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Empik SJO in Poland - be very careful!

 
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strexen



Joined: 02 Dec 2003
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Wed Dec 03, 2003 5:31 am    Post subject: Empik SJO in Poland - be very careful! Reply with quote

Some yeras ago, naive and blind, I started teaching for Empik Sjo in Warsaw (Empik sjo is the largest school in Poland).
I was at first promised work permit and the lot, but it all soon became clear that those words empty.
My pay then got transferred from abroad on to my Polish bankaccount.
NOT A GOOD IDEA!
OK I didn't pay tax or anything. Just had to cross the border every 3 months to keep my status as a tourist.

My money never really came as promised, often I had to wait for months to get them.. Then with tears in my eyes I went to the director who gave me a bit here and there.

One day the director from Empik called me up, telling me that they had transferred somewhat inbwtn 20.000-24.000 ZL to my bank account, and that I was to bring those money to her the secondt I got the money...
Now, I had an overdue cash credit on that account, still waiting for my money.
I told her that it was a stupid idea, and I'd prefer them not to do so, but she said: "Too late".

Now Empik is hunting me down with a contract they have made and signed (with my name... in other words we are talking about a fake signature).
They say that I have stolen money and bla bla bla, when all I really did was lied to and 'abused'.

I am in no financial possition to actually get a lawyer and take this case further.

I have heard from other former Empik teachers, that they have been through the same, one even had to leave Poland!

Be very careful!
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mike10



Joined: 11 Jul 2004
Posts: 28

PostPosted: Tue Jul 20, 2004 10:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sad
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dragonpiwo



Joined: 04 Mar 2013
Posts: 1650
Location: Berlin

PostPosted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 4:08 pm    Post subject: nothing's changed Reply with quote

I'm currently trying to get my money out of them, so will let the labour office deal with t. They'll cough up then as they don't have a leg to stand on. I have all the signed attendance records. The hours and what they owe me are indisputable.

Avoid Empik as they are shysters. Their paperwork has made a really easy job difficult.

It was just a holiday job for me but I expected to be paid. Didn't get paid at the end of month 1 or 2. Currently in month 3. Tools downed.
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Louisdf



Joined: 05 Feb 2013
Posts: 60

PostPosted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 4:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yet another proven example that working illegally never works out.
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dragonpiwo



Joined: 04 Mar 2013
Posts: 1650
Location: Berlin

PostPosted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 8:01 pm    Post subject: erm Reply with quote

I'm British and have a contract Louise. I'm working perfectly legally. They just seem to want to pay when it suits them.
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Louisdf



Joined: 05 Feb 2013
Posts: 60

PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 7:55 am    Post subject: Re: erm Reply with quote

dragonpiwo wrote:
I'm British and have a contract Louise. I'm working perfectly legally. They just seem to want to pay when it suits them.

The OP clearly didn't.
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dragonpiwo



Joined: 04 Mar 2013
Posts: 1650
Location: Berlin

PostPosted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 2:41 pm    Post subject: anyhow Reply with quote

Anyhow-don't work for Empik. They will bamboozle you with names, numbers and emails the moment you want something done. Meanwhile, you'll be teaching and doing all their mindless, endless paperwork, which no-one seems to read. In 2 months of work, I've exchanged over 120 emails, sent faxes, filled in the electronic register and the hard copies and all the other bumph.

Dictatorships create massive, complicated bureaucracies when they want to remove transparency.

Just a thought.
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Janek



Joined: 25 Sep 2006
Posts: 79
Location: Krakow, Poland

PostPosted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 5:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

xxx

Last edited by Janek on Mon Feb 02, 2015 9:41 pm; edited 1 time in total
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dragonpiwo



Joined: 04 Mar 2013
Posts: 1650
Location: Berlin

PostPosted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 8:53 am    Post subject: yes Janek Reply with quote

You are absolutely right. I've never dealt with so much unnecessary shit in my whole life.

I think they are the new JDJ, which is funny as in Poznan, they have occupied JDJ's old premises.

This is how my 2-month filler job with them panned out.

1-Started teaching with them before the books arrived.
2-Two classes but 1 CD player.
3-A tiny flip chart.
4-Shared classes with Poles who I never met and who never replied to 1 email.
5-Paid for a lot of my own copying.
6-Filled in an electronic register but still had to fax the hard register to several different people in Poznan and Warsaw on a monthly basis. Fine if you have a fax machine but a pain in the arse if you haven't.
7-Had endless emails from people I'd never met. Faxing stuff to my DOS wasn't enough. I had to fax the same docs to other people. Why she couldn't do it god only knows.
8-Waited almost 3 months to get paid and then only once threatened with the PIP.

Actually, I can't be bothered to go on. Several native speakers I know here also had trouble getting paid.

I swear here and now, I will NEVER work for a language school in Poland again. I'd rather be unemployed. The peanuts they pay you just aren't worth the shag.
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Master Shake



Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1202
Location: Colorado, USA

PostPosted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 4:19 pm    Post subject: Typical Reply with quote

Haha, 2 copies of the register, and you still didn't get paid. Baloney.

I'm glad the threats worked, though.

This kind of non-payment issue isn't limited to English schools. I've done several one-off acting/proofreading jobs for companies over the 4 years I was in Warsaw.

More often then not, I had to write several emails, even threaten the company, in order to get paid for the work I did. It often took up to 3 months for them to actually fork over the cash. Also, didn't seem to matter if I had a contract with them or not. I doubt they would ever have paid me if I hadn't stuffed their inbox full of increasingly angry emails.

It seems to be a Polish cultural thing that if you can avoid paying someone, especially someone you don't know well, you do it. Doesn't matter if it's 'fair' or not. However, if said person puts the pressure on you, you cave in and pay up pretty quick.

A bit different in the US: You don't pay someone, things could get real, real ugly and personal really quick.

Go figure. I guess it's a system which favors those who are in-the-know about where the pressure points are.
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billbob



Joined: 19 Nov 2009
Posts: 55

PostPosted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 8:04 pm    Post subject: Fax? Reply with quote

dragonpiwo wrote:


6-Filled in an electronic register but still had to fax the hard register to several different people in Poznan and Warsaw on a monthly basis. Fine if you have a fax machine but a pain in the arse if you haven't.


Fax? Maybe the required listening texts should've been on 8-track!
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dragonpiwo



Joined: 04 Mar 2013
Posts: 1650
Location: Berlin

PostPosted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 7:12 am    Post subject: ha Reply with quote

These language schools need to offer Umowa o Praca or get stuffed. I heard Empik the mothership is massively in debt. The irony is that the bookshops are good. The schools, which are profitable, are shite.
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Infinite



Joined: 05 Jan 2013
Posts: 235

PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 7:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I found that most chain schools are complete garbage. You're better off with smaller schools or just free balling it Wink
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depechemodefan1966



Joined: 31 Jan 2015
Posts: 71

PostPosted: Fri Feb 13, 2015 9:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I worked for Empik for two years between 2010 and 12 and can honestly say that I never had any trouble with them. Sure, they told me I needed this, needed that and I had to sort it all out myself, but that is Polish schools in general, no matter who you work for.

Empik has obviously changed a lot in that time then.
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