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jargonscott
Joined: 11 Mar 2012
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 Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 6:00 am Post subject: tell the truth or lie about why i'm breaking my contract? |
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First, here are some basics:
My school has been quite upstanding when it comes to transparency, the work environment, and adhering to the contract. I would be quite content finishing out my contract here. That being said, I may be offered a position outside of Korea that I'd be crazy to turn down. That employer would probably want me to fly out as soon as my current school lets me go. Right now, I'm just just trying to figure out what my best route would be for resigning.
Option 1: Just tell them the truth. I'm being offered far more money than I could ever hope to make in Korea and I'm taking the new job. Ideally, this is what I'd like to do. I'm fine with reimbursing them for my initial flight out here and paying for my own ticket out of Korea. Do I risk any other fees/penalties? Would I still be able to legally work in Korea if I chose to in the future?
Option 2: Say I have a family emergency. In some ways, this isn't entirely false. My mother is on the verge of needing someone to take care of her full time, so I could just say that she has requested my services now that other relatives have bailed on her.
If I'm reading my contract correctly, it sounds like I'd have to give a 60 day notice for either of the aforementioned options.
Your insight is appreciated.
Last edited by jargonscott on Wed Feb 06, 2013 10:10 am; edited 2 times in total |
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newb
Joined: 27 Aug 2012
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 6:21 am Post subject: |
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Choose 2.
You are only required to give 1 minute notice so start packing and go get your dream job. |
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creeper1
Joined: 30 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 6:33 am Post subject: |
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Just be honest. You are not in prison. As long as you give the required notice and pay back any fees then all's good.
Bon Voyage.  |
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Son Deureo!
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 6:38 am Post subject: |
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| If you want to work for free for a month, give them notice. Otherwise, leave on payday and tell them whatever you like, after you've been paid. |
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jargonscott
Joined: 11 Mar 2012
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 7:24 am Post subject: |
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| Son Deureo! wrote: |
| If you want to work for free for a month, give them notice. Otherwise, leave on payday and tell them whatever you like, after you've been paid. |
Wouldn't they try to come after me for not giving notice and insist I owe them for the time they're without a teacher?
Like I said before, my school is pretty upstanding. Far as I know, every teacher has received all of their pay (on time even!) no matter how they ended their job.
Are there any precautions I can take (document-wise) to encourage playing by the rules? After all, if I'm honest and give them full notice, I'd hope they'd show me similar respect. Since I've been here, they've held up their end. We're pretty tightly-knit and everyone looks out for each other.
Would things be any different if I utilized option 2?
Last edited by jargonscott on Wed Feb 06, 2013 10:13 am; edited 1 time in total |
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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 8:08 am Post subject: |
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| Of course you're going to take the new job. So, you have to resign. The school has been honest and you've received all your pay on time, as have all other the teachers present and past, to your knowledge. There is no reason to believe that you school won't continue to be honest. So, you should be honest as well. Give the 60 days notice your contract requires. Be honest about your reasons. This will allow your school to replace you and continue to function smoothly. |
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jargonscott
Joined: 11 Mar 2012
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 8:31 am Post subject: |
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| ontheway wrote: |
| Of course you're going to take the new job. So, you have to resign. The school has been honest and you've received all your pay on time, as have all other the teachers present and past, to your knowledge. There is no reason to believe that you school won't continue to be honest. So, you should be honest as well. Give the 60 days notice your contract requires. Be honest about your reasons. This will allow your school to replace you and continue to function smoothly. |
So would I face any penalties with being able to work in Korea in the future?
Are there any crazy possibilities of the school trying to say I owe them money for not finishing out my contract? If all I have to do is foot the bill for my flights, I'm quite content. |
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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 8:40 am Post subject: |
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| jargonscott wrote: |
| ontheway wrote: |
| Of course you're going to take the new job. So, you have to resign. The school has been honest and you've received all your pay on time, as have all other the teachers present and past, to your knowledge. There is no reason to believe that you school won't continue to be honest. So, you should be honest as well. Give the 60 days notice your contract requires. Be honest about your reasons. This will allow your school to replace you and continue to function smoothly. |
So would I face any penalties with being able to work in Korea in the future?
Are there any crazy possibilities of the school trying to say I owe them money for not finishing out my contract? If all I have to do is foot the bill for my flights, I'm quite content. |
If you get this great offer outside of Korea that you are anticipating, so good that you can't refuse, so that you intend to break your contract to take it, why would you ever want to return to a entry level ESL teaching in Korea? In any case, unless you commit some criminal act you will have no problem returning to Korea to work at some future date. You have the right to quit your job.
As for your school trying to charge extra penalties outside your contract, this is possible, it happens in some cases, however most hogwans in Korea are honest and pay everything the teacher has earned and only make deductions for airfare for early departure and other legitimate items as listed in the contract in cases such as yours, as long as you give proper notice. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 8:48 am Post subject: |
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| jargonscott wrote: |
| Wouldn't they try to come after me for not giving notice |
The law says you do not have to give notice. You have the legal right to bail on the job at any time. Furthermore, there is no way they can "come after" you after you leave the country. Even you were still in the country, working on the new job, there is still nothing they could do to you legally.
