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fozziejr2
Joined: 05 May 2008
Location: soon to be korea (august 08)
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 Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 5:48 pm Post subject: A rare contract situation |
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I am about to sign a contract with a hagwon for a job that starts in a few months. There is a small chance something might come up and I will have to stay at home and give up the job. In the contract it says I have to give them a months notice before 'premature termination'. If I don't give them that much time I will be asked to pay for the damages (according to the contract).
I have heard of such a situation when terminating a contract while working the job, but I have never heard of this if somebody cancels the contract before it even begins. Is it possible that they could somehow force me to give them money, perhaps by lawsuit, if I cancelled my contract a few weeks before the contract starts? I am just not sure what is going to happen with my home situation, but I really want this job. I know some hagwons are evil (all ESL teachers at mine have only said great things about it), but I am not sure what would happen. Walking a tight rope I know.
Any opinions? Guesses on what would happen? |
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PRagic
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
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| Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 5:59 pm Post subject: |
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| Don't sign the contract until you are sure you can come over. Tell them that you would like an extention on the employment offer. If they can get someone else, fine, there are other fish in the sea. |
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espoir
Joined: 09 Oct 2008
Location: Incheon, South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 5:59 pm Post subject: Re: A rare contract situation |
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| fozziejr2 wrote: |
I am about to sign a contract with a hagwon for a job that starts in a few months. There is a small chance something might come up and I will have to stay at home and give up the job. In the contract it says I have to give them a months notice before 'premature termination'. If I don't give them that much time I will be asked to pay for the damages (according to the contract).
I have heard of such a situation when terminating a contract while working the job, but I have never heard of this if somebody cancels the contract before it even begins. Is it possible that they could somehow force me to give them money, perhaps by lawsuit, if I cancelled my contract a few weeks before the contract starts? I am just not sure what is going to happen with my home situation, but I really want this job. I know some hagwons are evil (all ESL teachers at mine have only said great things about it), but I am not sure what would happen. Walking a tight rope I know.
Any opinions? Guesses on what would happen? |
you have no worries at all. You are in your home country and they are in Korea. They would have to file a lawsuit with your local court office and that would be insanely costly for them. Damages refers to items while in Korea, such as plane ticket, apartment, taxes...etc.
As long as your not in their jurisdiction they really cant touch you, so no I would not worry at all. Worst case scenario is they put you on their own personal black list, which really wont stop you from finding a job later at another school anyways |
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gangpae
Joined: 03 Sep 2007
Location: Busan
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| Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 6:00 pm Post subject: |
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| You're in big trouble. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 6:02 pm Post subject: Re: A rare contract situation |
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| fozziejr2 wrote: |
I am about to sign a contract with a hagwon for a job that starts in a few months. There is a small chance something might come up and I will have to stay at home and give up the job. In the contract it says I have to give them a months notice before 'premature termination'. If I don't give them that much time I will be asked to pay for the damages (according to the contract).
I have heard of such a situation when terminating a contract while working the job, but I have never heard of this if somebody cancels the contract before it even begins. Is it possible that they could somehow force me to give them money, perhaps by lawsuit, if I cancelled my contract a few weeks before the contract starts? I am just not sure what is going to happen with my home situation, but I really want this job. I know some hagwons are evil (all ESL teachers at mine have only said great things about it), but I am not sure what would happen. Walking a tight rope I know.
Any opinions? Guesses on what would happen? |
Nothing. It would cost them more to press a lawsuit against you then any money they would get for breach of contract. You are in your home country right? Then they'd have to come over there. If you were in Korea it might be a different story..but you will be fine if you are not.
Have you sent any documents over there to apply for the visa (CBC, passport info, resume...)? If you have, they may not give them back out of spite if you cancel. |
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berrieh
Joined: 10 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 6:16 pm Post subject: Re: A rare contract situation |
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| fozziejr2 wrote: |
I am about to sign a contract with a hagwon for a job that starts in a few months. There is a small chance something might come up and I will have to stay at home and give up the job. In the contract it says I have to give them a months notice before 'premature termination'. If I don't give them that much time I will be asked to pay for the damages (according to the contract).
I have heard of such a situation when terminating a contract while working the job, but I have never heard of this if somebody cancels the contract before it even begins. Is it possible that they could somehow force me to give them money, perhaps by lawsuit, if I cancelled my contract a few weeks before the contract starts? I am just not sure what is going to happen with my home situation, but I really want this job. I know some hagwons are evil (all ESL teachers at mine have only said great things about it), but I am not sure what would happen. Walking a tight rope I know.
Any opinions? Guesses on what would happen? |
That sounds like a crappy contract clause (paying damages). Is that common? I don't think I'd sign such a thing, even understanding there wasn't much they could do from Korea.
Of course, it sounds as though you're not being particularly on the up and up yourself. You shouldn't sign something committing to a job if you're not committed to it; it's one thing if something unexpected pops up, but you're potentially expecting to break the contract...
