paying for a type...

[wingnutt]

...i know, been hashed out before, but this one has a different twist.

a friend of mine is flying charter in a pilatus, shes also ex-military and has VA benefits. she would like to get into something jet powered and her employer happens to know she has the GIBill, and therein lies the twist. so...her employer offered her the chance to right seat in anything in the fleet (all the way up to a hawker) if she allows the employer to deduct the type from her yearly pay and she can collect the VA money to replace it.

sounds weird, i know. but believe it or not, when all is said and done, it will cost her about a grand out of her pocket, heres how; by taking about 15K out of her salary (it will actually put her into a lower tax bracket too) and the almost 10K she will get back means about 5K from her for the year, divided into 12 months comes out to about 100 bucks a month for one year for a type rating.

...is there anyone that wouldnt do this, and why not???

 

[Resume Writer]

If she does do this, she better get it in writing and define how and when they are going to deduct the money, if she will permanently be in that right seat of the aircraft she types in (with upgrade capabilities), perhaps the guaranteed number of hours she will fly a month/year, etc. Having a type rating with no time in type, (exception being the 737 type to satisfy SWA) will not do her any good. She also better ensure that her VA benefits will indeed pay for her type before she agrees to this. She also should get a type in an airplane that is utilized by a lot of companies. I would also ensure that she does NOT sign a "training contract" that she will be with that employer for a long period of time, since she is paying for that type.

Do I think it is right that they are asking her to do this? No. I think it is sneaky on their part. But I digress...

Kathy

 

[Flywrite]

Not trying to be a smarta$$, but I'm not getting the math here. $5000/12=$400+, not $100

???

 

[wingnutt]

yea, you're right...i knew i'd screw something up by her throwing all those numbers at me on the phone. i think she meant 100-and-something per paycheck. whatever the case, VA pays 60%, so she gets that back, and taking 15 grand off the top of her income puts her in a lower bracket.

 

[wingnutt]

just called her back to verify, indeed the "almost a grand out of pocket" was my interpolation of her "about 100 a paycheck". quite a difference in getting paid once a month and every other week, eh? her total loss would be in the neighborhood of $3,000 after all is said and done with the lower tax bracket and all.

anywhoo, i told her as much as shed like the type, she could probably do better than this employer-pay-for-it-up-front-but-deduct-it-from-your-paycheck-and-let-the-military-refund-it-to-you crap

 

[seethru]

I agree with Resume Writer, this is really a back door way for a company to get somebody trained.

In the end it still ends up that she is paying for the type rating. Afterall, it's her GI Bill benefits that are going to get used up. I think she would be better off keeping her regular pay and using the GI Bill to help offset the type rating for herself. That's what the money is there for in the first place. She earned it, the company did not.

Greg