Korean Job Discussion Forums

[LeGrandFromage]

Post deleted to insure my security.

I'll put it back up in two weeks, so I have something to link to when I update y'all on my situation.

Thanks again.

[moosehead]

first of all, OP, I want to thank you for sharing your tale with us here - it's been a while since someone shared such an elaborate hakwon scheme and the consequential events

now if I get it correctly, your original school is the one you need the LOR from?

and for whatever reason, they won't provide it? well, obviously if they do provide it, they know then you are leaving which sort of blows your escape by darkness plans, correct?

so far, you seem to have made out pretty well considering the situation. If it were me, I'd be unwilling to press my luck - and make no mistakes about it considering your entire situation, you've been extremely lucky so far - I'd just get on that plane and go and let the future sort itself out.

you can be fined immense sums of money if caught, the penalty is always on the teachers, rarely the school for illegal employment, you have everything to lose, they have very little at stake.

I say just go and hope for better next time.

do keep us informed, if you would tho, this is good stuff

[ontheway]

The OP didn't say exactly, but it sounds like this is a full-time, private, christian elementary school, albeit one of many that is not a recognized, legal school. Since the school operates illegally, they could never hire an E2 teacher legally. The illegal nature of the school means they would be unable to sponsor an E2, unable to provide health ins, enroll in pension etc.

However, since this is a full-time private school, they are probably receiving large monthly tuition payments for each of the paying students, of which there are few, but they are able to pay some of the school's bills, including the salaries of the foreign teachers, but not all of the Korean staff. Since they only receive money from the parents of the seven students, they will always be short of funds, and will tend to pay late. They know that they have to pay the foreign teachers or they will run, and so the foreign teachers get paid first, although late.

It is likely that the directors, having established the school, are paying for their own kids instead of going to some other full-time private, christian school. These payments are meant to be the seed money for operating the school they are attempting to create. But 7 times up to 1 million won per month per student would not be enough to fund the school. With 4.8 mil going for the monthly pay for the two foreign teachers, there's not much left to pay all the expenses and all the Korean workers. OP, just how many Korean teachers and other employees are there?

Oh, and just a hunch OP, but are most of your 7 or 8 students of elementary school age, maybe one or two middle school age, if any? And, are most of your students boys?

[Troglodyte]

OP, take note that some Korean teachers (and hence some hogwan owners) DO read this forum. If I was your boss, the description you gave would probably be enough for me to realize who you are. You might want to edit it to make it a bit more vague. At least until after you've left.


If you're school hasn't been paying pension, health insurance, taxes, or whatever, have you considered reporting your official employer to the labor board? Your real employer doesn't have much to lose. If they deny that you work for them, it may be hard for someone to prove them wrong. BUT you have a contract which is registered at immigration that says that your "official" school has hired you. THEY are obliged to pay you and to pay your health insurance, taxes, pension, etc. Is your real school paying you in cash or into your bank account? I sure hope it's not into your bank account because that's a fine and deportation waiting to happen if you get caught. THAT will go on your record at immigration. But if you are being paid in cash, then hey, for all anyone knows your school hasn't paid you at all since you got here. They owe you back pay. If you really want to be a p rick you could go stay at a hostel in their city and then demand that they pay you. Who knows that you haven't been going in to work for the last 6 months? If they try to say that you haven't been going to work, then the question come up - Why didn't they fire you months ago? If you DO want to stay in Korea and just transfer to another job (e.g. a PS job) then you can force the hogwan to give you the LOR. Their hands aren't clean and although it would get you in trouble to report them, they know that they would suffer a bit also.

But unless you want to transfer your visa, the LOR is useless. You're leaving. Worst case scenario, you can't get another E2 until the first one expires - ie. January 2011. Since you aren't planning on returning until some time in 2011, it's a non-issue.

Regarding your current school, if they are in financial difficulties, then you are right to not give the 6 weeks notice. If they know you are leaving chances are they will take the opportunity to save 4.8 million won. If they don't pay you, what can you really to do force them? You aren't officially employed there. You can't report them. They could fire you tomorrow and you'd have no options. So, if you do transfer schools, the owners of this one might be decent folks and just let you go. Good chance though that you'd kiss your last salary goodbye. Your current plan is good. Take the salary. If you really want, tell the boss the next day that you're quitting. Before you tell him that, pack your bags and leave them at the bus station luggage storage. After you tell the boss that you're leaving, there's a good chance that he'll flip out. If he does, then just agree with him and say sorry and leave. Go to the bus station and head to Seoul. Stay at a hostel until your flight out. Don't go back to the apartment. Just leave. Even if he's ok with you quitting (it might be a relief to him), don't go back to the apartment. Leave town.

Keep in mind that you HAVE broken the law. You and your wife worked illegally. I don't think your boss is going to draw attention to himself by announcing that, but..... this is Korea and people here often do stuff that you and I wouldn't consider logical. If you were legally working and pulled a runner, immigration wouldn't care. They don't care if you break a contract and leave without giving notice. What they DO care about is that you were working illegally while you were here. I don't think that you're boss is going to report you because it would incriminate him as well. But who knows? So, consider that before telling him that you're quitting.

As another poster said, you've been VERY lucky so far. This type of situation isn't rare. The fact that you've been paid, that you haven't been fired, etc is luck on your part. But you probably shouldn't push it.

One final note. Are you sure that you are still employed at the original school? You might want to get someone to call up immigration in that city and verify that you are still employed there. If the owner of that school wanted, they could have fired you and cancelled your visa already because there was no benefit for them to keep keep lying about you being employed there. Since you've never been in to work, it probably wouldn't be too hard for them to fire you. If they HAVE, you have likely overstayed your permitted period of sojourn.


Good luck with it. I look forward to hearing how it turns out.

[LeGrandFromage]

Hey, thanks for the quick replies.

Ontheway. you've hit the nail on the head as to what kind of school this is, though your hunch is incorrect as to which one it is - and yeah, I didn't know until this new contract that such schools weren't recognized by the gov anyway. There are several Korean employees.

Troglodyte and Moosehead: So an LOR (boy, there's nothing about which there seems to be more confusion, is there?) is beside the point. Good to have that confirmed for me. That being the case, I don't think I'll mess with the "official" school; there's just too much riding on everything going right to take the time to tweak them. And thanks for the warnings; I'll heed them, maybe starting by going back through my post.

It's going to be a torturous last two weeks, keeping this a secret - they really are nice to us, but then, why wouldn't they be? - but I think it's for the best.

[LeGrandFromage]

OK: on further reflection, I'm just going to take down my original post now and put it back up again in two weeks when this is over. I think it's exceedingly unlikely that any of my employers read this site, but even the slimmest possibility is not a risk I'm willing to take at this juncture.

The original post is now saved on my computer for later restoration and deleted.

[NYC_Gal]

Best of luck, Queso Grande. I hope everything works out!