Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Kristy Hibbitt]

I have to return home for personal reasons and I have told my school. My contract stipulates that I have to give written notice and work until a replacement arrives but my school understand that I have told them when I want to leave so I can because my grandmother is sick.

Now, I will be working exactly 6 months. My school have now asked for the airfare back that they paid to get me here even tho its not in my contract. They claim its for recruiter fees etc. They then said that if I find a replacement within Korea I don't have to pay it back. Are they allowed to do this?

At the moment they have my alien card and before I had told them I was leaving they checked with travel agents to see if I had booked a ticket home. Now I just want to leave asap but am scared to go through immigration without my card and in case they have reported me for something. I'm really in a pickle and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[rapier]

Why not just visit your sick grandmother for a few weeks and then come back?
It sounds to me like you've decided you don't like your school and want to leave,regardless of wether a family member was sick or not. If you wrote that your school had treated you very badly, I might have more sympathy.
But it sounds like you've just got homesick and want to see mummy again, never mind that your school invested heavily in getting you out here and setting you up...
Unless the school is really terrible, you could at least try and find them a replacement.....

[Kristy Hibbitt]

I just wanted some advice and to know what my rights were. Not a personal attack. Cheers.

[Corporal]

He wasn't really attacking you. Just trying to get a better idea of your situation, which you weren't particularly clear on. I believe he said "it sounds like..." which is a reasonable thing to say. Cheers.

[Gord]

[maxxx_power]

If you really want to leave and don't plan on coming back, tell the immigration guy that you lost your alien card as you process before getting on the plane.

100,000 won fine and you're home free.

Do this after payday, hopefully before they have made any deductions and YOU should be OK.

Correct me if I'm wrong please, but this is how I understand it can work.

[canuckistan]

If you really have worked 6 months, you shouldn't have to pay back anything, that includes recruiter fees. I suspect they're just pissed you want to leave quickly. Although waiting until your replacement arrives is the decent, professional thing to do:

How To Escape
Get all your money out of the bank. Exchange all or enough to US$ to pay for a flight home from Japan. Korean Won mean very little in Japan.
If you don't have your alien registration card when you leave the country, you are sometimes fined 100,000 won. Just tell immigration you lost it and see what happens. Have the Won cash on hand in case you have to pay the fine. If you don't feel like fighting about it, get a train/bus to Pusan, take the ferry to Japan, and fly home from Japan.
*They can't keep you here if you don't want to be and don't ever let anyone make you believe they can*
I would have a copy of your contract with you ie: showing your starting date just in case, and the tel number of your embassy to whom you will scream bloody murder if you have to.

[rapier]

Thankyou Corporal. I have a problem with people fleeing Ok schools just cos they feel like it. Undermines the position of people who take their teaching half seriously and stay out here a long time. We end up having security deposits and all sorts of mechanisms in our contracts because employers here are sick of tearaways coming out here and running.
I reckon that esl teachers should at least have some experience of travelling/backpacking, living in another country, before they even think of signing a years contract in a new, alien country such as Korea.
Either that, or hakwons must stop signing up 20yr old grads fresh out of uni, who've never left their hometown before.
Cheers.

[Kristy Hibbitt]

OK, I understand. A little more on my situation. I live at my school in a dorm with 5 other people and we are monitored everytime we walk in and out the door. They are in the process of building teachers suites tho for all the teachers.

I was paid 2.3 million won and worked 37 hours a week, primarily in kindergarten with some elementary classes. I had no training and wasn't babysat when I got here. I went straight into teaching 5 kindergarten classes a day with no experience. Typical Korean way criticised almost everyday for what I wasn't doing right. For my last month I am now doing middle school and elementary and my pay has dropped as has my hours.

We have had a lot of problems with maintenance at the school which as a result has cost us. Whilst I had trouble when I first got here settling in I got used to it and started to enjoy the work. Then my nanna got sick (I am not lying, thanks to all those who cried "wolf") and there was a possibility that I had to leave in December but not definite. My school got word and asked for my alien card until I made my decision.

I then found out that my grandmother is having heart surgery in December(not something to visit for a few weeks for) and I told my school asap. I provided the letter and they understood when I wanted to leave. I was under the impression that working 6 months I wouldn't have to pay the airfare back which is why I was asking. I will need all the cash I can for when I get home. As yet, they haven't given me my alien card back.

I have actively been looking for a replacement and have had a few offers but noone seems willing to look beyond the boundaries of Seoul at the moment. From the way its going it will be more beneficial for me to leave after my next pay, again the advice about immigration.

I hope this clarifies a few things. I just wanted some advice. I understand from the schools point of view why they want it back. It just took me by surprise because I thought that if they want recruiter fees reimbursed and the airfare, it should be stipulated in the contract.

[Kristy Hibbitt]

Just as an ad lib, I gave them 6 weeks notice. I am not leaving at the drop of a hat.

[waterbaby]

Just an aside ... let this be a lesson to all... *NEVER give up your alien card or your passport!*

Also Kristy, it is not a legal requirement for schools to pay for your airfare to or from Korea. It's something they do to attract people with little cash upfront who might otherwise got to Japan or Taiwan. But what exactly does your contract say about your airfare? Does it say that if you leave within 6 months you have to pay it back?

[Kristy Hibbitt]

No, I'm not working exactly 6 months to argue the airfare. That is the longest I can work before my grandmother has an operation. If it was 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 months I'd still be going home then. I'm questioning it more because its not in my contract and that raises a whole lot of other contract questions. I am very actively looking for a replacement because I'm trying to be fair to my school. Thats why I gave them notice when I did.

My contract wording says
"The school will provide a round trip airfare on completion of the contract"


On Contract Termination
"If B(me) breaks the contract for personal reasons B has to provide written notice and work until a replacement teacher arrives"

Their argument for the airfare is that they lost out on recruiter fees and I can agree with that but from my point of view, if they want reimbursement for it, it should be in the contract. Thats all the foreign teacher has to go by as a guideline for situations such as this. I'm not trying to gip my school or take them for a ride at all.

[Gord]

[mack the knife]

Just ignore/forget Gord's legal shmegal jabberty-jibe.

Pay the airfare because it's the right thing to do. Why is it the right thing to do? Not because of what some contract says, but because there are so many teachers who abuse the airfare "bonus". This smears all of us who are still here (working hard for our money). Yes, we all know hogwon owners are angelic in their business practices...but...

Bottom line...

You came...you worked...you got paid. You had some good times and bad times at your school. Leave with a pocket full of change and memories to last a lifetime.

[eamo]