Korean Job Discussion Forums

[captain kirk]

On the contract I signed a year (public elementary school) ago it says;

'Airfare reimbursement: Employer will pay won 900,000 upon completion of contract'.

I'm a lifer and live in Korea, so I didn't arrive from overseas. I don't then have a ticket stub from a trip Canada to Korea at the outset of the one year contract.



I did, however, travel back and forth during the Summer vacation which was within the contract period. The round trip ticket price, including little hop flights to exactly where I live, was 3,000 Canadian dollars.

Anticipating I'd need an airfare ticket receipt (since the employer told me so) I contacted the travel agent in Canada. The agent had, luckily, not deleted the information on her computer (the flight was 7 months ago). It was an e-ticket and my Employer won't accept e-ticket receipts. Anyway, a printed out itinerary/receipt was sent by expensive courier to Korea.

After presenting this to my Employer it was rejected. He said 'at the completion of contract Employer pays for a one way ticket to the Employee's home. It is Korean rule'. This man is a high level supervisor in the county Education Office.

Actually, as I've said, all it says in the contract when I signed it, a year ago, is this;

'Airfare reimbursement: Employer will pay won 900,000 upon completion of contract'.

Eagerly I then went along with the game. I called the travel agent and asked if they'd sell me a FULLY REFUNDABLE ticket to my hometown. To keep the booking simple I just said Vancouver (I live two days driving inland). A ticket Seoul to Vancouver is at least 900,000 won. Therefore I will get the 900,000 won airfare reimbursement offered in the contract. Problem solved.

Just to make sure I asked if they'd issue a paper ticket, NOT an e-ticket, since my Employer will not accept an e-ticket. The travel agent expained that these are not sold anymore, it's the computer age, didn't I know that? It's the Employer who doesn't know that! I asked if she'd kindly phone my Employer and explain to him that paper tickets are a thing of the past, like the dinos of the Cretacious Period, or like bosses of the Cretinacious Period, in a couple of weeks (adios, Supervisor Scum!).

The next day I called the travel agent. Did she kindly call my Employer to explain? Yes, she did. Good news. My Employer WILL accept an e-ticket but the info must be printed on paper and mailed by the travel agent to him.

BUT, he also asked her if it was possible for him to confirm, via her (the travel agent) or the carrying airline whether I actually left Korea. She replied that they or the airlines will not give out that information. He said to her, 'I will find a way (to find out)'. She thought that he meant by that he intended to find out by calling Immigration.

Well, I'm not actually going to leave Korea. I have another job lined up immediately upon completion of this contract. My Employer actually KNOWS this.

But, as I've said before (twice, actually), all it says in the contract regarding airfare is this (I keep repeating this, like a mantra, to promote sanity and balance and maintain a sense of reality and perspective^^);

'Airfare reimbursement: Employer will pay won 900,000 won upon completion of contract'.

____________________________

The contract doesn't, in that one line, get complicated on the subject. Read the sentence, it's very simple.

There's no mention of needing an airline ticket receipt.
No mention of e-ticket being unacceptable.
No mention of 'I will pay for a one-way ticket to your home country. It is Korean rule'.
No mention of actually having to use the ticket (if one follows the 'ticket to home country' goose).

It's quite a game of roundabout. I'm plum tuckered out, almost, and thought I'd ask for some advice on this.

I COULD buy a fully refundable ticket to Vancouver, cancel it at least two days before it leaves. I'd have got the 900,000 won by then from him. But if the boss checks with Immigration I wouldn't have actually left.

And what can he do? It doesn't say in the contract anything about...well, you know what it says in the contract;

'Airfare reimbursement; Employer will pay won 900,000 upon completion of contract'.

Thank you for your consideration and any advice you might have. Any recourse, suggestions?

[CentralCali]

Public school? You're wasting your time and doing it the hard way, to boot. The procedure for public school pay dilemmas is always:

1. Financial Officer, who has a nifty book telling him in both Korean and English what to do to compensate you and what you need to provide.
2. School Vice-Principal if FO doesn't want to do that.
3. School Principal if VP doesn't want to make him do it.
4. Regional Office of Education school inspector to whom your school is assigned for all management issues.
5. Metropolitan/Provincial Office of Education coordinator for foreign teachers in the public schools if the regional SI couldn't make things happen.
6. Labor Board if the coordinator can't make things happen.
7. Small claims court.

