Dear airline colleagues,
If anyone is considering heading to China for a contract, consider your options for a broker wisely.
I considered CAE PARC was a reliable choice but since covid they have shown different colours.
Social Security payments which were made on behalf of Employee which were to be returned to the Employee after termination are now being retained by CAE who say 'we paid it, we receive it'.
Chinese Law firm say it's illegal - so that's a matter for us to deal with.
For you, if you are considering employment with a Chinese Airline what I can say is, Brookfield, minus a small transaction fee (for making this transaction during covid without receiving their fee from the Chinese company) fully returned these funds to their pilots.
This is not an advertisement for Brookfield but their pilots had no less support than any other broker during employment and aren't faced with a legal battle at the end.
Background - about 8 years earlier, CAE PARC were about to lose all their pilots to Brookfield due to a bonus payment which CAE weren't paying. So CAE agreed to offset this by paying the Social Security for their pilots. Now not only according to the law firm are they obliged to pay it back in full, but they have also reneged on this agreement.
As if dealing with termination and two years of no other job opportunities wasn't bad enough.
Consider your broker cautiously (IMHO I would avoid CAE regardless of the legal outcome) and all the best to recovering your careers if you haven't already landed something!