to get the airfare in cashee? Or do I simply lose out?

MacLean


Depends on what your contract says.
Airfare is strictly a contractual matter.

Some EPIK and GEPIK contracts used to have a clause that required you to depart Korea within 10 days of the termination of your contract to be eligible for return airfare. Some of the newer ones just give an exit allowance and don't care if you stay or go.

.
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sallymonster



Joined: 06 Feb 2010
Location: Seattle area

PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 4:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What about when you're getting a new job in Korea, but you want to visit your home country for a couple weeks between contracts? My current school still has to pay my airfare home, right? My school will know I'm getting another job in Korea because I'll need references. I have a GEPIK contract, btw.
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lifeinkorea



Joined: 24 Jan 2009
Location: somewhere in China

PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 5:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you get a new job and stay in Korea, I think morally you shouldn't ask for airfare because you aren't using that money for a flight.

However, if you get a new job and leave the country before coming back then I don't see anything legally or morally preventing you from expecting airfare.

I'll comment more on this with something else you mentioned.


Quote:
My school will know I'm getting another job in Korea because I'll need references.


If anyone leaves Korea and turns in their ARC card before leaving, they have to go through all the steps to get new documents for a new visa. That means the first school has no control over you. You can sign a new contract, get a new visa, and never talk with the first school again.

I know this isn't exactly your situation, but I feel you need to take on a more business like approach to this. You probably enjoyed your time, and that is why you are signing on for another year within GEPIK. Don't let that get in the way of "moving on". Inform them of the date you want to fly home.
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ontheway



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...

PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 8:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

lifeinkorea wrote:
If you get a new job and stay in Korea, I think morally you shouldn't ask for airfare because you aren't using that money for a flight.



Interesting that you feel that way.

Airfare is part of the teacher's pay package and the school expects to incur that cost with each teacher. Of course, it is a contractual issue whether or not the school actually has to pay and what amount.

But it seems to me that morally the airfare was earned by the teacher and the teacher should get the cash equivalent of the cheapest available return ticket price to use for anything he or she wants.

When signing a contract, teachers should look for a cash option for return airfare.
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lifeinkorea



Joined: 24 Jan 2009
Location: somewhere in China

PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 9:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Airfare is part of the teacher's pay package


It's also possible that a job could have medical benefits for the employee if they need them in this package. Does that mean they should receive money for that as well (when they never needed it) instead of the hospital which would normally get that money just like an airline company would get the airfare?
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northway



Joined: 05 Jul 2010

PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 9:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

lifeinkorea wrote:
If you get a new job and stay in Korea, I think morally you shouldn't ask for airfare because you aren't using that money for a flight.


From what I've read around here, we're being taxed on our airfare now, which if true means we really ought to get paid every time we re-sign, regardless of whether we're even leaving the school or not.
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ontheway



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...

PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 9:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

lifeinkorea wrote:
Quote:
Airfare is part of the teacher's pay package


It's also possible that a job could have medical benefits for the employee if they need them in this package. Does that mean they should receive money for that as well (when they never needed it) instead of the hospital which would normally get that money just like an airline company would get the airfare?



The "medical benefits" are part of the pay package. However, they are actually paid out - to the medical insurance provider, which in Korea should be the National Health Insurance plan. If it were legal, then perhaps a cash option, chosen in advance, would be appropriate. The teacher could choose to go uninsured. This has nothing to do with the hospital which is paid by the Insurance provider.

If the insurance coverage is purchased, then at the end of the year, the money is already spent. There is no cash left to give to the teacher.

(Insurance, properly constituted, is a kind of reverse gamble whereby the purchaser pools his risk with individuals having a similar risk profile. This allows the insured to reduce his exposure to catastrophic costs by locking in a smaller fixed payment. This has nothing in common with airfare reimbursement. Of course, national health insurance has nothing in common with insurance. It is a socialist welfare scheme.)


Last edited by ontheway on Tue Feb 22, 2011 9:30 am; edited 1 time in total
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lifeinkorea



Joined: 24 Jan 2009
Location: somewhere in China

PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 9:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

northway wrote:
lifeinkorea wrote:
If you get a new job and stay in Korea, I think morally you shouldn't ask for airfare because you aren't using that money for a flight.


From what I've read around here, we're being taxed on our airfare now, which if true means we really ought to get paid every time we re-sign, regardless of whether we're even leaving the school or not.


That has no bearing on this particular issue. If you aren't taking the money, then you don't have anything to be taxed on. If the school decides to pay you for a flight when you don't need one, then you still come out ahead (some imaginary flight which you won't take minus some applied tax amount). You are either at ZERO or you get money.
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ontheway



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...