That just seems wrong to me and quite bad luck/karma. After all, if you've no regard for honoring a contract, how can you expect your employer to have any regard for the contract later? |
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fozziejr2
Joined: 05 May 2008
Location: soon to be korea (august 08)
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| Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 6:51 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, odds are I won't have to stay at home, but it would be a family issue that I cannot currently figure out. This job is in many ways too good to be true, I know that I will not find another one like this, but I have to put my family first if shit does go down. Its a hairy situation. I know its not the best thing, but they could find somebody else in about 10 minutes and I fought for this chance.
So mixed----'big trouble' or 'nothing' haha. Damn. |
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hari seldon
Joined: 05 Dec 2004
Location: Incheon
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| Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:32 pm Post subject: |
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| If it's like most hagwon contracts, it doesn't go into effect until there's a work visa. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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| fozziejr2 wrote: |
Yeah, odds are I won't have to stay at home, but it would be a family issue that I cannot currently figure out. This job is in many ways too good to be true, I know that I will not find another one like this, but I have to put my family first if shit does go down. Its a hairy situation. I know its not the best thing, but they could find somebody else in about 10 minutes and I fought for this chance.
So mixed----'big trouble' or 'nothing' haha. Damn. |
You are fine. The people who say big trouble are having you on. Ignore them. |
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ChinaBoy
Joined: 17 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 11:44 pm Post subject: |
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they only claim "damages" which means they'll take your last month's pay and not give you any
feel free not to show up at all, though, it actually happens quite a bit!  |
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PRagic
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
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| Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 2:35 am Post subject: |
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Don't want to pop anyone's bubble, but sometimes it's best to just go ahead and get it over with:
count down until the OP finds out that the 'too good to be true' HAKWON job really is pretty standard....5....4.....3.....2.... |
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Tobias
Joined: 02 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 3:07 am Post subject: |
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| PRagic wrote: |
Don't want to pop anyone's bubble, but sometimes it's best to just go ahead and get it over with:
count down until the OP finds out that the 'too good to be true' HAKWON job really is pretty standard....5....4.....3.....2.... |
True words from PRagic.
How many times have you found a 20-dollar bill on the sidewalk this week? This year? This decade? In your life? If the job's "perfect", "great", what-the-hell-ever, it won't be available. That's Law 1 of job hunting. Those jobs go to the connected. Ya gotta know somebody. And if you did, you'd be getting a nice bank job back at home instead of looking at a teaching job in far-off Korea. Am I right?
If you have to settle for a teaching job in Korea, you're a member of the club de 'designated losers'. Society has shoved your ass into the loser bin so those with connections can get the good jobs we all want.
Hopefully, the Eureka! has just happened here. |
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PRagic
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
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| Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 4:20 am Post subject: |
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Well, I wasn't trying to rain on the parade THAT hard. A lot of people come over to knock out some debt, put away some coin, do a bit of traveling, and then settle back into 'normality' in the motherland. No lack of honor in that.
OP, my only point was that for the most part, all hakwon jobs were created equal. Count yourself fortunate to be paid on time, get a decent place to hang your hat, and not jacked around too much on the details. You can shoot for some perks, like no split shifts or a bit more overtime pay, but for the most part, there are very, very (ok, one more...VERY) few hakwon positions that set themselves apart in the way you describe, especially for a newbie. |
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Tobias
Joined: 02 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 6:15 am Post subject: |
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| PRagic wrote: |
Well, I wasn't trying to rain on the parade THAT hard. A lot of people come over to knock out some debt, put away some coin, do a bit of traveling, and then settle back into 'normality' in the motherland. No lack of honor in that.
..... |
I was. Pissing on the parade, that is.
I can say that while here, I knocked out some debt, saved some bank, did a bit of travelling. But save for a quick trip to fetch documents, I won't be going back to the motherland anytime soon. Time to find some new country to try this. |
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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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| Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 6:39 am Post subject: Re: A rare contract situation |
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| fozziejr2 wrote: |
I am about to sign a contract with a hagwon for a job that starts in a few months. There is a small chance something might come up and I will have to stay at home and give up the job. In the contract it says I have to give them a months notice before 'premature termination'. If I don't give them that much time I will be asked to pay for the damages (according to the contract).
I have heard of such a situation when terminating a contract while working the job, but I have never heard of this if somebody cancels the contract before it even begins. Is it possible that they could somehow force me to give them money, perhaps by lawsuit, if I cancelled my contract a few weeks before the contract starts? I am just not sure what is going to happen with my home situation, but I really want this job. I know some hagwons are evil (all ESL teachers at mine have only said great things about it), but I am not sure what would happen. Walking a tight rope I know.
Any opinions? Guesses on what would happen? |
First, the solution to this is easy: make sure you give the required notice if you don't come. If they want a month, give them a month.
Second, it is possible the damages could be quite high if you don't show up. Suppose you don't come and they have no teacher for the students. It takes a month to replace you. Their lost income would be all of those students times one month's tuition, and if the students change schools as a result, it would be times the average number of months their students normally remain (average student retention rate). So, the potential damages could be between $10k and $50k.
The best English schools in Korea have NO Korean teachers. There is no one to take your place if you don't show up. |
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