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Big Jon
Joined: 21 Nov 2011
Location: Bucheon, Korea
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 Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2013 12:03 am Post subject: No flight home? |
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I'm sure a similar post has been made in this forum, but I didn't have much luck with the search tool and I need some quick advice.
I am finishing my contract with a Hagwon next Friday. I will have completed the full 1 year and 9 months required by my contract. This contract says that I will be given a return flight to my home country upon completion. Today, my academy informed me that because I am starting a new job in Korea next month (July 16th), they thought that I didn't need a plane ticket home and it is "too late" to schedule one now.
Obviously this is unacceptable, and a direct violation of my contract, but does anyone have any advice about what to do if I can't get them to provide a plane ticket by next Saturday? Is it a good idea to buy the ticket myself and file a claim with the labor board, or is there something else that should be done?
Thanks is advance for your help. |
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War Eagle
Joined: 15 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2013 6:23 pm Post subject: |
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1 week left and you didn't think to get this sorted before then? Most teachers don't want/need a plane ticket home if starting a new contract. Last minute tickets are expensive and I'm sure there is no way you will get your school to pay for this. When I worked at a hagwon, most teachers had their airfare sorted out about two months in advance.
With that said, teachers who don't take the airfare usually get paid 500,000 won or so. This is probably what you will be "negotiating" for. |
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Big Jon
Joined: 21 Nov 2011
Location: Bucheon, Korea
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| Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2013 6:33 pm Post subject: |
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| War Eagle wrote: |
1 week left and you didn't think to get this sorted before then? Most teachers don't want/need a plane ticket home if starting a new contract. Last minute tickets are expensive and I'm sure there is no way you will get your school to pay for this. When I worked at a hagwon, most teachers had their airfare sorted out about two months in advance.
With that said, teachers who don't take the airfare usually get paid 500,000 won or so. This is probably what you will be "negotiating" for. |
Every other teacher at my hagwan received a plane ticket without needing to give any long-term advanced noticed. Even a teacher that was fired for breaking into the academy had his plane ticket paid for the next day. I probably shouldn't have made any assumptions about my ticket, but I gave them over a month's notice and at the time had no job lined up. Doesn't my academy have a responsibility to my contract, regardless of the tickets expense? |
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War Eagle
Joined: 15 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2013 7:44 pm Post subject: |
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If you stick to your guns, you may get them to pay for it, or a portion of it, through negotiation. If push comes to shove, I'm sure you could get them to pay the cost of a ticket a month ago and you could pay the difference for what one costs now. This seems resonable to me. Get on the phone with them ASAP (today) and get the details hashed out because every day you wait the ticket prices will be going up.
Going to the labor board will get nothing sorted within the next week. |
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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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| Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 10:02 am Post subject: |
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| Big Jon wrote: |
| War Eagle wrote: |
1 week left and you didn't think to get this sorted before then? Most teachers don't want/need a plane ticket home if starting a new contract. Last minute tickets are expensive and I'm sure there is no way you will get your school to pay for this. When I worked at a hagwon, most teachers had their airfare sorted out about two months in advance.
With that said, teachers who don't take the airfare usually get paid 500,000 won or so. This is probably what you will be "negotiating" for. |
Every other teacher at my hagwan received a plane ticket without needing to give any long-term advanced noticed. Even a teacher that was fired for breaking into the academy had his plane ticket paid for the next day. I probably shouldn't have made any assumptions about my ticket, but I gave them over a month's notice and at the time had no job lined up. Doesn't my academy have a responsibility to my contract, regardless of the tickets expense? |
You should get a ticket home or the cash equivalent of a ticket home which you can put toward your own plans. This is the fair thing. However, is there any wording in your contract that allows for tickets home but not in the case of a teacher who continues working, even at another job. Some contracts do have such a provision and some employers will hold to the letter of such tricky wording. What does your contract say?
It may just be a matter of your employer's fear or reluctance to pay the higher cost of last minute summer fares. You should look for the cheapest ticket that would have been available or is available at a future date and ask for that amount, even if you have to make up some of the difference.
Both parties to a contract have a duty to schedule and lock in reasonable airfare for return tickets. However, you should get your return airfare paid since it's in your contract. You may need to be flexible on the amount or the date of your flight. |
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YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
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| Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:58 am Post subject: |
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| and it is "too late" to schedule one now. |
This part is laughable. However, the issue is still on their side.