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| and insist I owe them for the time they're without a teacher? |
Owe them for the time they're without a teacher? No. The school might think that's the way it works but, no, it's not. You owe them nothing other than your legitimate debts. Some schools even think the foreign teacher should pay for temporary teachers even after the first teacher's contract has ended. That's not even in the realm of sane thinking. Again, you owe them nothing unless you've incurred debts, such as maintenance fees or an advance on salary.
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| Like I said before, my school is pretty upstanding. Far as I know, every teacher has received all of their pay (on time even!) no matter how they ended their job. Though there are privately run franchises of our school, I work directly for the head company. Things always seem more stable here. That being said, I know it's possible for anyone to get screwed. |
This might sound silly, but it's not. Whose name is on the contract as your employer? Is it the actual head of the company? If it's not, then you don't work "directly for the head company" even if you are working at the head company. That leads to another question that, again, might sound silly but really isn't: what is the location of employment on your visa? Does that match where you actually work? If not, then you're already being screwed.
Anyway, people don't generally get screwed within their first three months on the job. That usually happens around the six-month and eleven-month marks.
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| Are there any precautions I can take (document-wise) to encourage playing by the rules? |
Following the law is playing by the rules. If you wish to leave without notice, you have the legal right to do that. Of course, you should ensure you pay whatever you owe if you do happen to have any outstanding debts. Other than that, there's nothing stopping you.
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| After all, if I'm honest and give them full notice, I'd hope they'd show me similar respect. Since I've been here, they've held up their end. |
See above about the timing of being screwed.
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| We're pretty tightly-knit and everyone looks out for each other. |
No. No, you're not. You might think you are, but there's absolutely no way you got "tightly-knit" in an established Korean company in a mere three months. It takes a lot longer for Koreans to do that.
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| Would things be any different if I utilized option 2? |
Every Korean school I've seen cares exactly zero why the foreign teacher is quitting before the end of a contract. They are only concerned with the fact that the teacher is quitting before the end of a contract. Some schools get bent out of shape even when the foreign teacher has a death in the immediate family.
Last edited by CentralCali on Mon Feb 04, 2013 12:24 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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jargonscott
Joined: 11 Mar 2012
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 9:27 am Post subject: |
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That's some good insight. Thank you for that.
I doubt I'd ever come back to Korea to work, but I just always like keeping my options open down the road. If I wound up landing a non-teaching job in Seoul someday, I'd feel silly if there was something like an old broken hagwon contract keeping me from getting a visa.
Oddly enough, the contract I have is between the company CEO and I and the address on my visa does match my place of employment. A big reason I accepted this job is because the contract seemed a far cry more professional than most others I had been offered.
I think I'll just opt to be honest.
Last edited by jargonscott on Wed Feb 06, 2013 10:14 am; edited 1 time in total |
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wishfullthinkng
Joined: 05 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Son Deureo! wrote: |
| If you want to work for free for a month, give them notice. Otherwise, leave on payday and tell them whatever you like, after you've been paid. |
this is awful advice. you're an adult and you made a contractual decision to work at your current place of employment for a year. be honest and help them find a suitable replacement. even if you did work free for a month, you are the one who is breaking contract remember. plus you are going to be making far more money as you say in a better job so that probably shouldn't be too bad of a hit if it were to happen which i even doubt if you do the right thing. |
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jargonscott
Joined: 11 Mar 2012
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 6:03 pm Post subject: |
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| wishfullthinkng wrote: |
| plus you are going to be making far more money as you say in a better job so that probably shouldn't be too bad of a hit if it were to happen which i even doubt if you do the right thing. |
My thoughts exactly. Though I'd prefer to be paid, I could certainly rebound quickly if things went awry. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 6:14 pm Post subject: |
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The OP is well before the six-month wicket when he will no longer be a probationary employee. If the school has people "on deck" to fill his position, he will be dismissed the instant he gives notice, IMHO. Note that I have not advised the OP to do anything illegal or immoral, but to act within the law and, if he does in fact have any actual monetary debt to the current employer, to repay that debt.
OP: I hope you have sufficient savings to make it to the new job and survive before that job's first payday. |
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kinship
Joined: 24 Jan 2013
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 7:05 pm Post subject: |
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You give your notice and be honest. If you are before the 6 month mark you repay all monies due as per contract. Wishfulthinking has given you good advice and you should follow that.
Ignore all those who want you to be dishonest or violate your contract terms. They are not going to be the ones with the blackmark or get into trouble so they do not care what they say to you.
They are also the ones who make things worse for westerners in this country |
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zpeanut
Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Location: Pohang, Korea
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 7:54 pm Post subject: |
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| kinship wrote: |
You give your notice and be honest. If you are before the 6 month mark you repay all monies due as per contract. Wishfulthinking has given you good advice and you should follow that.
Ignore all those who want you to be dishonest or violate your contract terms. They are not going to be the ones with the blackmark or get into trouble so they do not care what they say to you.
They are also the ones who make things worse for westerners in this country |
ditto. especially the last point.
It sounds like your employer has been honest with you, so you should do the same. I know horror stories can send your mind spinning a bit but really, at the end of the day people are quite the same.
No one likes being treated without respect after they've made an effort to treat you well. Theres no point spinning a half-lie, just a simple ' i was offered a better opportunity' would suffice. |
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