Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kimchi44448888]

Do you like working for less than half your salary? Do you enjoy being lied to, cheated, and stolen from? If so, you should work for Topia or Canada International School a.k.a. CIS in Ansan, Korea. The front desk at those schools should be decorated with a banner that reads "Welcome To Hell". They are basically two schools in one. They are on the same floor of the same building and have the same owner who pays his teachers the same - half of their salary each month. Teachers there have been quitting left and right. Every teacher who has recently worked there is owed millions of won. The director/owner is a man named Jake Ku who hasn't paid his teachers on time since February and uses the tuition money to pay off his massive debt. He will lie to teachers to get them to work there and will lie to them and threaten them to get them to stay there. He is a lying liar and the most dishonest person in Korea. He should not even be allowed to operate a golf cart much less a school. He has fired teachers 11 months into their contracts so that he doesn't have to pay their severance and airfare home. Only work at Topia or Canada International School in Ansan is you like working at a crappy job and not getting paid much for it. You could make more money in China. Seriously.

[jrwhite82]

So you wouldn't recommend working there?

[Justin Richard]

Better off on welfare back in Ontario.

[stephorama]

Thanks for the heads-up!

Compiling a list of schools & recruiters to steer clear of and this will be on it.

[northway]

Two threads are better than one.

[Kimchifields]

The Topia where I work also lies. I noticed that I was not receiving pension deductions. When I politely made inquiries to my manager, she said that 'it was in the contract' and that 'I was an independent contractor.'

Upon review of my contract, I do notice that it does not mention pension, my fault for lapse of judgement in signing such a contract, but neither does it mention the term independent contractor. However, it does clearly state that I am an 'employee'. It states this term directly in the opening clauses of the contract.

A former teacher, who completed her contract, had broached the pension issue because she was getting ready to leave the country, i.e. the final weeks of her contract. She made calls to the Korean pension office. Later, they contacted Topia. In retaliation, Topia attempted to revoke her severance under the technicality that her paid training was not a part of year-long work contract. Thus, she had, in their terms, worked less than a year. Also, she was forced against her will, along with some others, to move from one campus to a new campus. Thus, although she had worked for Topia for a year, she had not worked at one campus for a year! The director also leveled this technicality against her. Finally, after some haggling they agreed to pay the severance, but I am unsure of the fallout with the pension.

As of now, all the teachers at my Topia school are not being paid pension; regretfully, most of them are not making the issue a priority. Most want to wait until the end of their contracts, thus trading what's proper for short term security. Such a deal does not really jibe with me. Some of them have this theory, that if after the completion of your contract, you noticed and have proof of not being paid pension, that you can make your case to the pension office. Therewith, you may pay the entire amount of your pension contribution that you would have paid over the year. Then the pension office forces your former employer to match that amount.

Will any body confirm the truth or falsity of this belief?? (I have the pension office website bookmarked and will begin studying it.)

What's at issue here is integrity! I want to be proud of my job so that I can work to my full potential. I purposely selected Topia, thinking that they were a top-tier, reputable hakwon. Thus, it was my belief, silly as it was, that their prestige, high tuition, and the teachers' commensurate efforts all balanced out into one illustrious, academic and professional experience. However, when the school wants to gyp on pension, obfuscate the situation and then bully those who broach the issue, then it's clear that Topia is not worth it's so called up-market reputation.

To newbies: Please work elsewhere! or at least demand pension in the contract!!!

[Traversant]

I had a friend who worked for Topia in Yongin and also had a bad experience, though not quite as bad as yours.

My old hagwon, ELI , also in Yongin, needs to go on the blacklist for the same exact reasons you listed. Do we not have a blacklist thread here?

[Ramen]

Topia is not utopia, eh?

[CentralCali]

[Ramen]

[take a rest]

I approve of threads such as these.