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jphill9990
Joined: 02 Dec 2009
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 Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2013 3:30 am Post subject: Labor Board question |
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I am wondering how I would go about taking a former school to the Labor Board. Let me describe my situation in short and hopefully you can tell me if I have a case, or how to go about it.
I was hired to start working in Korea Sept.1 this year, I came over August 20th, did some training etc etc. My school was going to have me work at two different places, owned by the same owner. Bus me back and forth, etc. etc. School A was a hagwon, School B was only a Kindergarten ( I was lead to believe it was a normal hagwon, but it was registered as a kindergarten ). So August 30th they pull me in the office and say they can't honor my contract because of government rules etc....that they supposedly didn't know about. I just want them to pay for my airfare here...I paid up front and they were to reimberse me, but obviously that hasn't happened. Do I even have a case here?
FYI, I found a new school in about 10 days and it has actually been a blessing in disguise. So I am not stranded or anything, but I think my old school should be forking over my flight money. |
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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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| Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2013 5:22 am Post subject: Re: Labor Board question |
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| jphill9990 wrote: |
I am wondering how I would go about taking a former school to the Labor Board. Let me describe my situation in short and hopefully you can tell me if I have a case, or how to go about it.
I was hired to start working in Korea Sept.1 this year, I came over August 20th, did some training etc etc. My school was going to have me work at two different places, owned by the same owner. Bus me back and forth, etc. etc. School A was a hagwon, School B was only a Kindergarten ( I was lead to believe it was a normal hagwon, but it was registered as a kindergarten ). So August 30th they pull me in the office and say they can't honor my contract because of government rules etc....that they supposedly didn't know about. I just want them to pay for my airfare here...I paid up front and they were to reimberse me, but obviously that hasn't happened. Do I even have a case here?
FYI, I found a new school in about 10 days and it has actually been a blessing in disguise. So I am not stranded or anything, but I think my old school should be forking over my flight money. |
It's good that you're happy in your new job, because this is all you're likely to get from your first school.
Did you get paid for those few days you worked at your first school, or did your contract specify one of those unpaid training periods?
Since you were at the school such a short time period, you were still legally considered a probationary employee and, as such, you are not entitled to the usual protections, such as the 30 day notice period - work or pay. In any case, the 30 days notice or pay is not required if you start a new job right away. If you started a new job after only 10 days, the most they would owe you is pay for the work days during that ten day period - except that you were probationary, so even that is not applicable to you.
You should be paid for any days that you worked, and IMO you should be paid for your training days - although many hogwans and even the government schools routinely set up contracts to begin after a training period with no pay for training.
Legally you have little chance to claim against your first school for airfare. It's likely that your airfare had a 6 month repayment clause, and you didn't work 6 months. Although they should have known about the legalities of working at the kindergarten, it's possible that they didn't. They certainly didn't make any money off having you there for such a short period of time. They probably lost money for housing and other costs, with no benefit on the revenue side.
It's too late now, but you should have had airfare included in your new contract. Good schools will pay a bonus in lieu of airfare if you are already in Korea and don't need a flight. Since it's a cost to the school to bring in a teacher, which is the usual case, you either get this as a bonus or you get higher monthly pay. |
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young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2013 5:42 am Post subject: |
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| You're lucky you got a LOR unless of course you're working illegally. |
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YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
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| Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2013 6:05 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| So I am not stranded or anything, but I think my old school should be forking over my flight money. |
It is my understanding schools want the teacher to teach 6 months at least or they want the airfare back. It's not a law, but a lot of contracts have this stipulation.
Also, if the contract has to be rescinded then you can't enforce it. It's as if neither party signed the contract. You chose to pay the airfare, but you should have told them to do this. This is the first sign they weren't going to pay you upfront/early on. If they had no problem paying for your flight, then why did they want you to? If they were worried that you would miss the flight, then they could have booked one that could be refunded or changed and you could have paid the difference if the cost wasn't too high.
Never pay for big things that they agree to give you in the contract. You are a teacher not a collection agency. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2013 5:06 pm Post subject: Re: Labor Board question |
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| jphill9990 wrote: |
| I was hired to start working in Korea Sept.1 this year, I came over August 20th, did some training etc etc. |
Right there was your first clue that you'd be cheated. |
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jphill9990
Joined: 02 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2013 3:41 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, I knew better. The reason I took the job is because I talked to a few different people and found numerous blogs regarding the actual school. It seemed like a good place and was in an ideal location. Live and learn.
And yes I did get my LOR, the school didn't leave me totally high and dry. |
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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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| Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2013 3:59 am Post subject: |
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| jphill9990 wrote: |
Yeah, I knew better. The reason I took the job is because I talked to a few different people and found numerous blogs regarding the actual school. It seemed like a good place and was in an ideal location. Live and learn.
And yes I did get my LOR, the school didn't leave me totally high and dry. |
Since they informed you on Aug 30, it appears that you actually never worked at the first school. They should pay you for training, IMO, but some government schools pull this no pay for training scam along with some hogwans - and you agreed to it.
The first school has no obligation to pay for your airfare, and since you got a new 12 month job, it's the new school that should be paying airfare - even though you're already here. You should be getting higher pay or airfare from your new school.
Airfare is part of a teacher's compensation package for working. Every teacher should get paid for a ticket here and back every 12 months, whether or not they need it or use it. But you should not look to collect airfare from a school you didn't work for. |
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