Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Frogis]

After browsing these forums for months before deciding to teach in Korea I hoped to myself that I would never have to be typing one of these terrible stories, but alas here I am 6 months into my contract not entirely sure of what to do.


I'm working at a Hagwon, been here since early August. I have 2 co-workers who are also foreign teachers. Long story short, one of the co-workers got fired today because the school doesn't have enough money to pay them. Our boss had an hour long meeting with us telling myself and the other foreign teacher why we shouldn't be worried and the situation is going to going to be fine,

however...

In November they changed our pay schedule from once a month, to bi-monthly. They were paying us half on the first, and the other half on the 10th (for the previous month of work). They said that starting in January they would catch up with their payments. (they were going to be 10 days behind every month)


In January they told us that this was no longer possible but they would catch up in March. And then they started paying us on the 1st and the 25th. (so 25 days behind every month)


So today we came to work and were informed that one of us was going to be canned, not really that surprising, but still not cool. So during this meeting we had we were told once again that our payments would be delayed again and were not going to catch up until April.


This constant change in payment was making us feel like the school was in a bad situation economically, but we figured they would tell us if anything drastic was to happen. Then through talking about it, it become painfully obvious that they have had been planning on firing our co-worker for over a month but just didn't feel like telling us until today.

Additionally our boss told us that our Hagwon's hasn't turned a profit for over 3 years. He then tried to guilt trip us into demanding to be paid on time for our work, saying that in a lot of businesses everyone takes a pay cut so it can stay afloat. This really made us feel uncomfortable since one of the main reasons I came to Korea was to put some money in the bank.

So our one co-worker is gone at the end of Feb., but the two of us remain and are kind of at a loss of what to do. It's becoming more and more clear that the Hagwon is either going to go out of business sooner or later and just fall further and further behind on our payments. Not to mention we're about to be bombarded with extra classes because of one less teacher.

Not only that but the working situation is terrible. No working bathroom in the school, have to go next door to use (and have to ask for a key every time that is kept locked in a drawer). My classroom has had ice on the floor because of no heating and terribly sealed windows. Constant blackouts for no apparent reason.

The manager seems mostly inept at dealing with money. When the school was having trouble financially he bought all new computers for the classrooms (which don't work because of poorly set up wireless network), then also had construction done in our school to increase the number of classrooms (which aren't being used). This all going on as our payments fell further behind.



So if you've made it this far, clearly you're intrigued or at least entertained enough to formulate an opinion on this. What do you think the two of us should do?

[gay in korea]

So I had this same thing happen to me, or similar enough, but it ended well for me. It wont for you.

It ended well for me in that my hagwon was bought up/out by another big owner who moved 3 of his existing hagwons into our building/space. He kept me on.

From my first month they paid me late. Started as 1 day, then 3 days, then 4, then one week and so on. It got to 22 days late. I demanded they roll my bonus and my plane ticket money into my monthly salary payments.

They eventually sold and the new owner kept the agreement.

But with two teachers and your situation it ain't gonna work. I would actually recommend you and your co-worker sit down and maybe agree that one of you should ask for a letter of release. Combined classes and only paying one teacher might give the owner enough money to pay the person who stays.

You can kiss your plane ticket etc good bye, so I would keep that in mind whatever you decide to do.

[ChopChaeJoe]

You've got to get out of that school. Get your boss to give you a letter of release and find a new school. Agree to anything your boss wants, but get out of there. Once you're at a new school you can start making money again.

[jpotter78]

[Andyc24_uk]

See if you can get hold of the Labour Board and ask them for advice; and start shopping around for a new job.

Your contract has been broken in numerous different ways - But this is Korea, and if you quit then your boss, despite it being his fault, will have the law on his side. If you have the Labour Board working for you, then you stand a better chance of at least getting a letter of release so that you can take another job.

Don't feel even remotely bad about any impact your actions might have on the Hagwon and its owner. You need to look after number one in this situation, as do your co-workers; if this means you hagwon goes to the wall then so be it. Think of it as an act of kindness, like putting an injured dog out of its misery...

