Korean Job Discussion Forums

laogaiguk · Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Location: somewhere in Korea

Two weeks max for me.

jacl · Joined: 31 Oct 2005

I accept no late pays. I was paid late twice. One day each time. Can't remember what I did the first time, but it was about the same as the 2nd time when I woke up the whole apartment building smashing pans and screaming on the top of my lungs. The landlord had to come to my apartment. Told him to call my boss if he had a problem.

Don't pay me late. Pay day is pay day. These fks try to test the waters. Don't let them.

poet13 · Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 1:22 am Post subject:

Good on ya Lacoya. I will keep my eyes open for the next victim there and give him or her the heads up...
Keep in touch, eh?

joyfulgirl · Joined: 05 Jan 2006

i've lived and worked happily in korea for over two years, but now suddenly, after my academy was bought by new people who seem to be poor, er something...i'm not getting paid.

my pay is almost 3 weeks late at the moment, and that's just shocking to me. i literally am running out of money. (i'm one of those morons who spent everything i made here....living like a queen from paycheque to paycheque...but that's another story).

the attitude of the owners is amazing to me...they never have an answer about when i may be paid. they seemed like good folk when they first showed up, but the fact that i tell them i will need money, ya know, to do things like eat, seems to mean nothing to them. and trying to be logical...'well, i've worked...therefore, you must pay me..where you get this money is not my worry, that's your job..' is like talking to a brick wall.

so, i went to work, as people say you should do...but i didn't teach much. which felt very bizarre to me. and the bosses literally saw me sitting in my class reading a book, as i gave the kids crossword puzzles.

but that strategy has come back to bite me in the ass...they told my coworkers that they would be firing me on friday, because i am a 'bad teacher' and just play games in class. (they haven't told me this yet, just my coworkers..ha)

so, i've called in sick on monday and tuesday this week...which is very bizarre to me too. i've taken one genuine sick day in over 2 years here. but people say NOT showing up to work is a bad idea as well..the labour board doesn't like it, etc. so, i'm sitting here wondering if this was the best plan either.

i'm not sure there is any good plan at this point. go to work and not work? stay home? i don't have a whole lotta money left to live on, and nothing i say or do seems to have an effect on these new owners. i'm sure they'd just like me to disappear.

had i been smart enuf to save any money, i'd just cut my losses, and go home for a break. but, i really really need the money they aren't paying me.

i'm not sure i want to leave korea. i like it here. i liked how it was here, back when i had a job that paid me. i'm not necessarily ready to start life up back in canada again.

so, i sit here on my 'sick day'...which, really, considering the stress i'm under, i sorta needed, i guess...packing up the apt. but not sure if i should send the boxes back to canada, or keep them here, to send to a new apt. and new job in seoul.

i'm not going about looking for a new job very well either at this point...a few emails here and there, but i don't have an official 'available' date yet, or a release letter, etc.

i am so eager to be rid of this job and these people, but just am unsure of the best way to go about getting the money i'm owed and desperately need. going to work and not working didn't work. not going to work hasn't worked. the labour board told me to come back in 2 months, which wasn't that encouraging. i'll have starved to death by then, and my cat'll be eating me.

sigh. sorry. i'm rambling 'cause i'm sad and frustrated and overwhelmed.

poof · Joined: 23 May 2005

3 weeks late is a reasonable enough period to call unacceptable in terms of late pay. If I were you, I would tell my employer exactly that and ask quite politely that they give you the money within the next 24 hours or you will report them to the labor board. If they don't comply, tell them that you have reported them to the labor board and plan to sue them and thus forth require a letter of release because you're going to resign. Don't accept anymore excuses. You CANNOT go on working for no salary. They have to fulfill the obligations of your contract pay terms. Keep everything clean and above board so your boss cannot make any claims against you. Period.

poet13 · Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 5:50 pm Post subject:

joyfulgirl

I'm surprised the labor board told you to come back in two months. I dont know what you said to them, but three weeks late should at least get them to make a polite phone call to your employer requesting that you be paid. As the other poster said, I think you should lay down the law....politely. Twenty four hours or you will call the labor board and the tax office... Grounds for calling tax? I dont know. How much tax are you paying? If it's one won over, as usual in korea, there are grounds.