Korean Job Discussion Forums

[therandom9]

I switched from one hagwon to another in early June. Without getting too much into the details, I told my former school about it in early May, and then worked through the month of May. We had agreed (per the contract) that as I was leaving before 6 months were up, I had to reimburse airfare, but not my recruiting fee.

Fast-forward to now. I still have not been able to get my pay for May. My old boss sent me a payslip, detailing why I was getting no money for that month. There were some standard things (utilities, apartment cleaning), nothing big. There were however, two big ticket items.

1. Airfare - 1,200,000 won. I have a receipt from my recruiter showing the price of the ticket, this is off by about $300.

2. "House rental penalty" - 633,000 won. I know for a fact that they moved another teacher into that apartment immediately after my departure (who had been living in housing unaffiliated with the school), so clearly no penalty was paid on their part. Housing penalties are also not mentioned in the original contract.

So my question is, what are my options? I still live in the area and can go by, what I really want to know is if I have anything legal I can threaten with, although hopefully it will not come to that.

[lifeinkorea]

Not worth it. That's the price you pay for moving to another hagwon. I did it a few times too and lost more. However, I went to a better school and worked the full year. It's easier to make it back that way.

If you have moved out completely, you could give a little visit in person and just mention you would like something. If they refuse, there isn't much else you can do except on the way out let them know, "I guess the new teacher should know how you treat teachers". Then, walk out.

Maybe, just maybe, they will stop you and say "Ok, here's 300,000. Now shut up and enjoy your new hagwon job."

As for the housing penalty, I actually side with them. They have to pay per month. With you leaving, they now have a 1 year teaching contract with a new teacher and have to offset the apartment rent up 5 months or so. It's not easy to do when you have to sign an apartment contract for 1 year.

This means their security deposit will be tied up for the time you stayed with them, because the other teacher will work that amount too in order to finish their 1 year contract.

[therandom9]

Other teacher was already employed at the school.

[Troglodyte]

You may be able to go to the labor board to complain. I've heard from others that they are quite good now about helping teachers get money owed to them. At the very least, they can tell you if they think you have options.

I've never had any successful dealings with the labor board but then again my experiences with them are from 10 years ago. I've heard that they've changed a lot since then. Either way, it can't hurt to go ask them. The worst they'll say is "Sorry. There's nothing we can do for you."

[lifeinkorea]