[joyfulgirl]

my father told me once, in anger, but it was true, nonetheless..

'take care of yourself. no one else will.'

you need to get out of there. decide if you want to stay in korea or go home, but get out of that job.

get a LOR and set up interviews for here, and be in a much better situation, hopefully. or negotiate some release with your employer for home..paid what your owed, at least.

i was in a similar situation once, and decided to go home, and ended up paying my own plane ticket home, as some sorta gesture?...or, 'cause i really had to leave, and had given up on the school completely. i was eventually paid all of my salary owed, but only after storming out of an office in tears and anger into a room of other teachers that they were still 'selling' their image to...that there'd be fully-paid trips to australia, er whatever, for student trips, soon. bizarre.

throw logic out, and think survival. good luck!

[Frogis]

alright well I'm pretty convinced that we need to get out and minimize the damage. I'm going to lose 1/2 months paycheck plus have to pay for the plane flight home, but I can live with that.

what's the best way to go about leaving? Should I just not say anything and just not show up to work one day or should I tell my boss the night before that he won't be seeing me ever again?

[Troglodyte]

I think that the guy getting canned at the end of the month should take this time to look for a new job. If he's a buddy of yours then you might want to let him hang at your place while he reports the school to the labour board. I'm not sure if it will help any, but since you're likely to be in his position really soon, you might want to give him a hand to fight the school now. If nothing else, at least when you get canned and report the school/owner, the labour board will already be familiar with the school and it might help your case.

Keep in mind, that even if the owner declares bankrupcy because it has no income, the school still has to liquidate (sell off) it's assets (e.g. the furniture, computers, maybe he owner declared his car as a company asset, etc.). So you might get part of what you're owed.

If you can get a letter of release (in which it says that you're being fired because the school has no money, NOT that you're quitting) and a job offer, you should try to have your visa transferred over to your next employer. It will save you the time and trouble of going back home and getting a new visa.

But in short, consider yourself soon to be fired. It hasn't happened yet, but it WILL happen and you are going to be cheated out of money owed to you. Save up some money in case it happens really fast and you need to buy a plane ticket home. And have a plan ready for what you are going to do when you get notified that you're fired.

[djsmnc]

[wylies99]

[Vox_Populi]

The smartest thing you can do is to ask for a letter releasing you from your contract. This will let you be hired by another school. There are hundreds of schools all over Korea desperate to hire you. You really needn't suffer so. If you wanna really guarantee no future problems either work for a public school or a larger hagwon. I work for a large hagwon in the Jamsil area and there are no problems whatsoever. I have friends who work for YBM and they love it too.

I had a friend who was in a similar situation as you and all of her coworkers got screwed out of pensions and/or flights home because of the director's inept accounting.

[stevieg4ever]

I think the main issue here is do you want to stay in Korea? If you do then basically do everything you have to to get a letter of release and leave amicably. But this fraught with difficulties considering the hagwon and owner. Once he understands that you require money its anyone's guess: he could pay up but he could get even dirtier.

Go to the labour board but understand that this is also hit or miss and may take a lot of time. You need to evaluate your current money situation as well as staying will invariably require you having funds at your disposal. If you want compensation then you are going to have to remain in Korea.

But if you do a midnight run then think nothing of it. No one is going to stop you at Incheon and hold you for 48 hours or that bull. He has no legal right to hold you whatsoever if he isn't paying your salary. If he really isn't going to pay you then just leave.

[Frogis]

I think my main concern is that if I ask for a letter of release my boss is going to demand that I pay back my original plane flight and the recruitment fee, which would be about 1 mil won or more.

Basically at this point I just want to leave Korea. If I talk to the Labor Board would they be helpful at getting me off of my contract without having to pay these fees, or is my only option in getting released "officially" to pay all these fees?

I feel like a midnight run would be the most economical route but I may be mistaken.

[Pa Jan Jo A Hamnida]

Quit and go home.

[young_clinton]