These contracts are designed for a foreigner to come 1 year and then leave. If we stay 2 years, how does the contract reflect?
It doesn't. Morally speaking, you shouldn't fight for the airfare money. That is money that was intended for you to RETURN HOME. RETURN HOME TO YOUR HOME COUNTRY!!! YO WEE YO!!!
However, you like it here, so morally speaking, DUDE or SHEILA (for you Australians out there), why not just wait to get a flight home when you actually go home? Collecting return flights every year when you don't actually return? Where is the logic in this?
If you are going to be that Shylock of a person, then negotiate a higher monthly salary. Trying to get these man-made windfalls only shows greed. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 7:05 am Post subject: |
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| YTMND wrote: |
| Quote: |
| and it is "too late" to schedule one now. |
This part is laughable. However, the issue is still on their side.
These contracts are designed for a foreigner to come 1 year and then leave. If we stay 2 years, how does the contract reflect?
It doesn't. Morally speaking, you shouldn't fight for the airfare money. That is money that was intended for you to RETURN HOME. RETURN HOME TO YOUR HOME COUNTRY!!! YO WEE YO!!!
However, you like it here, so morally speaking, DUDE or SHEILA (for you Australians out there), why not just wait to get a flight home when you actually go home? Collecting return flights every year when you don't actually return? Where is the logic in this?
If you are going to be that Shylock of a person, then negotiate a higher monthly salary. Trying to get these man-made windfalls only shows greed. |
Or maybe you have a three week break between contracts, nowhere to stay in-country, and would like to use a contractually guaranteed plane ticket to go home during this time (where you have a free place to stay). OP did intend to return home. What he does after that his business and his business alone.
That said, sounds like OP screwed up in not figuring this out sooner, but that doesn't change the fact that there's nothing wrong with asking for return airfare prior to permanently returning to your home country. |
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YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
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| Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 7:25 am Post subject: |
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| Or maybe you have a three week break between contracts |
Challenge is on. Show me a (previous) contract that stipulates this.
Consider this a loss game/cause bro. Don't even go down this path.
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| would like to use a contractually guaranteed plane ticket to go home |
Ok, you must be naive. Schools generally hire inhouse (meaning in Korea already) employees before hiring from home countries because it saves them the airfare money. Get it now?
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| OP did intend to return home. |
And return to Korea on whose dime? You still need to think this out rookie.
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| What he does after that his business and his business alone. |
No, the flight home is transportation. Business is where you make money. How do you make money by a school paying your airfare?
The only person that profits is the airline company.
If I go to a McDonald's and order number 2 (Big Mac, fries, and cola), and I don't eat the fries (which is a sin by the way, especially without ketchup) meaning I don't take the flight home, can I demand money equaling the price of the fries/flight when I leave?
No, this is a package deal. You come to Korea, you go. You don't go, then the package has changed. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 8:32 am Post subject: |
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| YTMND wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Or maybe you have a three week break between contracts |
Challenge is on. Show me a (previous) contract that stipulates this.
Consider this a loss game/cause bro. Don't even go down this path.
| Quote: |
| would like to use a contractually guaranteed plane ticket to go home |
Ok, you must be naive. Schools generally hire inhouse (meaning in Korea already) employees before hiring from home countries because it saves them the airfare money. Get it now?
| Quote: |
| OP did intend to return home. |
And return to Korea on whose dime? You still need to think this out rookie.
| Quote: |
| What he does after that his business and his business alone. |
No, the flight home is transportation. Business is where you make money. How do you make money by a school paying your airfare?
The only person that profits is the airline company.
If I go to a McDonald's and order number 2 (Big Mac, fries, and cola), and I don't eat the fries (which is a sin by the way, especially without ketchup) meaning I don't take the flight home, can I demand money equaling the price of the fries/flight when I leave?
No, this is a package deal. You come to Korea, you go. You don't go, then the package has changed. |
Who cares whose dime he returns to Korea on? Is his current school going to provide him with accommodations for this three week period that he had previously decided to spend at home? Again, there's a break in his employment here. Judging by your responses, I'm kind of wondering if you read the original post at all... |
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YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
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| Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 8:48 am Post subject: |
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| Judging by your responses, I'm kind of wondering if you read the original post at all... |
Same with you. However, I have read it. Let's examine, shall we?
