Korean Job Discussion Forums

[JFuller317]

I am just over eight months into a contract that was supposed to run until mid July of this year. Today I was brought into my director's office and told through a translator (the director does not speak English) that he selling the school and that the new owner will be bringing in his own staff, including a native English teacher.

The sale would be completed around the first week of April. I had already scheduled my vacation for this year and purchased a plane ticket to go back to the U.S. from April 11th-27th.

I am wondering what recourse I have here. Am I entitled to any pro-rated severance and/or reimbursement for my return airfare? Here is how my contract is worded:

"2.Salary
1) Party A will pay a monthly salary of 2,300,000 won (Korean currency) to Party B.
2) A tax of about 3~5% will be paid to the Korean Government.
3) Over time rate for each hour will be 20,000 won
4) On completion of 1 year contract, Party B will receive the amount of one month salary as a severance pay.

5.Air Fare (for 1 year contract)
1) At the end of the contract Party A agrees to buy a one-way ticket for Party B from South Korea to his/her country.
2) If Party B has to leave before 6 months, Party B will reimburse the amount of the Air-Ticket.

11. Revision, Cancellation and Termination of the Contract
1) Both parties should abide by the contract and must refrain from revising, canceling, or terminating the contract without mutual consent.
2) This contract may be renewed upon agreement between Party A and Party B three months prior to its expiration; otherwise, Party B will just finish out the completion of the original contract.
The undersigned agrees to the terms stated above in this contract and for future reference, each party is to keep a copy of this contract."

[the foystein]

I wouldn't plan on getting anything.

[JFuller317]

Searching the Labor Code sticky revealed something interesting:

Article 26 (Violation of Conditions of Employment)

(1) If any of the conditions of employment set forth in accordance with Article 24 is found to be inconsistent with the actual conditions, the worker concerned shall be entitled to claim damages resulting from the breach of the conditions of employment or may terminate the labor contract forthwith.

(2) If a worker intends to claim indemnity for damages in accordance with paragraph (1), he may do so with the Labor Relations Commission. If a labor contract has been terminated, an employer shall pay travel expenses to a worker who changes his residence for the purpose of securing new job.


As I would interpret the bolded part, it means that the owner would be responsible for paying for my travel back to the U.S. in order to find work.

[JFuller317]

Anyone? I am desperate.

[lifeinkorea]

I would find another school and be as nice as you can with your current school. Try to get a LOR and transfer locations. Then, extend your visa and you will have a new place. You will lose a bit in transition, but it will sure beat the alternatives.

[lifeinkorea]

warning: legal gobbly gook talk

Article 26 was noted, but it is taken out of context from the whole act and without information on Article 24 (which I read and am clueless on why it says "when a contract of employment is CONCLUDED". Why concluded? Shouldn't the employer state the hours BEFORE the actual employment has started? Or, is this in reference to the making of the contract? In other words, are they saying the hours must be stated before the contract itself is finished being written up? It's a bit ambiguous, because sometimes we say, "When your contract is up, you got to leave the country". I am not sure what it means in Article 24.

Regardless of the above, look at Article 22, "A labor contract which establishes conditions of employment WHICH DO NOT MEET THE STANDARDS PROVIDED FOR IN THIS ACT shall be null and void..."

So, first, you got to establish your contract would not go in accordance with the act before you could play these legal manoeuvres in Articles 24 and 26. Are you up to challenge these issues in court? Is it worth it?

[JFuller317]

The thing is, I really don't want to spend another year in Korea. I was just going to take my savings and return home in July.

Do you think it would be possible to kindly talk them into paying a pro-rated severance amount?

Also, wouldn't the simple fact that I am being let go after roughly 9 months constitute a "termination" of the contract?

[lifeinkorea]

Well, if you don't want to be in Korea, then fighting legal battles is not going to make you leave Korea on a good note or in a timely manner.

Just go up to them and try to get what you can from them. Tell them in a firm manner what is going on and show them what your losses are. They don't really owe you anything unless you can prove it in court, so don't show them any signs you want to leave Korea. They will just wait you out if they see you want to go.

Even if you get them to give you a LOR, it gives them the impression you are sticking around. That means to them, that you could keep coming back to them and fight the issue. So, my first try would be to get that across to them that you "aren't leaving for good". See what they will do to resolve it.

Next, how much do you want? What would you settle for? If they fly you home and no severance, is that good enough? For me it would be. However, they need to get the ticket yesterday, if they don't immediately get on the phone to buy you a ticket then get them to write something down that they will fly you home. Then you'll have to nag them to get it until they do.

If you can get the cash equivalent, that is another option. Good luck.

[lifeinkorea]

[broken76]

If you go to the labor board you should be able to get any pay that is owed to you. Unfortunately the labor laws state that severance pay (your bonus) only applies to people who have worked a minimum of one year at a company. If the company closes down you don't get it, pretty much the same thing as airfare.
If the school does close down or is sold you should be able to get a legal document that says so. With the document you can start at a new job and get a new E-2 Visa in country (without returning home or doing a Visa run). You can negotiate with a desperate school for a short term contract that provides a flight home. They won't need to pay for an inbound flight or a Japan visa run so it should work out for them financially, again no bonus but at least you get a flight home at the end of things.

[lifeinkorea]

I am not sure that would work out. Why would a school want to pay a teacher here to go to their home country, fly them back, and then owe them another flight home at the end of their contract? That is 3 flights, where they could instead fly someone in starting in their home country once and only owe a second flight home.

Their first option would be to hire a teacher in the country and avoid flying anyone in, paying only once for their flight home.

I like the idea, and I hope I am missing something cause I would want the same thing in a few months, but I just don't see how it helps the school.

[broken76]

The new school would pay for a return flight after the end of the short term contract not at the start. If the school is closing down then the teacher is able to start at a new job right away without going home.

[lifeinkorea]

What is the procedure for getting a new visa? Doesn't the teacher have to submit a new CRC, or does this document they get allow them to bypass other required documents to speed up the process?

[JFuller317]

So the new owner is absolutely not required to honor the contracts of the old owner?

Imagine if this were true in America. James Dolan could just sell the New York Knicks to a buddy, and all those terrible contracts would instantly come off the books.

[lifeinkorea]

The new owner didn't fully buy out the school until November last year, so the story they were telling us (or the teachers the new owner didn't want to pay) was that it was the responsibility of the old owner to pay the teachers for any months before the new owner started "managing" the school. The new owner would pay all teachers from the point when he started moving his staff to the school. Sounds fair, BUT, he is still playing with the school's money. That money would have been paid out to the teachers. So, in the end he would have saved a lot of money by not paying teachers before he came to the school.

This is how they tried to swindle things. They would make up one excuse after the other why they were all lily white and innocent and everyone else owed them. When some of the teachers complained, they kicked out one of the teachers from their apartment and got them evicted. Then they made some offer to have them live at the school, LOL

How I got affected by it was that after seeing my fellow English teachers not getting paid and mistreated, I was worried about not getting paid myself. In July, I didn't get paid on time for June. So, on like July 11th I stood inside a bank near the school and called up the owner's assistant. I told him I would wait there until payment was made and then go immediately to school to continue teaching. It worked and within 45 minutes my pay was deposited.

Then, from thereafter, the school didn't pay any of us I think until the very last minute on pay day. Some of the teachers shrugged off the pay they didn't get, others decided to sue the new owner, and some left the country disgruntled. I don't know if any of the lawsuits got resolved. I just planned my exit and when the opportunity came, I fled LOL. A friend of mine is still working there and said he might sign for another year. He came a little later than me, so he didn't miss pay, but they still messed with his account.