Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ste1982r]

I came to Korea on the 6th Sept 2010. I started work in a public school the following day. (Incheon)

I was told that I would not have to teach until the next Monday. On the Sunday I came became very ill
I either had food poisoning or a virus. As I was new to the country with no power to my phone and to ill to move
I could not get into contact with the school.

A few hours later I manged to get a charger for my phone and Internet access and contact my recruiter and school.

By this point my temperature was extremely high, I had diarrhea and was being sick. Embarrassed by this I lied to my
employer and recruiter about my condition. I said something was wrong back home. This was found out to be untrue by my recruiter ( he contacted home)
who later informed the school.

The next day still unwell I came in..I apologised but was told that I had to hand in my resignation. Pay back the 300,000 won settlement.
And that my Visa would be cancelled and for everyday I spend in the country I would have to pay immigration 100,000 won.

Now, I saved up a lot of money for my air fare and to move out here only to be forced to leave on my first day of teaching.

I tried to reason with them but to no avail...

What can I do?

I have been told i can get a new visa by applying for other jobs by immigration and that i can stay for 90 days beacuse my visa has been cancelled by the school.....

Yet my recruiter says i can never work here again not even at a private academy! I was with EPIK.

What are my options? Im still here living with a friend....

[Radius]

wow what an unfortunate story. Im really sorry about your condition. I may be wrong, but i thought they had to give you 30 days notice before firing you. DUring that time i would look for a new job. man, that sucks!

[DHC]

Your employer must give you 30 days notice. They can pay you your month's salary and fire you without 30 days notice. If your contract says that you must repay settlement allowance and airfare if fired for cause or if you don't complete x number of months then you forfeit this money. Since you lied to your recruiter and were fired on that basis, you do not have a viable case with the labor board.

[Chokse]

If he was actually fired, yes, he gets 30 days. However, if he resigned (turned in a signed resignation letter) then he gets zero days. The Labor Dept. is pretty strict about this, even if you were coerced into signing the letter, as there is really no way to prove this. So, if you handed in a resignation letter, you are pretty much out of luck.

Advice to all out there: Always make them fire you. NEVER resign.

[TheUrbanMyth]

[True_Blue]

The recruiter is lying, you can get a new job. If your PS cancelled the visa, you can apply for a new visa issuance number. You will need all new documents though. Realistically it might take over a month to get the docs, a couple more weeks for the issuance number and a visa trip to Japan. Unless I had a free/cheap place to stay I would teach somewhere else where I could work sooner.

If you want to stay it might be difficult to explain the situation to potential new employers. Perhaps they won't find out and there is no need to tell? You may have more luck finding a private academy job, I don't think they check teacher's work histories as carefully.

I am surprised they sacked you, the job market must indeed be much tighter than it used to be.

Good luck!

[ttompatz]

[Hotwire]

Wow if true that is a harsh story.

That was a weird lie to tell though. Not sure why anyone would be embarrassed to just tell the school 'I'm very sick.'

Methinks there is more to the story than has been revealed....

[languistic]

[ste1982r]

Not a kid far from home I am 28, no more to be revealed....thats what happened....

To be frank, I regret lying. I was confused....I had been in the country only a few days. Not the best start I realise this.

I went to immigration they said I could stay for 90 days...In the process of finding a new job....

[curlyhoward]

[curlyhoward]

[ste1982r]

Thanks curlyhoward or whatever your name is.

Only asking for advice. I guess thats just the way you roll. Its easy to judge....

[Hotwire]

No offense but it just sounds like you got really drunk and were hungover the next day to me. Having been here for 6 yrs I know the chances of a public school calling your home to find out if there is a problem are between slim and anorexic. Just doesn;t ring true.

That said, that's off topic.

So...

In all honesty I would try going to the school, have a meeting with the education office and literally apologising profusely, explaining you were embarrassed to say you had D & V and that you really want to be given a 2nd chance etc.

But still, 6 yrs exp and 4 yrs with public schools tells me there is info missing here. Ie you got angry with them, were drunk or something. It is virtually impossible to be fired from a ps in the 1st 6 months and I've known ps teachers who did way worse things than you claim and still made it at least to month 3 lol... And them calling your home? nah...

Anyway, regardless if that's really all you did, (get sick and lie for one day) apaologising should be enough to get your job back as they have to give you written warnings for anything other than drugs, drinking on the job or as they word it in the contract 'anything that is bad for the school's repurtation or is against the laws of ROK' - I paraphrase and nowhere near exactly, but you all get my point.

No one gets fired from a ps for being off 1 day and telling a little white lie.

And if they WERE - then it is an illegal firing and you should be able to get your job back.

Simple as.

[ste1982r]

I will repeat, the recruiter called home.

Secondly I wasnt hungover...It was a Sunday eve before my first day of lessons

I am still in the dark over this, I have been to the Seoul Global Center, and labour boards but they havent been much help.

I also wasn't fired....I was forced to resign!

Which now I realise I should not have done.

I agree there is something more to this...which I am as yet not aware of.