Korean Job Discussion Forums

bettyspaghetti · Joined: 28 Apr 2008 Location: Seoul (Mokdong)

I had a sit down with S** (manager), as the bosses (Mr. and Mrs. Kim) are away in the Phillipines.
I told her that I can not work there without getting paid on time. I also told her that I knew that they owed J $10,000 when I got there. Also I know that the owed K, the girl I replaced $8,000 when she left. I know that they have since paid J $4,000 but still owe her $6,000. She is going to come back to Korea and if they don't pay her it she is going to the Labor board.

S** told me, she has two things she can tell me- One is the official towing the company line- and the other is the truth from a friend to a friend. The truth is that they haven't been paying anyone. They owe Sue $6,000, they owe the other secretary money. They haven't paid New Jersey Gyopo in 3 months. AND they haven't paid their drivers. Yesterday J (the secretary) had to go pick up students. Jenny is quitting in August and Sue has put in her letter of resignation for August.

New Guy is quitting this week as they haven't reimburse him for his flight ($1100) and his apartment, like mine, didn't really come furnished or even close to what the contract specified. Also Jasmin had told him about not getting paid and he's just having none of it. He has two job interviews this week.

S** told me she thinks that the school is gonna fold and Mr. Kim is going to sell it off. She said that as a friend, she would recommend that I start looking for another job.

Meanwhile I contacted my recruiter and they told me to start getting my documents in order again (what a PAIN from here). Apparently the school didn't pay our recruiting fees so the recruiter wants to place me somewhere that will, obviously. Am I going to have to go BACK to the states? Or can I just go to Japan. Everyone tells me something different! The recruiter keeps telling to be patient but this could take a couple months and I still haven't been fully paid for June. I am thinking about going home and re-applying but then if I just skipped out would I be able to get another e2 visa??

I don't know what to do. I want to work here- I like it here. I just have to get paid!

Zaria32 · Joined: 04 Dec 2007

Ask politely for a letter of release...you don't want to be a financial burden to them, all that nice stuff. If they say anything other than
Absolutely Yes, here it is, then "I'd hate to have to go to the Labor
Board, Tax Office, Pension Office etc..."

Kikomom · Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 1:08 pm Post subject:

I'm sorry to hear this Vanya. Your's was one of the first blogs I found when Wario (my son) started looking into ESL jobs in Korea. (I added you to my bloglist)

Phillipines, eh?

With all the public schools gearing up for fall, maybe you could get a f-t-f interview with them? Just show them the letter of release and your ARC/visa, etc., and they should be really happy to have you, and fix everything up with Immi. Isn't the in-person interview what they've been asking for?

In the meantime, all these stupid summer camps would probably welcome you with open arms too?

wylies99 · Joined: 13 May 2006 Location: I'm one cool cat!

File with labor. You need legal pressure to get your Letter of release.

bettyspaghetti · Joined: 28 Apr 2008 Location: Seoul (Mokdong)

Labor board it is.

spliff · Joined: 19 Jan 2004 Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand

Just work for free then.

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

Another shining example of why NOT to EVER trust a recruiter. What is thier freakin job, anyway?

They didn't get paid? Who cares. Pepper every recruiter out there with your resume and get a better deal.

bettyspaghetti · Joined: 28 Apr 2008 Location: Seoul (Mokdong)

Yes I was thinking about that but my Mom is sending my new criminal background check and I don't have a reliable address to send it to except the school or the recruiter! I don't know how I would get it out of eithers greedy fingers Sad

The DON · Joined: 30 Apr 2008

You must have a friend in town. Send your documents to them. Don't send it to your current recruiter or school. They have shown that they are not reliable.

Also, just curious but why did you take that job? It's obviously a shite school if they are behind payment to their teachers. Did your co-workers lie to you? or you didn't talk to a teacher?

Also, your recruiter must really be shite or very new and don't know many schools. If your recruiter knew they paid teachers late and still placed you, then that's as dishonest as it gets. If they didn't know the school then it makes more sense as other recruiters knew that school had problems and wouldn't place a teacher there. They knew that if a school doesn't pay their teachers then the school probably won't pay the recruiter as well. Either way, don't use that recruiter again as odds are you are going to be put into another bad situation. What recruiter is it?

wylies99 · Joined: 13 May 2006 Location: I'm one cool cat!

bettyspaghetti · Joined: 28 Apr 2008 Location: Seoul (Mokdong)

[quote]Also, just curious but why did you take that job? It's obviously a shite school if they are behind payment to their teachers. Did your co-workers lie to you? or you didn't talk to a teacher?

Also, your recruiter must really be shite or very new and don't know many schools. If your recruiter knew they paid teachers late and still placed you, then that's as dishonest as it gets. If they didn't know the school then it makes more sense as other recruiters knew that school had problems and wouldn't place a teacher there. They knew that if a school doesn't pay their teachers then the school probably won't pay the recruiter as well. Either way, don't use that recruiter again as odds are you are going to be put into another bad situation. What recruiter is it?[/quote]
[color=red]

* sorry I haven't tried to use the quote code before so I'm not sure if this is going to appear correctly *

I did talk to one of the teachers and she said everything was great, etc. She did say occasionally they paid a little late but that they were always up front about it and always paid.

Later I found out that they owed her 8 million won! I replaced her so I never actually met her. I didn't call her out on it as I am sure she said that because they owed her so much money- she was worried that a) I wouldn't come and replace her and b) they might use it as a reason to not pay her... She made the place and the owners sound fairly ideal. Knowing a lot of Hagwon owners can be jerks I felt that- Oh if they pay me a couple of days late, no big deal. In reality the owners are super nice. I honestly believe that they do not have the money to pay me or they would.

From what Sue told me they need me as part of a package deal to sell the Hagwon. But, she said, this will take a while.

The recruiter I used was KIMS KOREA. This school is a Mom and Pop place that has been around 9 years and as of now has only 2 foreign teachers so I doubt they had an bad experiences before...

I do wish the girl I replaced had been more up front about the situation but there is nothing I can do about that now.

As bad as it sounds, what with the owners screwing everybody, I don't believe they are bad. I feel pretty bad for them. Their business is going down and apparently they have been "showing" the place at night. Their ship is sinking and they stand to lose face. Unfortunately for them I will not be going down with the ship.[/color]

Whistleblower · Joined: 03 Feb 2007

Don't expect to be paid the amount that is owned to you. If someone claims bankruptcy or changes ownership, the responbility with the new owners, etc change.

Good luck and I hope you find a better school.

I guess one lesson you can learn from this is that you have to speak to previous teachers that have left the hagwon and not just the current teachers as they can be put into a compromising situation by the owners.

bettyspaghetti · Joined: 28 Apr 2008 Location: Seoul (Mokdong)

Thank you! Sad

PS can anyone explain how I successfully "quote" on here?? Do I need to uncheck disable BBCode? I know html but this is a code I am unfamiliar with...

wylies99 · Joined: 13 May 2006 Location: I'm one cool cat!

bettyspaghetti · Joined: 28 Apr 2008 Location: Seoul (Mokdong)

that is pure crap! As in, that sucks. I am truly surprised. That is quite low. Oh money...

I realize at this point that I am nothing but a dollar sign to a recruiter. However, I hope I can get this to work in my benefit at this point...

Get me released and get me into a good job and YOU get the dough.
At least being in Korea already will help. I can SEE the apartment and TALK to the employees. I will give them my number rather than talk to them at school... I wouldn't trust anything they said in that situation anymore.