"I am finishing my contract with a Hagwon next Friday."
"I will have completed the full 1 year and 9 months required by my contract."
The contract can only refer to the possibility of the teacher leaving Korea. It doesn't mean if you stay in Korea you should be entitled to return airfare.
If you complete the contract and you go home, then you get the money to fund your transportation.
Another way to say this is...... ::::drum roll::::
If you work in Gangnam, but live in Bucheon, then they pay for a round trip commute from Bucheon to Gangnam and back to Bucheon each working day. They don't pay for Bucheon to Busan. Even if you decide in your little little whittle brain that you want to go to Busan and come back, guess what?
THE SCHOOL DOESN'T HAVE TO PAY FOR YOUR TRIP FROM BUCHEON TO BUSAN.
The premise is that you work in Korea 1 year. The contract only reflects 1 year. When you decide to work a 2nd year in Korea, then you are moving the goal posts. Changes are being made.
School 1 saves airfare costs leaving, School 2 saves airfare entering. If you are still fuzzy on this, look up "unjust enrichment".
In law, unjust enrichment is where one person is unjustly or by chance enriched at the expense of another - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unjust_enrichment
The money is to go to airfare costs. If you don't fly, then you don't have to be reimbursed and you aren't incurring a loss. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 9:14 am Post subject: |
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| Today, my academy informed me that because I am starting a new job in Korea next month (July 16th), they thought that I didn't need a plane ticket home and it is "too late" to schedule one now. |
He has a three week break between contracts. They could move him over to Bucheon, but where is he staying? He's not looking for a cash grab, he's looking to return home during a break between contracts. How long of a break would he need in order for you to be satisfied that he should get the airfare home? One month? Two months? Does he need to pinky swear that he will never return to Korea?
OP screwed up and should have told them a month ago that he needed a ticket home. At this point, I'm siding with the hagwon. But the idea that you get one ticket to Korea and one ticket home ever is just stupid. |
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YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
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| Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 9:24 am Post subject: |
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| They could move him over to Bucheon, but where is he staying? |
That is for the teacher to decide. The employer doesn't need to coddle, feed, and change diapers for the teacher.
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| But the idea that you get one ticket to Korea and one ticket home ever is just stupid. |
That is common sense. Airline tickets are bought in this manner. You go on vacation. Guess what?
YOU BUY A TICKET TO GO, AND YOU COME BACK. YOU DON'T LATER GET TO CANCEL IT WITHOUT A CANCELLATION FEE.
Do you need to "pinky swear" that you will pay for a trip back home even if the employee doesn't need to go back home? |
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YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
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| Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 9:25 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| They could move him over to Bucheon, but where is he staying? |
That is for the teacher to decide. The employer doesn't need to coddle, feed, and change diapers for the teacher.
| Quote: |
| But the idea that you get one ticket to Korea and one ticket home ever is just stupid. |
That is common sense. Airline tickets are bought in this manner. You go on vacation. Guess what?
YOU BUY A TICKET TO GO, AND YOU COME BACK. YOU DON'T LATER GET TO CANCEL IT WITHOUT A CANCELLATION FEE.
Do you need to "pinky swear" that you will pay for a trip back home even if the employee doesn't need to go back home? |
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teacherbunny
Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 3:38 pm Post subject: |
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If it is in your contract and you have completed your contract with all terms then you are entitled to it..
If they don't provide one go to the labour board..It is not the schools business whether you are going to another school after this..and you are entitiled to that ticket home whether you are going forever or coming back..
I would say follow it up.. |
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YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
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| Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 7:36 pm Post subject: |
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| teacherbunny wrote: |
If it is in your contract and you have completed your contract with all terms then you are entitled to it..
If they don't provide one go to the labour board..It is not the schools business whether you are going to another school after this..and you are entitiled to that ticket home whether you are going forever or coming back..
I would say follow it up.. |
If you have 3 sick days and only use 1, are you entitled to 2 more when the contract is complete? Not all provisions are enforceable after a contract period.
In this case, if it is normal in the industry/business practice to show flight receipts/boarding passes in order to be reimbursed, then not leaving the country would preclude you from collecting the flight money.
This doesn't have to be put in the contract. |
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