Korean Job Discussion Forums

[poet13]

hello everyone.
question about airfare.
When a contract is finished, the employer is required to provide airfare. Ok, standard.
The question is, if i am going to stay in country, does the school (hagwon), still have to provide a ticket to country of origin? Or, in lieu (sp?) of a ticket, is there a legal requirement that they provide the basic cost of a ticket? Or, can i person be given a ticket, and if they dont leave the country, cash it in?
Links, info, and flames welcome.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Getting cash in lieu of a ticket seems difficult. Don't pay for a ticket yourself. Tell them you don't have enough money and let them buy it.

[dharma bum]

you can ask for money instead of the ticket. i doubt that there's any legal requirement that says they have to give it to you though. as far as cashing the ticket in, i can see some potential problems with that (non-refundable ticket, dealing with the company's travel agent, etc.), but it could also end up going pretty smoothly under the right circumstances. basically, i think you're limited to asking for the cash, and, if that doesn't work, taking the ticket and hoping for the best.

[Captain Corea]

I was given cash equivilant to what it would take to go to Osaka.

[jacl]

I got 600,000 because I'm signing on again. I was also given 400,000 because my first 5 months of pension were not contributed towards. And I got an 100,000 raise.

I didn't get the money yet, but I definitely brought up the plane ticket thing. He seems to think that plane ticket is 700,000 Won. I'm from Fredericton, NB. The cheapest one I found was 1.6 million. I however, didn't do a lot of searching. I asked hime where this 700 bucks took me and he said, "Toronto and you're capital". I showed him on a map where these cities are and told him that it's very expensive to fly to my home from these places I told him "Fark it. Just give me 50,000 more a month next contract and that'll total 600,000." At the same time, I brought up a billion things because he said something about saying "Shut up!" to my students. I only paid pension on the last 7 months, taxes are less than that, etc.

[pegpig]

I'd say if you want to get cash instead of a ticket you should have it in the contract, if you haven't already signed. If you've signed, you can try getting a compromise. But, I've heard of many teachers having problems getting money in lieu of a ticket even though it's the same thing to the school, financially. In fact, the school can usually save money because they can pay a teacher less than if they have to pay for a ticket. And, both sides can win.

[poet13]

no, i dont have anything in writing. Just curious as I'm discussing renewal with her again this week. However, I think theres a greater chance of me winning the layoral election in my Korean city than there is of her giving me a single won. Still have to address a couple of more important issues like 840000 overpay in taxes, and not having been paid for 8 holidays (scheduled and national) last year. I'll deal with that little stuff first.
I will however ask that cash in lieu of ticket be provided on my next contract. 700,000 to toronto sounds about right. I have seen as low as 750,000 one way, + two weeks in advance...

[bulgogiboy]

I got cash instead of my ticket, it was about 700,000 to London, even though like the Canadian poster my hometown is in Scotland, another flight away. Because London was my 'capital'. Also, my boss only gave me the money for the ticket, he didn't feel he had to pay the tax.

It all really depends on how decent a person your boss is. I think they're not obligated to give you the cash/ticket if you aren't going to leave Korea.

Also, I called a travel agentand asked about refunding a ticket They said the money would be refunded to the person who bought it(i.e. your boss).
Though different airlines/travel agents may have different policies.

[just because]

I have/and will be getting the cash equivalent of an airfare to my home airport and back...

If they said we won't pay i would just go home and say well sorry but you should pay now I suppose....

It isn't about being a rip off but if your contract says they will supply you with a return ticket to the point of origin then that is what they should do...if you decide to go or not is up to you

[bulgogiboy]

Yeah, I agree. Just tell that to those money-grabbing, swindling, hagwon owners....

[Homer]

I got cash a couple of time after a contract. The cash payment covered a ticket to Japan and not to Canada (first time).

However, if it is not in your contract...you may have to 'settle' for airfare and go home for a vacation..hey who would have considered that as a possibility??
If you have the time that is...

Or, and I did this a couple of times, get a ticket to some other closer location in asia and do some traveling!

[The Chewbacca Defense]

In my experience a lot of contracts say that they will be pay for a return ticket back to your home country.

Unless it is stated in the contract, why would the hogwans give you money. Those who so are lucky and all the power to them, but I don't hogwans should have to give teachers the money in lieu of the ticket.

I found myself in a similar situation a few years back. They weren't going to give me any money in lieu of a ticket. So in the end I thought f$%ck it so i flew home (to Australia) for a few days and then came back.

If this issue is a concern it should be addressed before signing a contract.

[dharma bum]

i personally think that it might be more acceptable to the school if you make the change beneficial to them as well. for example, offer to take around $100 less than the price of the ticket. by doing this, they save a little bit of money and you get what you want. it's win-win compared to them paying the full amount for a ticket that you don't really want.

[pegpig]

[The Chewbacca Defense]