Korean Job Discussion Forums

ella129 · Joined: 18 Jun 2010

I'm in a bit of a sticky situation right now and I was hoping for a bit of advice, as well as to warn people away from the place where I'm working right now.
A little over a month ago my boss called me into his office and in a very roundabout way said that I have a bad relationship with the students and he wanted to find me a position at a different company. I didn't do any of the things that the contract lists as being reasons to be fired, but he didn't like me and I really don't like him either, so it wasn't really a big deal. I've been here for six months and I'm happily going home next week. The Korean teachers were surprised and the kids seem sad, so it looks like my being assertive with him when he made various mistakes made him not want to deal with me anymore. I'm not perfect, but I haven't ever had real complaints in five years of teaching, so it seems like between the bad relationship and the school's financial problems, this was the best plan for him. Again, I really don't mind and am happy to be leaving after all of the problems I've had at this place.
However, money has been taken out of my paycheck for pension the entire time I've been here, but they have not been filing it with the pension office for the last four months. They told me that it was a paperwork error and that they would pay me the money, but after a week and a half it hasn't shown up. I'm wondering what I should do. I'm considering not showing up tomorrow and going directly to the labor board, though it would actually make me sad if I didn't get to properly say goodbye to my kids.
What should I do?
Also, if you're looking for a job in Busan, you can send me a message for more information about this school, which should be avoided. They screwed up my paycheck for the past few months and have been doing odd things with the pay rate saying that if it's divided differently I'll have less tax taken out (and, of course, they would have had to match less of the pension money if they had been paying it). The director has made the two native teachers come to work five hours early for meetings conducted entirely in Korean with no translation. There have been terrible discipline problems that the school refuses to handle and a few of the kids make us fairly nervous at this point. They have changed the name of the school a few times and something seems to be very fishy about their finances. Most of the Korean teachers have left. One is leaving shortly because, after signing a contract, the director said that the other guy had forged his signature, and won't even accept the time stamp on electronic documents of any kinds, saying that the other guy knows how to change them. These are only the beginning of the list of the insults and offenses of this company. Bottom line, this place has been a nightmare and I would hate to see anyone else go through what myself and the last two teachers have gone through. The guy I replaced, though I didn't know it at the time, was there before the current director bought the school. The director told the teacher that he didn't have to honor the contract since it was with another company and refused to pay for housing or even help secure him a place.

Anyway, I'd like to hear some advice about the pension issue and hear what people have to say about the situation.

OculisOrbis · Joined: 17 Jul 2006

Labor board cant help you with your pension issues - only the pension office can and they are actually better and faster acting against cheating employers than the labor office.

The pension line is 1355 and I think '7' for english.

salgichawa · Joined: 18 Mar 2010

Harpeau · Joined: 01 Feb 2003 Location: Coquitlam, BC

lifeinkorea · Joined: 24 Jan 2009 Location: somewhere in China

Walk into the boss's office, sit in a chair closest to his desk and just wait there till he pays. Don't get out of the seat until you are paid.

He can either make a scene which parents won't want to see or he will fork over the money. Chances are, he will want to pay you instead.

itistime · Joined: 23 Jul 2010

I'm pretty new here, but is there a reason that someone would continue working at a 'nightmare' job?

I think the sitting in the chair and not moving is good advice.
Good luck. My gig seems really righteous so far.
You probably don't want a 'loose' face or to lose face in this country, I'm learning.

ontheway · Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 6:29 am Post subject:

cert43 · Joined: 17 Jun 2010

There are far worse situations, but in the end, it just bolis down to the fact
that no one cares.

This kind of ( along with worse) things happen every single day to foreingers, but it is just the fact that they know they can get away with it.

The best advice I can give you is to try Kandem Legal Services ( forget your director). It is worth a shot and they are really nice.

Also PM the name of the school.

wesharris · Joined: 10 Oct 2008

cert43 · Joined: 17 Jun 2010

Really? I use it for more then that... Surprised

ella129 · Joined: 18 Jun 2010

Thank you so much for the great replies. I probably should have posted earlier to get advice.
Last night I got a text from our liaison person that the money had been deposited, and when I checked this morning it was there. The liaison girl, who is wonderful and I'm happy to call her a friend, communicated to the director that I would be taking two or three morning classes off to go to the pension office and have them deal with it, and then he caved.
I'm not sure if the director genuinely didn't want to screw me over or if he was concerned about possible consequences from the pension office.
To clarify, I went to the pension office about two weeks ago and found out that when the company switched names I had not been added to their employment roster and no pension had been filed for four of the six months I have been here. The man at the pension office called the school after seeing pay slips and a letter of release and talked to them, so I don't know if there will be any problems for the company after the fact, and I sincerely don't care. I'm still nervous about getting my final paycheck two days before I leave the country, but at least I got this much.
I had never posted on these boards before because I've seen reasonable posts degenerate into ridiculous banter, but I'm so glad that I did. It made my last week here a great deal better and I've very thankful for the support. I knew, particularly after teaching in a less savory part of the world, that there is always a risk, but I definitely wasn't naive when I came here. I'm disappointed, but not terribly so and I can't wait to get back and figure out my next step from home.