For 6 & 7, ensure you also notify the mayor's office (for metropolitan cities) or governor's office (for provinces) via the Ministry of Education for your city/province. It should never reach that point, of course.

This is the procedure if you are an actual employee of the public school system. If you're only involved in one of those after-school stints, you're on your own.

But you can tell him right now that he can cram that "it's a Korean rule" malarkey down the toilet. It doesn't matter what he thinks "the Korean rule" is; what matters is what the contract says. Of course, he's going to try the weasel tactic of "in Korea, contracts are only guidelines." That also is false. Even for Koreans, the Labor Board and the courts go by what the contract says.

[captain kirk]

I'm an actual public school employee, not on one of the after school programs. Thanks very much. There is a real run around being caused by this Supervisor and he delights in it heartily.

[CentralCali]

There's a runaround because you've never gone over his head. For your information: he is not your boss. No matter how big a fish he thinks he is at your school, that is 100% meaningless when it reaches the levels I outlined above. And he will discover that to his dismay. Even Korean taxpayers don't like people screwing around with tax money and public servants.

[captain kirk]

I just emailed him reminding him of the line in the contract re; airfare reimbursement multiple times. I asked him to follow the contract since, in case of dispute, Labour Board and courts always do.

And I mentioned that I have discovered that I have recourse in the help of others such as the vice principal, principal, and so on up to the Provincial Co-ordinator for foreign teachers in the public schools. I mentioned I was in contact with same now, but not in regards to this matter (airfare reimbursement^^).

Let's see what he does hehe....

[captain kirk]

I went to the Principal at one of my schools looking for his support against the county office of education Supervisor. He wouldn't support me and just fed me what the Supervisor says. There is the Provincial liason re foreign teachers in the public schools. She said that because it's a county office contract then there's nothing she can do. I can only try to talk more with the county Supervisor.

I said I was hoping for someone to support me to go over the county Supervisor's head and put him in his place since he's way out of line. She listened to my description of the situation and said she'd call him and ask him if he'd 'again talk with me'. I said he's not the kind of guy you can talk to about this; he just doesn't want to pay the money.

She said well, that office said lots of nice things about you recommending you for your next public school job. I said well, that's very nice, but they're also stealing 900 dollars from me. She then said wait, wait a while. And that she would call him.

[Summer Wine]

Just found out today that I am in a similar situation.

Went to the bank expecting severance and airfare to find nothing. Rang the co teacher, he rang the education officer who said its not in your contract so they aren't paying.

My co teacher told me to read the contract again when I disagreed with what the education officer said. I did, its there in black and white and I am hoping that will sort it out or I am taking an unplanned holiday just to get money coming to me that is supposed to be paid to me.

I have just re-signed and renewed my visa so I have time to stick it out here in Korea. The unplanned holiday will be a little bit of a pain if I have to go but better than losing out on cash.

I hate how my co teacher thinks the education office can do no wrong. I bet the officer didn't even look at the contract before she gave the decision. I like how they expect us to follow the most minute rules of a contract and then drop a huge issue on us like its nothing.

If it really goes bad, then I guess this is it for me regardless of whether I have a new contract and visa or not. If they refuse to follow the old contract I just completed then the new one isn't worth the paper its written on.

[boyne11]

I'm also battling to get my airfare and severance paid before I leave Korea.

I'm finishing my PS contract at the end of this month, but the local education office is telling me that they can only pay after I've left Korea via wire transfer to my bank account back home.

If all fails, I'll just leave without getting paid hoping that the airfare and severance will be in my bank account in back home.

Korea sucks. Hagwons are better than PS.

[captain kirk]

Hi Summer Wine. Our situation is similar but different. I'm not worried about severance and final pay, that's in the bag I'm sure. It's the airfare reimbursement of 900 dollars.

But I've said all there is to say about that.

I have noticed that no-one wants to lift a finger to side with me in this battle. They won't say boo. They don't want to get in the way of the county education Supervisor. It's about Korean devotion and loyalty to the workplace which stretches all the way to obliging the county Supervisor's reality whims. It's about being afraid of said Supervisor. And siding with each other, other Koreans. I hate to have to mention the latter, since it's a crying shame. But chin up, that's Korea^^. You don't have to be crazy to work here, but it helps!

