Korean Job Discussion Forums

[MisterK19]

My school, which is a fairly big hagwon, has decided to close for several days due to fears about swine flu at this time of year. The director has said that this time off must be unpaid. We have complained about it but he has said that he will be losing money for canceling the classes (something he chose to do) and so we can't get paid for those days.

Can he do this? Has anyone had a similar experience? He has told us that other places are doing it just like this...that other teachers aren't getting paid for their time off, too.

I just want to know my options. Thank you!

[andrewchon]

Does your contract say employee or independent contractor?

[MisterK19]

It says employee.

[iggyb]

I can't answer the question definitively, but I can guess that it will boil down to whether you and others want to run the risk of creating too much bad blood at the work place for the amount of money you're going to be losing.

For 3 days pay, I doubt legal options would work. They are hard to make work when you're talking about a month or two of back pay. You do have options as a valuable asset to the company - especially if more than 1 teacher sticks together on a program of pressuring the school. But, the problems that going that route can lead to for the remainder of your contract is an important factor. It is a "last resort" kind of thing. I probably wouldn't agree to do it if I were a teacher with you. Not for 3 days pay.

On the flu --- a long term expat business owner I've seen around the K-blogs for years warned that what he was hearing from some Korean hakwon owners was that the irrational flu fears this Fall-Winter was were going to cripple the hakwon industry...I didn't think much of it...but now...???...

Back in the late 1990s when I last worked in the ESL industry in Korea, summer camps for ESL kids had just started to take off as the hot thing to do. Then there was a horrific fire at one of the camps that killed many students and instructors.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/korea-fire-kills-23-nursery-children-1103546.html

Camps were canceled left and right after that. The hakwon I worked for had its own three story building and the owner rushed in fire doors to ease the fear of parents (and promote the school).

Korean society is known for swinging like a pendulum in reaction to events. I hope it isn't that way with this flu thing.

I don't think it was back during the SARS scare of 2002, though....

[Young FRANKenstein]

What did the Labor Board advise when you told them this?

[hagwonnewbie]

3 days? Enjoy the time off because academies don't offer much.

Sounds like another case of cry baby teachers looking for something to complain about.

It would be completely different if you were working and didn't get paid.

[iggyb]

[Young FRANKenstein]

[Grantasmagoria]

Come work at my school, I'll take your unpaid days off.

[Changwon Charlie]

You won't get paid and there is little you can do about it.

Expect a lot more of the same in ALL hagwons and schools over the next few months as a lot of them close due to media fearmongering.

[vonnegutjr]

Enjoy your unpaid vacation. I'd take it. You might fight it but you are going to put yourself in a much worse position by creating a lot of headache. If you mentioned something to your director about this, he/she knows you are paying attention and don't want to get screwed over. That's enough I think to protect your future. Go to Guleungdo near Pohang. You can take the train/bus.

[CentralCali]

[Fox]