Korean Job Discussion Forums

[goyangi]

Here's the situation:

I work 55+ hours a week and this doesn't count the 10+ I spend outside of work at meetings. I teach 12 completely unrelated English classes WITH ZERO CURRICULUM. I have zero breaks because technically I have to watch and care for all the kids I teach. I work at a nursery school/hagwon. I've been letting everything go because I've been so busy working; however, now I'm at the point where I'm REALLY sick from exhaustion and working on pneumonia/bronchitis.

My kids' parents are complaining to my boss that she's not taking care of me because everyone can tell I'm sick and exhausted and my boss lies to them. The Korean teachers at my school only teach 5-6 classes, and 3/4 of them just quit and will be gone by February!! Okay, honestly...this is just me ranting.

The real problems come down to the fact that I don't have health insurance. No matter how many time I remind my boss I'm supposed to have the National Health Insurance she doesn't let me leave my school. I'm not allowed off premises during working hours. She barely let me get my ARC.

The second problem is I'm not "registered" as a teacher at her school. She told me she needed my passport and I believed her at first and she made the joking comment, "I don't want you running to Japan or something." It took me three months and a coworker to get my passport back from her, and I'm STILL not registered. (I HAVE MY PASSPORT NOW!) Does that mean I'm working illegally? I mean, my visa is legit, but I'm technically not a registered employee.

The third problem is the way she pays me. I'm used to Japan and the states where I receive something "formal" for my work. Instead my boss prints out a word document of my accrued fees removed from my "pay" and was paying me in cash until I just got a bank account. She also "says" she's taking out the taxes for the government, but it just seems kind of weird and I just don't know.

(T__T) I don't have health insurance. She's told another foreigner and I that she won't do the pension plan and she tried to brush off our comments about the health insurance by saying, "It's too expensive/just use mine/local insurance is cheaper." Honestly, I thought I was just being weak/homesick/etc., but now I think maybe my situation is not a good one...

I just want to teach not deal with all this other stuff...I just need advice at this point on what I should do about my situation. This is beyond what I'm used to dealing with.

[littlelisa]

You should find another school.

If you have a visa and an ARC, you're fine/registered, but even then, she is overworking you (surely it doesn't say so many hours in your contract???), cheating you on pension and medical insurance, likely pocketing the taxes, etc. I would not even try to negotiate with her, just find another school. She is not going to offer you pension, etc no matter what. I WOULD definitely report her to the tax office and to the pension office.

In the future, make sure to always read through the contract carefully and also always ask for current (and past) employees contact information for references. Good luck! I hope you can find somewhere better.

[schwa]

Your working hours are nuts.

I dont know what you mean when you say you're not "registered" -- if you have your ARC, you are.

Its a sad fact that many hagwons break the law by not paying into national health & pension. A few here have gotten that rectified after drawn out involvement with the labor board. Maybe others can chime in with specific advice. I bet the owner is pocketing your tax deductions too.

Your situation really sounds like a worst case scenario. I feel sorry for you, you sound like a nice person. But what you describe should serve as a warning for other naive job seekers. Do your research!

I'd quit. You are being exploited. You are not your boss's slave.

[ttompatz]

Registered with the MOE is an issue for your boss, not for you.

Registered with immigration is an issue for YOU.
- If you have been in Korea for more than 90 days (on any visa other than a Canadian on a B2 (6 month) entry stamp) and do not have an ARC you have problems with immigration. Get thee down to immigration tomorrow or face the consequences.

If you do in fact have your ARC then you are just plain being exploited.
- Time for a quick trip to Japan (handing in your ARC on the way through passport control to get clear of your visa) or better yet, a couple weeks on the beaches of the Philippines or Thailand to unwind. Get a new set of documents and find a new job that is less exploitative.

'

[goyangi]

I do have my ARC. Okay...but I if what she's doing is exploition should I report her somehow some way? I don't want another foreigner to go through what I am. I'm also concerned because I really don't want to have to pay back my flight ticket or my receuitment fee when she is the one not following the contract... I'm already on month 6 of my contract...

[YTMND]

[littlelisa]

Honestly, I never suggest a midnight run, but do a midnight run. Leave after payday, don't worry about paying her back for anything. Don't tell her that you mean to leave!!!

[goyangi]

[ontheway]

[s.tickbeat]

You don't need to do a midnight run. Really. The midnight run is a much older way of dealing with problems like the one you have.

After your next payday, you need to move out of your apartment, gather up your paperwork, and go to the labor board to file a complaint against your boss. Then, you will take a copy of your complaint to immigration and apply for a D10 visa - once you have that visa, you are free to look for work. You don't NEED to leave the country if you're embroiled in a legal conflict with your boss.

