Korean Job Discussion Forums

lguscott · Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Location: Seoul

This is now the 7th day I've been without water in my apartment. The owner of our building shut it off because my school apparently hasn't paid the rent for 8 months. So pretty much they're trying to smoke us out of the apartment.

The owner of my school went bankrupt a few months ago, and there are now a new set of owners, which complicates things a lot since they are not "officially" the owners till November. Which of course means, that no one wants to accept responisibilty. Basically they told me today, after I had a massive freakout in the staff room, that they can get me a new place to live in 7-10 days..."hopefully". Until then I can live in the apartment with no water or they will get me a motel, but my boyfriend, whom I live with, and who just recently quit at my school because we still haven't gotten paid for may, is not allowed to stay there with me.

I hate my school and I would love, love, love to quit, but theres still that chance that if I stay till November I will get not only my severance and flight, but my may's pay as well. (I know it sounds like wishful thinking, but I have drawn up an agreement with the new owners that they will subtract the money the old boss owes me from the money there going to pay him in November... so it would be no sweat off their back to do it)

but....in the meantime, is there anything I can do to either hurry up the process of getting into a new place (by looking for something myself) or should I focus on taking legal action? Any advice?

moosehead · Joined: 05 May 2007

you have a lot of tolerance and patience - I hope you let us know what happened

personally I'd just say screw it and walk away - I don't believe in throwing good money after bad -

they are probably hoping you'll just leave - it's a pretty common theme as to how Ks often deal issues by not dealing with them. Shocked

good luck tho - sure sounds horrible!!

Katchafire · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:44 am Post subject:

No water = I'm not working ... NO excuses.

sojourner1 · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:47 am Post subject:

You're still working while still waiting for them to pay for May? Do you think they're going to pay you? I think they are stringing you along. That's an absolutely awful mess and I feel bad for you. I don't know what to tell you other than that you're getting royally phucked and it appears you handed over the bottle of lube long ago and just letting them bend you over by the appearance of how passive you seem to be. Just a figure of speech for a lack of assertiveness and tolerance for getting ripped off.

Get ready to leave, pack tonight, threaten to quit immediately in the morning if you are not paid and allowed a way to wash, tell them immediately in the morning, "just like my rent not being paid my apartment doesn't work, since I'm not being paid, I don't work either," and tell them, "it requires payment to keep my services going which are vital to your hagwon and being shut off this morning due to being over 2 months behind on salary payment just like unpaid utilities and rent," and be assertive and firm. No if's ands or buts about it.

Do not wait on a new owner to come through as he will most likely back out or be bad. You already know the new owner cares less, because they haven't made a real effort to fix problems that only requires money to fix. Be loud and clear. It's official, you got scammed into signing onto a rip off hoggywan.

Good luck to you and keep us posted.

captain kirk · Joined: 29 Jan 2003

I kinda agree with Moosehead and Sojourner1. I don't think you have any alliances to go on. Koreans tend to stick together and you're the foriegner. Nobody, old or new boss, is going to want to pay your severance and flight reimbursement. Nobody has paid you for that month owed. There's a cut-rate firesale going on, insolvency, debt. If you stick around it's just going to get seedier.

But then picking up and moving on is a whole lot of work too. It depends what you're into. And what you can line up. I'd start looking for another job with some recruiters. If they find something nice, like a public school job, get out. It's midterm Summer break now. Regular classes start Sept 1. You've got an entry window now.

ds_fan · Joined: 07 Apr 2008

do you love your job? If not leave, stand your ground 1st, thats wild, they are treating you like rubbish, my place are bad, but that takes the biscuit, november is a long way away, dont turn up tomorrow, if you have holidays coming up soon like most agwons, they defo wont fix your water before them unless you stick up for yourself

Whistleblower · Joined: 03 Feb 2007

Have you received a new contract with the new owners of the school? If not, the new owners don't owe you anything.

Tobias · Joined: 02 Jun 2008

Make sure all who may be interested in replacing you in the future at this outfit know about this situation. Blacklist the outfit, meet the new face in person, whatever it takes. You could even walk around in a placard outside the school with a nice message spray painted on. You could leave a note in the apartment for the new teacher to find later. Again...whatever it takes.

I know that Koreans will treat you like the Queen of England on your first day. It goes downhill from there. When they finally tire of you completely, they find ways to convince you to fly, fly away. I believe this describes your situation.

i · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Location: Seoul

Not paid since May and treating you like crap? How do you know they aren't just keeping you for awhile till they get another teacher? Would be cheaper for them.
Looking at the bills at my school, if they got 1 month behind, there's no way they could catch up with the income of the school.

lguscott · Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Location: Seoul

Okay, I think some clarification is needed. We were told we were going to be paid May's salary a few weeks late. Which sucks but isnt the biggest deal. Then it turned out that it just wasn't coming. Now, if the old owner was still in charge there is no way I would keep working there. But we had new owners starting June, who have paid us on time and have given me a 200,000 pay raise. The new and old owners have also signed a contract that I drew up stating that in November when the new owners make their final payment to the last owner, they will give me the rest of the money owed to me (7,000,000 in total). But all that is kind of besides the point, what I need to figure out now is the housing thing...anyone have any specific info that concerns that.

ontheway · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 7:28 am Post subject:

OP. Do you live in a condo or an apartment? Most teachers here actually live in condos owned by private individuals, not in apartments. Ahpahtuh is Konglish. Do you know how much deposit was paid on your unit?

There could be enough deposit money to cover the unpaid rent and some of what is owed to you.

You need to talk to the actual owner of the unit. Not the condo managers. Find out how much is owed and how much the original deposit was.

A similar thing happened to me:

In one of my early jobs here, the hogwan owner didn't pay the rent and owed me money. The man who owned my unit was very nice to me. We discussed the situation, and used the hogwan owner's deposit money to pay the back rent, and the rest went to me to cover my unpaid salary. Then, I paid my own deposit and took over the lease in my own name and let my susequent bosses pay the rent. Much later, when I moved to a much nicer place, I got my deposit back. As an additional bonus, the owner of the unit has sent all his grandchildren to study English with me ever since.

bassexpander · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

Threaten to go to the labor board if you are not put in a new place immediately. Even a hotel would be better.

If they don't budge, then GO to the labor board.

spliff · Joined: 19 Jan 2004 Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand

nebraska1 · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 2:15 pm Post subject:

lguscott · Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Location: Seoul

ugh, again, i have been paid for june, just not may...so im not working for free. the 7,000,000 I'm owed includes my severance pay, flight home, and my pension which was not paid into.... its not purely salary.

The problem is that realisitically theres not much point in going to the labour board. The old owner is bankrupt, so I'm not oging to get a penny out of him. My Korean coworkers have already started a lawsuit. So the only other thing to do would be to quit, but since I have signed an agreement with both owners to get the rest of my money owed to me in November, and I've been recieving each month's pay on time, and with a raise, it makes sense to me to stay. at least it did before the apartment issue.

thanks for the advice ontheway, i will try and get in touch with the owner of the building.