Korean Job Discussion Forums

[iiicalypso]

Last week I was fired by my old school for the usual "causing harm to the company" line. We have been in a dispute over how much overtime they owe me, but the bigger problem is that they say they are sending a letter to immigration telling them I should not be permitted to find a new job until my old contract expires in October, even though they were the ones who cancelled it and didn't follow the provisions.

I am now on day 12 until my exit order comes true-- does anybody know how valid this threat is, and whether it can be enforced? I already have a lead on a job, and it happens to be with my school's across-the-street rival.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

[lush72]

It is my understanding that the school needs to kill your visa in order to get permission to hire someone else- It was explained to me like your visa is a "cookie" issued by immigration to the school. The school gets a finite amount of cookies, depending on enrolement and available space. This cookie is broken in half, and you and the school each get a half.


So if you work at a small school, with only 1 cookie, then in order for the school to hire a replacement, the school must release you. However, only a fool would believe a hogwon owner wouldnt just lie and fudge the numbers to get more "cookies"- thus forcing you to wait till the contract would have finished to look for more work. This, sadly, is how the cruel hogwon masters (tm) keep their slaves in check.

There is good news though, these things are usually resolved by your new cruel hogwon master (tm) giving money to your old cruel hogwon master (tm).

Dont bother trying to reason- its pointless. Give the labor board a go if so inclined, or contact efl law.

Anyway, let me know how it turns out-

[Grotto]

I would advise that you get them to put in writing why they are letting you go...then contact the labor board and register a complaint..did you get 30 days notice? How long into your contract did this take place?

Any lies on their part about contacting the labor board are exactly that.. an attempt to bully you into leaving the country.

You could also try registering a complaint with the immigration board.

Good luck

[Saxiif]

If you've got an exit order on your visa that means (I think) that you're free to get another visa with a different school. That's what happened to me.

[paperbag princess]

woah. good luck.
at my first hagwon i forced to pay for my letter of release to work in korea again. your boss doesn't have to release you from your visa if he/she doesn't want to. given how cruel some of these guys are i'd be careful.
call imm. and the labour board.

also, i was 3 days over my exit order and i had no problems leaving the country, but i was getting a new visa. better to be safe than sorry...

[shawner88]

[sadsac]

If you are on an exit order, your visa has been cancelled. The threat of a letter is crap. Leave come back and take the new job. For the exit order to be issued your old boss has already had you taken of his books and your previous contact is cancelled. Whether you were given 30 days in leiu of notice is moot if you just want to get away.

[the eye]

lush72...
good stuff.


To the OP...

what happened to have him hook you with this? had things been going sour, or was it suprise?

anyway...i was told that it could be a valid threat, but your director has to be able to prove you caused the business financial harm in order to have you banned for longer than the remainder of your contract time.

if you are simply not able to work for the remainder of your current contract time...it would be that anyway through him just deciding to not release you.

something tells me that things have gotten loud? if it hasn't you should try talking to him once again....
a quick visit to the labor board will at least net him an annoying call from their offices.

[Harvard Material]

The crap about paying for a letter of release?? What kind of fool would do that? Pay to stop/quit a job?? Give it a break.

[iiicalypso]

Thank you to everyone for their advice and suggestions. I still have no idea what I did to anger my old company so much (it could just be my winning personality . Other people say they have never seen a school have such a grudge against someone.

Evidently another hagwon owner has seen their angry words as a steaming pile of BS and I will be doing a visa run soon, and then hidden at another campus far away from my old bosses stares.

I am still going to the labor board and considering taking them to small claims court as well, although I understand the likelihood of winning is slim. I feel that it is important to stand up for principles, even in Korea.

On the positive side of the ledger, I have net some wonderful people at the migrant worker's house and EFL law (as soon as I get some cash I will certainly make donations to each) and I have met with none of the xenophobia that other people have described in meeting with government officials. Except for by old school, which is run by a bunch of pieces of used toilet tissue, I have nothing but nice things to say about Korea.

[fistful of krugerands]

[eamo]

My comiserations iiicalypso.

I'm not surprised at your treatment because, as you know, I worked for the company who have just fired you.

The managers of that company might be the most incompetent bunch of bum-scratchers I've ever come across. They seem to have a policy of discouraging good teachers to continue working for them.

I don't know what you can do about getting away from them cleanly. Remember, this is Planet Korea. Nothing logical applies here.

For more on this school go here;
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=23332&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=austin+white

[captain kirk]

Yeah, infuriating.
Arguments over how much overtime is owed. One does the extra work and pulls their weight and gets the agreed-upon overtime pay. Unless it's that simple they're being super-annoying.
Sounds like a 'the walls are painted with doodoo' set up. The new boss you're talking to understands that. Cool.
Good luck! !

[TheUrbanMyth]

[paperbag princess]

i was told my the imm. board that my boss didn't have to give me a LOR if he didn't want to. i quit and the next day i was fired. anyway, i now know how to deal with korean business practises.