Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kittyfye]

Hello, all. I signed a two year contract with a uni, and now I will be breaking it after only about 6 months. I will, however, finish the semester. But I have an opportunity to do grad work with a 100% scholarship, and teach American uni students for a stipend in the process, and I am not going to pass it up.

Long story short, the uni pres is something of a bastard, imo, which may explain the two year contract. Does anyone have experience with "breaking it to them gently"? I have no intention of mentioning this to them now. I'd just give them time to make things difficult for me. Now, if I were a gnuine schmuck, I'd wait until the end of July, the day after pay-day, drop a letter of resignation in the box and leave. As it is, my plan is to wait until the end of June, my last month of work, giving them more than 45 days notice total.

Any suggestions from anyone with actual experience in these situations are appreciated.

[Ramen]

Lie! Tell him your cat died.

[itpaul]

offer an excellent replacement...

i'm available

can't pm yet though, can you pm me?

[agoodmouse]

Tell us about the bastard part.

[Young FRANKenstein]

[bassexpander]

You have two choices:

1. Give them proper notice. Your contract may stipulate how much notice you must give. Or give them at least one month. You'll be waiting until the end of the semester, so that's fair. Hand your ARC card to the immigration officer as you leave, and tell them that you aren't coming back.

2. If you're seriously worried that you won't get paid by these people, then just get your final paycheck for the work you did during the semester, plan your escape, and phone them from the airport. They'll still have the summer to find a replacement.


It depends on if you ever care to come back here, or if you plan to use them as a reference (I doubt it, if you've only been there 6 months).

Unis are starting to treat teachers like Hagwon workers these days. Other than giving proper notice when possible, I see no reason why teachers should treat unis any differently than hagwons. You get what you pay for, and the sooner the unis learn this, the better.

[PRagic]

I love this. You signed a two-year contract and are going to break it, leaving them with having to recruit and hire a new teacher, but you're worried about getting screwed over by them? Odd.

Finish the semester and tell them that you are going back to school. You shouldn't have a problem unless your contract stipulates the loss of wages, bonuses, or tickets should you dodge early.

Odds are they'll be ok with it, but a bit peeved that you signed on for two years a) after you had applied to that grad program, or b) and then applied to a grad program. Seriously, you're not coming out of this with your reputation intact IMHO.

[bassexpander]

People leave jobs early in other countries all of the time, and only have to give 2 weeks notice.

Again, if the school was treating you in a way that made it more worthwhile to stay, then you'd probably stay. Universities can't expect too much, given what they're offering these days.

[PRagic]

True, but ethically, there is a difference between leaving a job early due to unforseen opportunity or circumstance, and taking a job that you plan on leaving apriori, but concealing that from your employer. It does happen. My only point was that the OP cannot be considered without blame.

[jellobean]

But if the uni was treating the OP well, it is likely the OP could have gotten their grad school delayed at least one year. I know a number of folks who have applied, been accepted, and then gotten a deferral to finish out their contract. If they are treating him badly, what is the incentive to stay.

[PRagic]

Doesn't seem to be the case, though. The OP was fully planning to do their degree and scate on the contract from the get-go. The point of the boss being a bastard (no evidence or history cited in the OP's post) was raised later. I'm fully in favour of people knocking out higher degrees as soon as they can.

The fact is, though, that the OP took the job seemingly knowing full well that they wouldn't be there even for a year. The reason for the 2-year contract (which many would consider a bonus, not a kick in the jaw) may be because you were granted an E1 visa rather than the E2.

This is one reason that most hiring boards ask if people have a plan to go on for a higher degree (or, if hiring ABDs, when and if they will finish the dissertation). If the interviewee says they do plan on studying more, then more specific questions can be asked (When? Have you applied? If you get in, will you finish the contract?). Let this be a lesson to anyone serving on hiring committees.

No biggie. OP, go get your degree. Just give them notice and drive on.

[bassexpander]

My wife's company has a lot of older folks working for high pay. We're not sure, but her boss seems to have been brought in to make life difficult for those people so that they leave, and people making less money can be hired in their place.

They hired a replacement worker at low pay a few months ago, and she just took off after barely 2 months.

The older people making lots of money haven't left yet. We think things are going to get ugly.

[cdninkorea]

[4seasons]

There should only be a problem if there was a clause in your contract about the premature termination of the contract.


If there is no such clause you should not have a problem. If there is one, then you will face the penalty mentioned in the clause.


Cheers.