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Beyondbelief
Joined: 21 Sep 2011
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 Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:32 am Post subject: Couple questions after meeting with boss... |
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| So, this evening I was told that I was going to have to start working at another branch of my school once per week(which is about an hour away). Now I have been here six months and they just drop this bomb on me, and let me add that I am not having the best experience ever at this place . So, I basically tell the boss I think its unfair, this wasn't in my contract (nicely), and how I'm not too keen on the idea. He replies that I will be fired if I do not go once per week to the other branch. While I wanted to tell him to shove it and walk out, my current financial situation forced me to oblige. So after going back and forth, I finally said I would. Since I was threatened to do this new job, alebit for the same company, but at a different school, do I have any argument to make to the labor board? Just curious and hope for some feedback. Thanks much |
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koreatimes
Joined: 07 Jun 2011
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:40 am Post subject: |
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I don't think you have a case. Best that I see you can do is save up, then leave after payday. You could leave a note not saying why you left, but leave something to remind him you DON'T feel you should work at the second location and that it IS NOT mentioned in your contract. Don't put anything in past tense and don't date it.
Get new documents, new E2 visa, and re-enter. |
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Beyondbelief
Joined: 21 Sep 2011
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:56 am Post subject: |
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| Thanks for the advice. Sucks to be in this position, but I guess whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger... |
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koreatimes
Joined: 07 Jun 2011
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 8:00 am Post subject: |
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| If it means anything, the school I am working at changed locations in September. Now I have to take a bus and with winter weather in Beijing (smog pollution problem), they decided to finish classes early. This means I have to wait for the buses to take all the Chinese students or go on the packed buses. I end up waiting 1 hour to 1.5 hours to get a bus home that's not crowded. It usually only takes 10 minutes if only a few people are on the bus. I have refused to teach one class because of the way they have things scheduled. I am waiting for them to find out I am not going to it. I doubt I will get fired, but it's a shame they won't schedule me with block classes. |
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Beyondbelief
Joined: 21 Sep 2011
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 8:22 am Post subject: |
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I feel you. They really have us by the #alls over here. Not too easy to just pick up, leave, buy a thousand plus dollar plane ticket back home and start over.  |
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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 9:25 am Post subject: Re: Couple questions after meeting with boss... |
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| Beyondbelief wrote: |
| So, this evening I was told that I was going to have to start working at another branch of my school once per week(which is about an hour away). Now I have been here six months and they just drop this bomb on me, and let me add that I am not having the best experience ever at this place . So, I basically tell the boss I think its unfair, this wasn't in my contract (nicely), and how I'm not too keen on the idea. He replies that I will be fired if I do not go once per week to the other branch. While I wanted to tell him to shove it and walk out, my current financial situation forced me to oblige. So after going back and forth, I finally said I would. Since I was threatened to do this new job, alebit for the same company, but at a different school, do I have any argument to make to the labor board? Just curious and hope for some feedback. Thanks much |
If your boss has to send you to another location one day a week, it sounds like he isn't doing very well financially. If he had enough students at your original location for you to teach he would prefer to keep you there for 5 days and if he had enough students at the other location, he would prefer to have a full time teacher there.
Just as you face the hard financial cost of your airfare home if you leave, he too faces difficult financial choices.
If you have better opportunities, you can and probably should quit with proper notice and go where you have a higher value. If not, you should stay where you are and tough it out.
As long as you are being paid, have the correct deductions and are getting your benefits, then you probably will be better off to make this tough situation work. Try to get money to cover your additional commuting costs and a slight pay increase for your time and inconvenience. If you are a great teacher and the students like you, you should be able to come to some reasonable arrangement. |
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Julius
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 9:42 am Post subject: |
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| Beyondbelief wrote: |
| I feel you. They really have us by the #alls over here. Not too easy to just pick up, leave, buy a thousand plus dollar plane ticket back home and start over. |
Especially when you look at the state of the curent job market!
Abusive employers are laughing all the way to the bank. They're extorting more out of their employees for less. Because everyone is just trying to hang on to their jobs.
Nothing will change til the economy recovers. |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 3:30 pm Post subject: |
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If you do want to do something about it (not a labor board issue by the way) then make sure it is approved by immigration.
A second workplace with the same employer may be added but you NEED to report the addition and have the approval of immigration within 14 days of the addition or be in violation of your status of sojourn.
A 2nd workplace NOT with the same employer needs the PRIOR approval of immigration before you start work at the 2nd workplace.
