Korean Job Discussion Forums

[baby_b]

So, the situation at my hagwon is:

-all teachers, Korean and foreign, weren't paid in full/on time for months.

-last Wednesday, all teachers together threatened to stop working this week if the issue wasn't resolved. Hagwon owners (a couple) responded that we would all just be fired and the school would close and we'd never see money.

-last Thursday, all Korean teachers quit together.

-the other foreign teacher and I are trying to get letters of release for the end of February, but they are stalling on giving an answer.

-the other foreign teacher has a job offer and needs his LOR, and is considering refusing to work tomorrow unless he gets it.

Refusing to work is of course breach of contract, but I guess our defense would be that the hagwon breached contract first by not paying on time/in full.

The hagwon normally has at least 3 Korean teachers and 2 foreign teachers. It currently has 1 (newly hired) Korean teacher, 2 friends of the owners filling in, and us, so if we refused to work it would be a massive deal at the moment.

The parents are already very angry about the situation.

My feeling is if we refuse to work we give them too much ammunition against us/dirty our case, but I also think owners will otherwise keep stalling on the LOR. And the other foreign teacher thinks we're in a position of power.

I also really want a LOR, because there is nobody at the school left I have any trust with, and the owners don't pay foreign teachers last month/severance without legal action.

Any advice would be appreciated. On experiences with how hagwon owners react in these situations, or what we should and shouldn't do in order to have a good case against the hagwon legally, or anything.

[Adventurer]

Have you contacted the Labor Board to inform them that you have not been paid?

[baby_b]

Not yet, will tomorrow. Were trying to get Korean teachers to go to Labor Board all together, they are now waiting 14 days to go file their case.

[iggyb]

I was in a similar situation once. I quit working within 2 weeks of my payday being missing.

The other FT and most of the Korean teachers stayed around for a couple of months and had been staying around despite partial pay for a few months (I found out).

I and the other foreign teacher started pestering the HQ of the franchise. The school wasn't directly under it but did pay for the name. That got us the release letter after a couple of weeks. We also got in touch with English-speaking laywers willing to make a phone call to the boss (but little else). I think the other FT called the labor board.

We both got a release. The other FT ended up losing in the neighborhood of $5,000. All the Korean teachers lost a lot of money. I lost most of one month's pay.

Don't keep working for a school that doesn't pay you.

Contact the labor board and do whatever else you can think of to pressure the school.

It isn't going to get better. If all the Korean teacher's quit, the school will be closing down soon whether he hires new people or not.

These days, the message board here is being to sound a lot like the IMF period of the late 1990s...

[tophatcat]

I agree with iggyb, "If all the Korean teacher's quit, the school will be closing down soon whether he hires new people or not."

You can pretty much bet the farm, this school's days are numbered. Anyone who hangs around, probably will not be seeing their final pay. Contact the Labor Board, immediately.

[Chris.Quigley]

OP you mentioned that the parents are really angry about this. I would imagine that not many of them will be signing up next month... Meaning that this hagwon is about to go belly up. Like the rest - I recommend that you stop working for them immediately. You will never see your pay.