I don’t know when I can and should go back to China

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shahabh
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Apr 06, 2019 2:52 am

I don’t know when I can and should go back to China

Post by shahabh »

I have been a teacher at a school in Shaanxi province for the past few years and I came back home to Canada for the winter break... however, things have changed quite dramatically over the past few weeks. All the teachers, including myself, have been doing online classes. HR said that we were supposed to be back on March 9 and anything above that would be considered unauthorized leave... however we have been teaching until now and will continue. The school says that the government will be allowing schools to open on March 30 (for graduating classes - for exams for CIE AND AP, which is another question mark because how can students do AP exams when they have to travel to HongKong and other places to write exams) and they are asking me to come back. Other schools in the city have not said anything yet. If I go now, I’d have to stay in a quarantine hotel for 14 days also I’m afraid that I won’t be able to come back home if I went, and the situation is changing rapidly every day. My government is asking all Canadians to come back to Canada ‘while we still can’ and that scares me. They are even lending money to people who need it to for travel... flight tickets have suddenly gone from ~1100cad to ~4200cad....
In this situation, I am really considering if I should go back at this time or not. I really want to finish my contract because I have done most of the work for the school year and this is the time to relax during the exam time and get my bonus. I am also wondering that if the schools open, they might just close back down in a few days... I was wondering if they should at least give me a reference letter if a situation arises that I really won’t be able to complete my school year, also If there is any chance of getting a prorated bonus in this situation... in my opinion, according to the news I have been following over the past few days is that the borders definitely will be closing soon. Please give some advice as to what should be done here.
nathan61
Posts: 92
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 11:08 pm

Re: I don’t know when I can and should go back to China

Post by nathan61 »

I would go back if it is a decent school, but that is just me. If it is a very low paying school then maybe it is a different story. It seems very unlikely that you would still be prevented from returning to Canada in 2-3 months. The two weeks in a hotel sounds pretty awful, but seems it would be worth it to get your paycheck and bonus and finish the contract. This has hit everybody pretty hard, so time to step up and do something for your students and school. (Although this may not apply if you don't have any warm feelings for the school).
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

What HR thinks or considers doesnt matter. All that matters is they pay you the coin for your online work. They could call your unauthorized leave an abomination onto the Lord and as long as the coin still comes it doesnt matter.
If you dont do what the ISs leadership says youre very likely to lose benefits and comp. Its just the way it is, the IS can determine the basis for bonuses with a policy and can write whatever reference thy want.
ISs rarely give prorated bonuses, its the nature of being an all or none issue. You make the IS and leadership happy and you get the bonus. If the situation isnt optimal, than ISs are loath to reward anything less than their optimal happiness.
It sounds like the coin is really the issue are the costs with returning going to be substantially less than the bonus and the coin that its worth going back?
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