Korean Job Discussion Forums

interestedinhanguk · Joined: 23 Aug 2010

Have you ever completed your contract and received a release letter from your hagwon to transfer to a new school? But then the hagwon you're leaving from then refuses to pay for your airfare at the end of contract/give cash equivalent? What can one do?

ED209 · Joined: 17 Oct 2006

What does your contract say? If you're not returning home, and haven't bought an air ticket, why should they pay for an expense that doesn't exist? A teacher may see airfare as an entitled bonus, a boss may see it as an expense. But really it depends on what the contract says.

interestedinhanguk · Joined: 23 Aug 2010

At the end of the contract Party A (school) agrees to buy a one-way ticket for Party B (teacher) from Korea to his/her country.

DorkothyParker · Joined: 11 Apr 2009 Location: Jeju

It's in the contract...

I am assuming you are going home and then flying in? Maybe you can do what I did and have the two schools pay for a round trip and split the cost between them. It comes out less than two individual tickets would.

If you aren't going home, I think you might be out of luck getting the full cash equivalent. Maybe half? Maybe a quarter? This would be a tough sell.

interestedinhanguk · Joined: 23 Aug 2010

I'm not going home; my new school is public.

I'd be happy to take a discounted cash payment. If the boss still refuses, is there any way I could still demand the ticket? My contract says ticket, and isn't qualified by me not taking another job. As it appears to me in my little mind, I can demand a ticket and not use it. That's silly, of course, which is why I'm willing to take a cash portion.

northway · Joined: 05 Jul 2010

The problem is that the plane ticket thing is a contractual, not a labor law issue. As such, you actually have to take them to court if they won't give you what you want (not like an overtime issue where you can just report them to the labor board). Basically, I think you're kind of screwed if they refuse to pay you, as taking them to court will cost you more than you'll get in return for return airfare. Something similar happened to my buddy when he agreed to a cash payment worth a flight back to Denver and the school only gave him 700,000 (when the available best ticket price at the time, even excluding taxes, as 900,000, they were going off a standby price).

Died By Bear · Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 5:50 am Post subject:

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=3825&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

interestedinhanguk · Joined: 23 Aug 2010

I, unfortunately, do not possess any organs the size of a house.

tefain · Joined: 19 Sep 2007 Location: Not too far out there

That's sounds like a pretty bad deal.

I'm a little surprised you're finishing the contract, yet getting a release letter to work elsewhere.

Does your visa just transfer over?

interestedinhanguk · Joined: 23 Aug 2010

My new school really wanted a release letter. I agreed to work my current job an extra week (the gap between jobs allowed for that) in exchange for a release letter and overtime pay. The thing is, my current (old) contract expired a week before the new term and when new teachers would arrive. Therefore, my boss needed someone to fill in this gap. We signed a simple contract and submitted it to immigration for the extra week.

I'm waiting on the release letter, still. I never liked my boss, our relationship has been rocky to say the least. Basically it was about her not paying on time or doing other things properly, lying, etc.

Through all of this, I am very popular at the school so my boss wants me around because, frankly, it's financially beneficial to have a well-liked teacher.

EDIT: Yes, with the letter of release my visa will just transfer over.

There's also issues where payment of my bonus from the contract which I already finished (as I'm on a temporary one right now) is not being paid. She claims she will pay it on my last day of this temporary contract.

ontheway · Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 10:07 am Post subject:

interestedinhanguk · Joined: 23 Aug 2010

Good points.

Major problem is, she has me over the barrel for this letter of release. She also plays dumb; just today she was pretending like this is the first time she understood what a letter or release is (despite my recruiting company speaking to her about this). I cannot being to explain how screwed up my boss is. I'm not the only one with problems with her.

Her English is terrible, and she often plays dumb. Then she'll run away, claiming she's busy and make up busy work or pretend to talk on the phone; basically making any excuse to get away. After that she'll just say that she understands (like demanding pay) but won't commit to much. After that she'll just flat-out ignore while pretending to be busy.