1. Write a polite letter, and list your complaints against your employer in point-form, in Korean as well as English. You can do this using google-translate. The secret to using a translator effectively is to use short, concise sentences and to reverse-translate them as you write. For example,
�I did not receive my final salary�
Translates to 내 마지막 월급을받지 못한
Which, when copy-and-pasted back into google translate, means
�I did not receive my last paycheck.�

2. Gather paperwork, all of it.
- Go to the bank, and update your passbook. Highlight all deposits from your director, and black out everything else (because that is no one�s business). Make copies.
- Go to the immigration office and get a copy of your original, signed contract. They should give it to you on the spot, for a few thousands of won.
- At immigration, you should also get a copy of your director�s business registration information. This will be very helpful to the official working your case.
- Go to the local tax office, and get a printed copy of the tax account that matches your ARC. If there is no tax account matching your ARC, ask for some proof of that fact.
- Go to the local pension and health insurance offices as well, to get the same information. If they have no information for you, ask for a printout of the screen showing that.

3. Go to the labor office, show them your letter, and file your complaint. Take a copy of all paperwork (including your complaint) to the immigration office to apply for your D10.

Personally, I'd eat the cost of the flight, never work there again, and go gather my paperwork tomorrow. She can't withhold any salary from you, anyway - and she can't deduct the flight costs without a receipt.

[northway]

It sounds like your school is probably going out of business anyway. One way or another: run.

[goyangi]

Thanks everyone for all the advice. I'm not quite sure what I can do before I leave because there's another girl at a different school under the same boss in the same exact situation (though her working hours are dramatically less and she teaches a lot less classes - she just doesn't have health insurance and pension and potentially her taxes are being pocketed), but her payday is a week after the day I leave and I want to make sure that she gets her pay before we report our boss for anything. She told our boss multiple times it's illegal for us not to have it, but our boss kept telling her that it's not, it's okay, etc. and then our boss even tried to say (this girl came in Nov), that she can only be signed up for health insurance three months after arrival. But then last week our boss told the girl it would take 50 more days.

I also can't leave my school yet because I have to wait for a package arriving at my school. Until then I'm stuck working. I'm not allowed off the premise at all, either, so I can't just ask for a morning off or even say that I need to go to immigration. My boss didn't let my get my ARC until 2.5 months of me being in Korea no matter how much I told her I needed it. I'm not allowed to leave my school or building between 8:30-6:00 Monday through Friday.

Anyway, I will forward the information for reporting our boss to the other girl since she wants to stay and work in Korea. Thank you all for your advice/help/suggestions.

[BigMikeAbroad]

What happened? Are you still working for the same place or did you end up leaving?

[globusmonkey]

Perhaps I've been watching too much Sherlock (great series, btw), and I usually stay away from stuff like this, but I'm bored and think this thread is pretty fun. Let's break it down, shall we?

1. 55 hours per week translates to 11 hours/day on a 5 day schedule, or a cozy 7.85 working everyday. Add 10 hours for meetings, and we have 13 for weekday-only and 9.28 for everyday. Barely enough time for soju...
2. 12 completely unrelated classes would mean that each class, if it were an hour long (a nice, even assumption), would need to meet 4.58 times per week (given a 5 day workweek. Things are much easier if we assume OP works every day, even on their birthday).
3. With no curriculum and no breaks, there is no possible method of class preparation. Unless this is factored into the aforementioned meetings, realistically, planning 12 different class on a 5 or up to 7 day schedule would take more time than 10 hours. Seeing as how the parents comment on the health status of the Native Teacher, perhaps they also comment on how their children spend hours every week singing "The Wheels on the Bus" over and over and over...
4. If the Korean teachers teach 5-6 classes, and if 3/4 of those teachers have quit and will be gone in 3 days, that would leave 3 Korean Teachers whose workload will increase by 75%. This is definitely not enough time left for soju.
5. The only posts by the OP have been on this thread, and the account was created less than a month ago. I find it difficult to believe that anyone would work for this long under these conditions in the internet age without seeking previous advice. Also, OP mentioned working in Japan, which indicates a prior knowledge, at least tangentially, of the Asian ESL market and it's pitfalls. But, it does seem that even when that experience could come in handy, it turns out OP's friend has the exact same problem. Oh no! Nothing can be done!

That's just the five I have the energy for right now. My sympathies/heartfelt apologies if this is indeed a factual tale of woe, but I am much more inclined to see this as an entertaining way for somebody to scare off the madding crowds of new teachers to the land of morning calm. Perhaps a simple "It's not as easy as you think it will be. If you're not a reasonably trained teacher you probably won't enjoy it all that much. Save your money for a nice vacation instead." would suffice.