Korean Job Discussion Forums

[some waygug-in]

My wages are 2 months behind. I have been recieving partial payments every month, but seem to be getting further and further behind.

If I didn't like the school and the job, I would have quit long ago. But I know that anywhere else I go is going to be a step downwards. (as far as job satisfaction is concerned) The guy has actually left me pretty much alone and let me do whatever I want . (with the exception of the kids' class) So I don't really want to go back to some dictatorial place that will be breathing down my neck every minute. (even if they do pay)

This past month, being vacation, there were plenty of students and so the director paid me a full month's wages, (first time in 4 months) but there is no sign of paying the back wages he owes. Am I just being a dolt in hoping that he will get his act together and pay up?
Vacation will soon be over, and student numbers are sure to drop again.

I haven't gone to the labor board, as I keep hoping that I can work this out on my own, but if he doesn't at least make some effort to pay the back wages......................... aigo. I must have sucker written all over my face.

I am not sure why I am posting this, as I am sure to get the standard, " It's all your own fault. Go home if you don't like it!" responses.

I'm just wondering if anyone has some useful suggestions.

cheers

[tzechuk]

Talk to the owner and have him sign an agreement to pay you back your wages. Take a tape recorder with you (a small one, discreet, put it in your pocket), make him say that he owes you the money, not just yes/no, have him actually say *I will pay the money I owe you as soon as I have money myself*. Then if he doesn't pay when your contract is up, you can take it to the labour board with proof.

[the eye]

do you have some kind of signed doc. regarding what he owes you, or is he paying you in cash without such things?

if he's paying cash, you better get a signed doc. illustrating what he owes.

if there IS a paper trail, or bank account deposit trail, get to the LB with it, and your contract... pronto.
what are you going to do in your 12th month when he still owes you back salary and can't pay airfare or severance??

start getting proactive about this, or you will hurt for it later.

[Blind Willie]

[inkoreaforgood]

Got a buddy (hopefully not the same person here), his hagwon pulls the same crap all the time. When he gets up to 4-5 mil won in backpay, he starts talking to the boss about whether he can come into work the next day/week/month or not. If your boss isn't avoiding you, talk to them and get a backpay schedule set up. Have them pay you partial amounts at certain times, and make them stick to the schedule. Otherwise, start with the "I'm going to be too sick to work next week" talk. No teacher, no money from the students and lots of complaints from the parents. I hope you're not towards the end of your contract....

[some waygug-in]

Looks like I'm pretty much screwed. He was paying me in cash, no pay slips of any kind.

I thought about just not showing up at all and seeing what happens. I guess it can't hurt to try. Nothing else has worked with this guy.

I know there's no chance of getting severence or airfare, I just want my
f******** wages.

It's a small hagwan, and I feel sorry for the guy....... or I used to.

I found out too late that he has quite a reputation for pulling this crap, with every teacher who ever worked for him. Why he isn't on a blacklist, I don't know.

To all concerned, stay away from Hyundae Interpretation/ Foreign Language school in Gim hae.

He's done this before and will do it again. Don't get suckered like I did.

[phaedrus]

[captain kirk]

You've said this was the worst, in your five years as an esl'er, hagwon you've ever worked in (from a post back in Dec). Not organized, and so on. Looking back over your posts you had a year in a real 'hell-hole', as well, in that five years. I'm just thinking Blind Willie's right.
Hang around and you'll just get burned, and never be able to forget it. More baggage. Start fresh, tell immigration he wasn't paying you.

[some waygug-in]

In some respects (like pay) it is the worst. In other respects, like leaving me alone and letting me teach, it's the best.

What can I say? If the guy would just pay me, I would be perfectly happy with the job.

C'est la vie.

[captain kirk]

When I was back in Uni, through the student temporary job employment center, I met a tall, lean guy who seemed in a hurry. He handed me a tool and I did some heave-ho type landscaping work in a big backyard. He was some kind of contractor, it seemed. Most of the employers who posted jobs at the Jobs for Students Uni center did so to help students out, give them some income.
He pointed out what to do, and we didn't see him for the rest of the day. Me and another guy worked hard hoeing or cultivating or whatever it was (I can't remember).
Dilligently (we could do what we wanted, no supervision) we hoed.
And didn't get paid, either.
Phoned his house a bunch of times. His aging mother sounded as tough has he was. Maybe he just hated 'privileged Uni students'. The Employment Center wasn't surprised, he'd done this a few times, maybe been warned?
Point is he was he knew what he was doing from the start, knew he wouldn't pay us. So he just pointed at what to do and dashed off, as if to not enable us to study his facial features or ever recognize him again, haha.
That boss you have now, he doesn't care.
But the foreign teacher has to care to do a good job with the kids.
What I mean is don't risk despoiling the good-heartedness/goodwill which is a part prerequisite for the job. Waste what is not an infinite amount of that quality on a situation where the boss has a 'karma problem'.

[ulsanchris]

how many students does the school have?

[some waygug-in]

It's difficult to say exactly. I don't know how many students attend the TOEIC classes or the Chinese, Japanese or other classes.

I do know that other teachers are quitting because of lack of pay.

I am personally teaching 25 adult students, and 18 kids.

But that is misleading as some of the adults only come 3 days a week, so they pay less.

The kids - I teach one class of 12 for an hour a day and another class of
6 for 20 minutes.

Weird, I know.

I have tried to get the guy to offer more classes, that way I could be sure that I am teaching enough to cover my own wages, but he won't even try.

I offered to teach some early morning classes, but he said,"we tried that before and there was no interest, so it's not an option."

I offered to extend the 3 day-a-week evening class to 5 days to see if more students would come, but he just says there's no interest and won't try.

In the mornings when I get here, there's nobody working here but me. He won't pay the secretaries enough to come in before noon. That means all morning the phones are ringing off the hook, and people come in the door, but there's nobody to talk to them. My Korean is not up to the task I'm afraid. But he has 2 girls working together in the evening! What's up with that?

So the guy is losing business left and right because he's too lazy to run his business as it should be run......... but in the end it will be me who ends up getting the shaft.

The guy should have advertised this as a part-time position and then paid accordingly, then he could have saved on housing etc.
But he didn't. He signed a contract offering me full time employment for
2 mil/month.

From the stories I've been hearing regarding past teachers, he has been doing this for a while, so if he's gotten away with it in the past, I guess there's no chance he's going to change now.

[canuckistan]

Chronically late/incomplete wages started happening to a friend of mine and this is what he did: he simply told the boss in a nice way that he wouldn't be coming in until he was paid the full amount of what he was owed since he never showed up 2 weeks late for class or only taught half of them. So he didn't go in and was finally paid in full the day after.

[phaedrus]