Korean Job Discussion Forums

[faddat]

My friend isn't yet registered for Dave's and asked me to post a link to her saga.

http://www.alanatravels.blogspot.com/

It's a shame, too - I was treated mighty well at this school and I've recommended it to scores of potential ESL teachers. The owner once went above and beyond the call of duty for me when there was a death in my family.

I just want to throw this out there:

Alana's an incredible person. I have a back problem that sometimes makes me incapable of doing insanely simple things - without me asking, in fact with her insisting, she often helped me out with these things and never asked for A THING in return. Her students thought she was "a cool teacher!"

[Tommy]

Your friend seems to have made her boss lose face and she's being fired for that reason. It's kind of a big deal in Korea, and here's the two reasons why she's getting the axe:

1. She went to the heath insurance office without her boss's knowledge.
2. She confronted her boss about making back-payments.

And that's pretty much it! It may seem immature to us, but rule #1 is don't let your boss lose face.

Under the law, all E2's are entitled to national health insurance. Her boss should have been docking her 4.5% along with his 4.5% portion throughout the year. If she had left Korea between contracts (read: new ARC), then she wouldn't have had to make any back-payments; it gets reset to zero. It doesn't matter if it wasn't in the contract - labour laws trump a contract. So I'm not saying what she did was wrong, it's just that there are more subtle, more sensitive ways to deal with the situation.

Also, the spiel her boss gave her about the flight home is BS. If she completed her initial contract, then she gets the flight - unless she chose a cash option.