Almost a couple years ago while overseas a friend who held a TEFL certificate passed an online interview and got a job to teach at a private K-12 school academy on the island. It was in the middle of a semester. They signed a lengthy contract over email which required many signatures. Within days they flew over and immediately over the next couple days began the on-boarding process at the school which included having their fingerprints taken and submitted at the local municipal visa office, signing more contracts in person, and also shadowing classes. They were expected to teach their first class the next day but decided to leave the country that night. They never submitted any sort of notification to the school or ever heard back in any way. They completely “ghosted out”/ disappeared, if you will.
Also, before departing that night the school day ended with the school manager lecturing all the foreign teachers in the department about the legal consequences of leaving before fulfilling their contracts, such as being taken the court. For this reason, they submitted no notification of their departure at all out of fear that their communication may be used as legal evidence against them. They also departed the country that night rather than staying on the island and working somewhere else, out of fear that remaining in the country would lead to legal repercussions for having broken their contract. To clarify, they departed within about a couple days after arrival, before having taught a single class and the night before their first day of classes was scheduled.
If they returned to the island and worked at a different school/ buxiban/ etc., could they possibly face any sort of consequence for having broken their contract and been a so-called runner? For instance, would they possibly appear on any sort of blacklist when flying into the country, onboarding at another school, and/ or obtaining an ARC, etc.? Will the school or ARC issuing body see that they had previously been on the island and not fulfilled a signed contract? If they interviewed at another school and answered that they had visited but never worked on the island before, could the school or ARC issuing body somehow find out about their previous actions? Or do you think nothing would ever come of it?
While they strongly regrets their past decision and understands the extent of their wrongdoing, they asks the above in utmost seriousness as they are now considering moving to the island long-term. They fear arriving on the island and then facing something coming up in light of their past decision…
