Korean Job Discussion Forums

[chilsung]

I am new here so I hear a lot of different stories and I don't know what the truth is. I am teaching at a hagwon here. Though my school is not awful I just don't like the area and there are some other things that are not good.
I do not get paid on time and that is frustrating, I am also to be at the school from 10 am to 6pm but only paid for 25 hours even though I am doing activities with the kids. I realy don't want to teach Kindergarten for 4 hours a day anymore. My commute is around 45 min each way. I know that maybe some can tollerate this, but I prefer to find a job that makes me happy. I do not owe the school any money or anything I paid for everything my own to get here. How do I go through the process of quiting and finding another job. Or am I forced to stay throughout the whole contract?
Thanks for any help,

[Mody Ba]

Sooooo.you would prefer to work at a "job that makes you happy"!I think all of us want that.Advice:If you want to be happy,do not work at a hakwon.
You signed a contract and the fact that you are unhappy does not mean diddly.However,if they are not fulfilling their end of the contract,breaching it by not paying you on time or breaching it in other ways,you have a legitimate complaint.Some of your other complaints, eg commuting time to the hakwon, do not really mean anything,There is probably no perfect job in this world.This is CERTAUNLY true of most hakwons.

You could ask the owner for a letter of release,but the owner might not want to give you one They have a business to run(and make no mistake,it is a BUSINESS).
Or you could get the money they owe you(or as much as possible),not say anything to anyone and just leave(midnight runner).You could leave for awhile and then come back and work for someone else.Chances are,if you go to work for another hakwon ,you will have the same or even worse problems.Almost always,working for a hakwon(any hakwon) is a losing proposition.

[Ghostinthemachine]

Hi Chilsung

I'm relatively new to S.Korea so maybe some of the others may be better able to advise you but for what it's worth.....

Take a look at your contract and see if it specifies a period of notice to be given if you leave.

For example I have a one-year contract with a hogwon but if I want to leave before that I simply have to give them one month's notice. I would also be docked the airfare that they paid for me to do my visa run to Japan (did they pay this for you?).

As far as doing a "midnight run"...I don't think it is a good idea if you want to get another teaching job since you may well be banned from doing that until the period of your present contract has expired.

I do think you're being ripped of wrt your working hours. I teach 120 hours a month and get paid for that. The only extra work I do is 3 hours of level placement interviews a month which I don't get paid for. My hogwan pays on time and neither I nor the other teachers have had any real problems with the Hogwon ( 4 out of 5 foreign teachers are planning to re-sign...the 5th has decided to go to japan for a change).

If the period of notice required by your contract isn't too long my advice would be to give notice and then look for another job and do as much research as you can before you sign with anyone else.

Good luck with it. I hope things work out for you.

[Mody Ba]

Ghost is right.IF your contract contains a clause allowing you to give notice.Many of them do not.There is no standard contract for all hakwons,obviously.
And you will not be "banned" for any length of time if you do a runner.It is not always a great thing to do,but sometimes it is the only thing to do.
Remember,once bitten twice shy.Hakwons (the great majority of them) will rip you off. So,why would working for another one be an improvement over your current situation?Good luck,anyway.

[waterbaby]

Here's some info from the EFL-Law site.