Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Troglodyte]

[winterfall]

[CentralCali]

The police will refer you to the Labor Board and, once you win there, if the employer does not pay, then you can sue the employer at court.

[Los Angeloser]

[ESL Milk "Everyday]

[Los Angeloser]

[happiness]

is the school big and doing well? does she have a nice car? then maybe she can sue you, but i doubt it...bluffing is the letter of the day here.

edit: if shes rich, shell be showing it off, is what i meant

[Hotpants]

So you didn't receive your February (or even January?) paycheck???

Why not?

Sounds like it's building up to an 11th month firing. Why would your director spend loads of money on a lawyer to sue a Westerner with a supposed US$500 to their name for the 'loss' of 2 kids? It's simply not worth her time--she'd be better off just firing you on the spot unless she is stuck for a replacement.

Politely stand your ground, get your due salary, and if you don't get it, go to the labor board. Start looking for a new job, too.

[BoholDiver]

Me? I'd go to work but refuse to enter the classroom until my pay was in my bank account.

Any mothers coming in the door will see a scene going on. Stay in the front area where the boss and school lose face for not paying you.

You will have your pay that day or get fired and get 30 days pay. Be sure to remember that.

[cobradiner]

Sorry, I should have specified. This is not a 11th month firing. I'm into the 4th month of my contract and decided to quit. The start of the new year brought so much stress at my workplace. I absolutely hate my job now because I teach the youngest of the youngest now (3 year olds by Western age). Last year I got to teach the 5, 6, and 7 year olds which makes a HUGE difference. I can't really make any neat lesson plans or creative games with my class as the job is just mostly babysitting. I've been given so many more responsibilities this year that I must do absolutely perfectly without error, and last week it just drove me crazy. I'm not used to being a babysitter, so I forgot to do a lot of things last week. I decided to quit after my boss interrupted my class and started yelling at me in front of my kids, and I snapped and accidently blamed my kids. I didn't want to put up with that for another 9 months, so I quit.

Well today, I decided to go the humble route, and it may be working. I apologized for some of the mistakes I made yesterday, and I told her I am willing to work together and do what she asks for the last 2 weeks of work. When I started the conversation, I could tell she was using her phone as a recorder, but I didn't care. I figured if I apologized, then she would be nicer to me as she once was to me in the past. After our short discussion, she said she agreed with my mindset, but she still wants some compensation for the two parents quitting the school.

It sounds like she won't sue me, but she'll try to deduct some amount she hasn't decided yet from my final paycheck. This could be anywhere from 100,000 to 1,000,000W I'm guessing, but to tell the truth, I've made a lot of mistakes at my job. I'm not used to working with kids so so so so so young. I'm not a very good babysitter. There were many classes I could not control them at all, and my boss had to yell at them in Korean before I could continue teaching. I've made mistakes on the schedule also, and they get hurt and cry in my class often. How much of this paycut should I be accepting? What do guys think??

[BoholDiver]

You should aceept 0 deductions for this. Is that written into your contract?

It sounds like you were not properly trained for your job. That sounds an awful lot like her fault too. She is going to lose money from her laziness and lack of diligence in your training. She is trying to pass the financial loss onto you.

BTW, are you 100% sure that the 2 kids quit because of you? Does she have proof, other than 'They told me.'

Labor board. Give them a heads up and start a file with them. If nothing comes of it in the end, no harm no foul.

[cobradiner]

Yeah, it's not written into my contract, but she may win in court however. She has told me what to do and many times I forgot to clean the kids cups, put chairs down after vacuuming, stop kids from fighting and hurting each other, write the correct schedule that she sends home to the parents, and control the kids during gym classes. My boss actually had a huge meeting with all of the parents from my class behind closed doors where she placed all the blame on me and promised things would get better once I was gone. All the parents probably think I'm the worst teacher in the world. On my first week of this brand new job yeah I made a lot of mistakes, but maybe I could argue that I wasn't given enough time to get accustomed to my new job while too much pressure was placed on me. It's chancy. My friend from Immigration told me there is a small maximum she can sue for here, so it may only be about 500,000 W.

This all comes down to 2 things. How much she wants to deduct and if I want to go back to the States now. Both of those I don't know right now. I have no idea where I want to be. I could stay here and look for another job or even extend my visa and find under the table type work. I miss traveling around at home with friends going to my competitive game tournaments, so I may just want to take a break from Korea in general. I would hate to go home on the other hand because I've made so many great friends here in the city I'm at. Then again I risk getting into something like this again if I am hired by a crap employer. I also hate the way the boss wants me to teach now: can't teach any slang (apparently the phrase "What the.....??" is slang), I'm being measured by how much bookwork I force my students to do, many of the books just suck in general, and I don't have much room to do my own lesson plans. I hate to leave too because I've come so far in my Korean studies, and I won't learn as much back home.

Decisions....

[BoholDiver]

Don't accept fault. If your employer wants to fire you, she can wrote a report stating reasons why. But unless it is written into your contract, you won't take a financial hit for that.

You are quitting, right? Then you leave your job. Done deal.

To 'sue you', she has to take you to court and get an official court ruling of how much you owe, or she might lose. She seems to be taking the law into her own hands. Instead of a court case, she is withholding your pay.

My advice to you: (I mean this as nicely as I can) Grow some balls. Don't let her get away with this.

[ontheway]

You are in the 4th month of your contract. If you think you cannot perform and cannot learn to perform the duties required at this job, then you should quit. If your boss thinks that you cannot perform and cannot learn to perform these duties, then you should be terminated.

However, you should be paid according to the contract for the time you've worked. You were hired and both parties contracted and agreed to certain terms. Being unable to fulfill the contract is reason to end the contract according to the terms in the contract.

You can resign and give proper notice. You can be fired and be given proper notice. Either should be according to the contract, although labor law sets a 30 day minmum standard to fire you.

When all is done, you should be paid for all of your work time. There are likely no provisions for your boss to doc your pay in your contract. If you have damaged the school in any way, your boss can seek damages in court. These damages cannot be withheld from your pay. You must be paid and then sued. (In some cases, if your boss were to sue you prior to your payday, the amounts owed to you could be placed in escrow pending the outcome of the case.)

[minos]

lol,

Your thinking too much....threaten labor board and other crazy stuff until you get your money....and maybe a letter of release....

If she threatens to call the police and legal stuff, laugh in her face...seriously, Koreans LOVE to bluff. Her only card to play is holding your pay(illegally) while you have many cards to play.


As for getting a another job....well, I hope you have some previouys experience and/or good references in Korea. Otherwise, you should simply erase the school from your resume and say you came here on your own to get a job.

No way in hell is another school gonna hire a newbie who didn't last 4 months into their first contract with a bad reference and no LOR. Let alone fund a visa run to Japan. I doubt many recruiters would even bother.

Make sure your FBI check and other docs are ready to apply for a new visa. You might be able to get a LOR if you blackmail her like a mobster....worked for me!

EDIT: Check out her buisness licenses if possible. If your teaching 3 yr. olds and the school isn't a legally registered kindergarten then she's in deep ****. THere were some changes in korean law about the status of "English" kindergartens recently. If she's illegal you can nail her harder than room salon girl on Friday night and probaly force a good reference out of her too.

Here's a link dicussing illegally run "English" kindergarten

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/03/117_82435.html

Bring this up during your conversations and threaten report her to the ministry of education if she's running an illegal outfit(likely)...