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Beyondbelief
Joined: 21 Sep 2011
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 4:09 pm Post subject: |
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| I will make a trip down to the immigration office to inform them about this then (am I going to need a Korean speaker to come with me?). It's funny because when I said, "isn't illegal for me to be working at two schools(regardless of being the same company)" to the boss, he laughed and said, "well, the other foreign teachers here did it and didn't complain." I really want to transfer schools and move to Seoul. If I ask for a release letter, is it going to be a big pain? Because I feel it will be. If my boss tells me that he won't and I'll have to pay some million won + fee that will be a really big problem. I really want to finish the 12 months and do the right thing, but this situation is turning into a nightmare. What to do?? |
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plchron
Joined: 26 Feb 2011
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 4:31 pm Post subject: |
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Doing the right thing means protecting yourself. BEfore you were hired there was no mention of multiple branches or a long commute. You didn't sign up for this job and are no longer morally obligated to stick it out. Get your documents in order and leave, or get an LOR and transfer to a D10 visa and then get picked up by another school.
ttompatz is correct
Last edited by plchron on Tue Dec 06, 2011 6:05 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Beyondbelief
Joined: 21 Sep 2011
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 5:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks for the advice everyone. For the last poster, how do I transfer to a D10 visa. Hopefully it's not too tricky and time consuming... Luckily, I have a friends place I can stay at in Seoul between if and when I leave this school, and find a new one to work at. What documents, things do I need to prepare to get that squared away? If and when I get the new visa, where(website) do you recommend looking for a new teaching job? Again, thanks for the advice. |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 5:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Beyondbelief wrote: |
| Thanks for the advice everyone. For the last poster, how do I transfer to a D10 visa. Hopefully it's not too tricky and time consuming... Luckily, I have a friends place I can stay at in Seoul between if and when I leave this school, and find a new one to work at. What documents, things do I need to prepare to get that squared away? If and when I get the new visa, where(website) do you recommend looking for a new teaching job? Again, thanks for the advice. |
You can't change to a D10 (looking for work) without the LOR or until the end of your contract.
1 step at a time.
Immigration.... then see where that leads.
If your boss gets burned because you did the right thing and went to immigration and/or you get fired over it then you have options and you can get released without his consent.
Getting fired for non-performance of your duty leaves you up in the air with no-place to land.
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nathanrutledge
Joined: 01 May 2008
Location: Marakesh
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 6:40 pm Post subject: |
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| ttompatz wrote: |
If you do want to do something about it (not a labor board issue by the way) then make sure it is approved by immigration.
A second workplace with the same employer may be added but you NEED to report the addition and have the approval of immigration within 14 days of the addition or be in violation of your status of sojourn.
A 2nd workplace NOT with the same employer needs the PRIOR approval of immigration before you start work at the 2nd workplace.
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ttompatz -
Isn't approval by immigration pretty much a given in these situations? I mean, he goes there, they're just going to say "okay, next!," aren't they? OR, if he tells them he doesn't want it/complains/etc, will they deny it? You're totally right about the law on this, but if he voluntarily goes down there, can he help himself in this situation, or is he just making it one step easier for the boss? |
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jrwhite82
Joined: 22 May 2010
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:13 pm Post subject: |
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| nathanrutledge wrote: |
| ttompatz wrote: |
If you do want to do something about it (not a labor board issue by the way) then make sure it is approved by immigration.
A second workplace with the same employer may be added but you NEED to report the addition and have the approval of immigration within 14 days of the addition or be in violation of your status of sojourn.
A 2nd workplace NOT with the same employer needs the PRIOR approval of immigration before you start work at the 2nd workplace.
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ttompatz -
Isn't approval by immigration pretty much a given in these situations? I mean, he goes there, they're just going to say "okay, next!," aren't they? OR, if he tells them he doesn't want it/complains/etc, will they deny it? You're totally right about the law on this, but if he voluntarily goes down there, can he help himself in this situation, or is he just making it one step easier for the boss? |
The employee can get in trouble too if he is working somewhere illegally. So it is better to cover your own butt. (Even if it means covering your boss who you don't like while you're at it). So he is making it easier for his boss to make him travel to another branch, but he is protecting himself by abiding immigration law at the same time.
When Ttompatz said, the employer gets burned, I think he meant that if immigration wants to do something about the other employees who are/were working at multiple branches without being registered.
I'd try to wring some bus fare and a pay raise out of this guy for the extra 2 hours commuting once a week. It is reasonable. |
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koreatimes
Joined: 07 Jun 2011
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| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 8:13 pm Post subject: |
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| the employer gets burned |
This is wishful thinking. A slap on the employer's wrist if he didn't fill out some paperwork or something to allow employees to work at this second location is very different than an employee being caught.
The original poster stated they don't have much money to work with now. So, in my opinion, I would suck it up and move on. Get new documents.
All you are going to achieve if you are right going to immigration is getting the employer pissed at you for tattle telling and they can drum up any excuse to fire you. After that, do you want to go through the trouble of trying to take whatever legal avenues are available or would it have been much easier to leave at your convenience?
If you have the money, sure, enforce whatever you want. If you get fired, then you can just leave then. However, it's winter. I wouldn't want to get stuck out on the streets without the necessary won. |
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