I'll be telling my story to the other foreigners in this county whose contracts aren't done yet. Including the guy rolling in to carry on in my old job. You'd think the Education Office would have some honour and pay up. But it's me versus a wily snake with no-one to intervene. Unless the Prov Liason re; foreigners in the public school manages to twist the county Supervisor's arm. See what happens in a bit....

[bellum99]

The guy is trying to pocket your money. I bet he says he gave it to you but he really takes it himself.
Korea sucks.

[captain kirk]

Believe me, the thought has crossed my mind. I have already given him an airline ticket receipt for the Summer trip to Canada and back (within the contract period). He didn't accept this. He changed the game and said;

'I know that at the end of contract Employer pays for a trip to your home country. It is Korean rule'.

Then began the run around regarding me actually having to leave Korea, since he would check thru immigration whether I really left or not. My plan was to buy a fully refundable ticket and get the 900 reimbursement from this boss. Then cancel the ticket I bought and a refund. But with him checking with immigration to check whether I left I become a 'liar' or 'cheat'. When this whole 'buying you a ticket back to your home country Korean rule' is just a ruse. He KNOWS I have another job in Korea right after this. The ruse is just a fictitious 'Korean rule' he made up to scam me.

Meanwhile he has the airfare receipt from my Summer vacation. He can use that to show in the book-keeping that I qualified and was supposedly paid out the 900 dollar reimbursement. 900 dollars is alloted but it doesn't go to me, it goes to him. He actually has some land, his 'farm' he calls it. His little hideaway with his ill-gotten loot. But this is all just supposition on my part. Life couldn't be this cheesy, could it?^^

[captain kirk]

This guy just endlessly plays 'cat and mouse'. I obtained the email of my replacement and told this Supervisor that my replacement, of course, is interested in the outcome of my final payout. I said that my replacement, of course, has a keen interest as to whether my contract will be honoured.

This put a tack under his chair and perked him up. The Supervisor became very polite in his email and seemed to have consulted his dictionary to put in some more appropriate wording, along with more focus on his grammar.

But, in subsequent emails, he stated that all previous foreign teachers had presented one way homeward bound tickets to him. And they had all received their airfare reimbursement thusly. Maddening. I repeated that the contract says only this;

'Airfare Reimbursement; Employer will pay won 900,000 upon completion of the contract'.

And I suggested that if he wants to, in future, stipulate that it be a homeward bound one way ticket reimbursement with proof of receipt, then fine. He should then reword more clearly the contract for the next guy. But our contract is vague, no requirments, just payout the money, please.

He then said this, a subtle threat that he would speak ill of me in the future to the Supervisor at my next job, and possibly wherever I should go in the public system in Korea (presumably because I am a troublemaker demanding my rights as per contract);

"I know where you will be working for a new job
The supervisor of your new job is my friend
He calls me before yesterday
I know all persons that is in a public school in Korea".

So, if I'm reading him right, he's subtly threatening to make my life very difficult in Korean public schools. Why? Because I persist in expecting Airfare Reimbursement as it is offered in the contract; no receipt necessary, no outbound ticket necessary. I have even provided a receipt, which was ignored, for a Summer Vacation round trip Korea-Canada-Korea but this has been ignored favouring the fantastical 'ticket to your home country'.

I thought I'd left this behind in Hagwons. Truly disturbing akin to 'I know what you did last Summer'^^ or any other peeping axe murder type pap.
And this guy's a civil servant serving the community (not including foreigners^^).

[nomad-ish]

^ can't you buy a ticket, give him the receipt, and then return it after you get reimbursed?

[captain kirk]

Good idea, black cat. But the boss will call Immigration to find out if I left. He knows I'm going to another job in Korea that starts in about ten days.

I think it's all up with this cat and mouse game. I've since found out that EPIK type contracts demand, at the end, a ticket home. This type of contract, which mine emulates in theory but doesn't stipulate in wording (an infuriating combo), is ok for most people. Who are leaving Korea to a vacation, home, or wherever. Since I'm staying I'm SOL. It doesn't make sense but it seems to be just the facts of life in regards to EPIK/GEPIK type public school contracts.

Since my county pub school contract is vague I didn't know what it was aiming for, this having been my first year in Public School. Pretty entertaining run-around, though, don't you think? Better than Barnum Bailey^^.

[kprrok]