Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Curious George]

Hello everyone,

Maybe someone with some legal knowledge could help me.

Should I be nice and work out a 30 day notice or force SMOE to fire me?

Long story short, I am sick of all the lies, unfairness and total disrespect that has come from my Korean collegues and have finally decided to call it quits 3 months into my 2nd year with SMOE.

It's a long list of intimidation and fear thru which they try to force me to do things stating its "Your obligations in your contract" when none of the stuff they specifically ask me is spelled out in there. The truth is that the SMOE contract is a deliberately vague, open ended and one-sided adhesion contract and they pretty much try to use it to beat you over the head and force you to do things (most times for free).

Now they owe me some money including back payment for the last years severance which they withheld for completition of that contract (2.4 mil won) and apartment deposit (500k won). Both of which I am pretty sure its technically illegal for them to do. This is another one of their tactics to try to hold stuff on you but since they are part of the government they get away with it.

I am also currently teaching in an afterschool program at another school and they currently owe me 600k for that. By December 26th (Yes they are making us work on Dec 24th and Dec 26th for this stupid camp and told us only after we signed on to do it), they will owe me 1.2k for that if I work out the 30 day notice.

So do I:

A) File a 30 day Resignation?

Now my question is this. For the children's sake, I want to be nice and file the 30 day letter of resignation with them, but I am afraid if I do that they will screw me around towards the end and not pay me everything owed by December 26th (The end of the 30 day notice), especially if that will be during the school break.

If I do work out the 30 days, by Dec 26th they will owe me a total of 6.6 k. I am very afraid they are gonna try to not pay me before Dec 26th and try to say we will deposit it into your account after you leave Korea, yada yada yada.

B) Or force them to fire me?

Should I just not go to school and force them to fire me? I read that the law in Korea states that if you are fired they must pay you everything full and immediately? Is this the way to go?

I just want all my money before I leave Korea because at this point I have been lied to so much, I do not trust anything a Korean tells me.

What should I do?

***As a side note they already tried to scare me with the "You have to pay back the airplane ticket" tactic. At which point I laughed and said try again since I stayed here and did not take my airplane ticket in between contracts. So that is a non-threat issue that I don't have to worry about.

Thanks for your helpful advice.

[fromtheuk]

It's a thread like this which results in a deafening silence from the spineless twits on this board who blame foreigners for everything, even when they are totally innocent of any wrongdoing.

Why on earth are you doing anything while they are not paying you for it? That's one shortcoming of yours.

I'd advise you to give 30 days notice, if it seems certain they will not pay what they owe you, say you will contact the Korean media about this, and explain to them you can't believe how poor the standards of SMOE are.

Really, show some nerve, don't do anything stupid, but say you can't teach because you feel sick, lie down at work all day and say you suspect your health may improve once you receive your pay.

Do something positive!

[Curious George]

Lol I do have nerve. Too much apparently. I called in sick today in protest against their trying to force me to do yet another camp for unfair compensation. Today was my big evaluation day where the Vice Principals from the other schools were supposed to come watch me teach.

They went bonkers saying that I needed permission to call in sick beforehand and that I could not cancel the evaluation class. I said "Sorry my contract states I get 15 days sick leave and I don't need your permission to be sick". I also told them if they kept it up I still had 12 sick days left to take. (I used 2 for real already). My principal is downrite pissed now because I'm sure he lost tons of face.

They try to scare and intimidate me. I show them who has the real power.

Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day.

I basically told them no more of your threats or I won't finish giving and grading your 700 English student tests.

[bundangbabo]

Can you go to the SMOE offices and tell them what your school is doing to you? I take it that the admin of the school are doing this than SMOE itself.

There must be a co-ordinator who you can speak to at SMOE. As for the law - Koreans aren't arsed about abusing it. One thing I do know - I wouldn't be doing their silly camp.

[Curious George]

Actually its the other way around. Its SMOE district office doing most of it. My school is generally nice except for the pushy and overbearing noobie of a 21 year old co-teacher who doesnt know how to be polite.

Thats the reason I am considering working out the 30 day resignation notice. I really do love the kids there and dont want to punish them.

But, its SMOE I dont trust to pay me. After all they are the ones holding my illegal 500k won apartment deposit (Not in my contract) and the severence pay for last year's contract completion. (2.4 mil won)

They also tried to threaten me today saying I would be forced to pay back the airline ticket which I never got. I laughed at them and hung up the phone.

[bundangbabo]

[Curious George]

Yeah I wish I could just cut my losses but that is a hefty chunk of money to walk away from. Approximately 3.5 million owed as of now and if I work out the 30 day notice it will be 6.6 million or more not to mention the trouble I will have getting the additional 2.7 million or so won Pention money from the Pension office without the proper paperwork and co-operation of SMOE. Potential loss = 9.3 million won. OUCH!

Which is why I posted this. I do not trust SMOE to pay me this money before I leave Korea if I nicely resign and work out the 30 days.

2 years ago I worked for Gepik and left to go to Thailand on a 3 month vacation before starting my SMOE contract and they wouldnt pay me my severance pay before I left which made me very nervous. They promised to put it into my Thai Bank account and it would be there for my usage. I provided the bank information and verified and triple checked they understood to put it in my Thai bank account and not my Korean one since Foreigners cannot make atm withdrawals in other countries from a Korean Bank. Guess what they did? They put the money in my freaking Korean account and screwed me over on the end of my vacation plans.

This is what I am afraid of, especially since this time I am cancelling my Korean Bank account because I am never coming back.

Anyways, I have read that if you get fired they are obligated by Korean law to pay you everything immediately.

So does anyone know if this is true and the best way to get my money?

[gangpae]

No, I don't think you have to worry about giving notice now. Also, very clever of you to burn every bridge behind youself. That way you never have to worry about a public school job, or university job for the rest of your stay in Korea.

[Curious George]

[Countrygirl]

Give notice.

Call the labour board and fight for what money you can right now (ie severence).

Don't tell them that you are leaving the country for good so they think that you will be here, willing and able to fight for your last won.

Good luck.

Please keep us updated. I'd love to hear how it turns out.

Also, just curious, why aren't there more horror stories on this board about SMOE. I only hear about GEPIK.

[jkelly80]

[ddeubel]

[Cornfed]

Rather than the options of quitting or forcing them to fire you, wouldn't a midnight run be in order?

[Bibbitybop]

[Countrygirl]