Korean Job Discussion Forums

[redd]

I posted this on EFL-law, but haven't heard anything, so I thought I'd try here.

A few weeks back, my boss offered myself and the other FT a letter of release with pro-rated severance and no penalties on the airfare (I'd have to pay him back if I quit). I knew he was trying to get the other teacher to leave as he has tried this before. I accepted his offer and worded my resignation letter to say "...I am accepting YOUR OFFER of letter of release, pro-rated severance, and no penalties on airfare.... my final day being July 29th, 2005" . This gave him the agreed-upon two months notice (only one month needed as per contract).

It was basically the pro-rated severance that sealed the deal. I'll have been here 8mths by then and it'll work out to about $1500CDN. Plus $600 in deposit. So he could hold onto $2000 not to mention my last pay.

Well, now that I have accepted the offer and the other teacher didn't, he's getting really desperate. He called me into a "meeting" the other day and said "I've change my mind, I can't let you go". He's now threatening me with not paying the severance in order to get me to stay. He's claiming that since it was a verbal agreement and not written down, it can't be enforced. I've got parts of my written contract that aren't being enforced (pension) so basically nothing this guy says can be trusted?

I've asked him why he even offered if he had no intention of honouring his proposal and his answer was that he didn't want me to feel left out if he offered to one and not the other. How stupid is that? This is exactly how he lost the last teacher, so he really should have learned from that mistake.

With the way he's been handling this, I'd be afraid to stay only to have him come up with some excuse at the end not to pay me anyway.

Do I have any legal standing? HE made the offer and I accepted. That should be enough right? My co-worker is a witness to the offer if that helps at all. I tried to call a number for the Labour Board given on here, but it's not in service anymore. I live just south of Seoul - how do I find the "local" Labour Board? I'm not good with searches on Dave's - they never seem to work for me.

Thank you for any help you can offer. At least I've got two months to sort this out.

[turtlepi1]

Sorry, I can't offer any advice on where you stand, and at this point to say "you should have got it in writing" is pretty stupid.

Here is a link to the Labour Board info you asked for.
Keep us up to date on what happens.

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=37425&highlight=labour+board+seoul

[redd]

thank you turtlepi1. I don't know why my search didn't yield the same result

I guess I didn't really think he would get this ugly. "take it like a man" comes to mind... I've got to ask him for a recommendation letter on Monday for a job in Japan that he knows about. That should be fun! Wish me luck.

[prosodic]

Have you thought about trying to use the pension issue as leverage? I mean, you could suggest a nice private agreement by which he honours his oral offer. In return, you agree not to raise the pension issue with the government.

Then discuss the cost/benefit ratio with him. The cost of his honouring his oral agreement seems to be about 200 million won.

The cost of you raising the pension issue with the government might be higher.

True, it's only 4.5% of your salary for 8 months, so I would guess about 700,000 won for you. However, the government would probably start asking about other employees. Then you start adding in the other FT and any Koreean staff and future employees and it doesn't take long before the cost/benefit analysis indicates that he should honor his oral agreement.

Even if you aren't comfortable with reporting him to the government, you could just bluff your way through it. If he calls your bluff, then you're no worse than where you started.

[redd]

that's a very good idea, thanks. I'm totally comfortable going to the government if this is the kind of stuff he's going to pull.

I found out there's a Labour office in my town, so I'm going to try hitting them up on Monday to see what they say. Nice to know I've got some back-up arguments though.

Thing is, when I was hired, there were 6 teachers and one part-timer. Now there are only 4 of us. Doesn't that mean I could finish my year and he could decide not to pay my severance because he doesn't have enough teachers to be legally obligated? Wouldn't put it past him now.

[redd]

Just got off the phone with the Labour Board (1350 - English interpreter) and they said that yes, my boss can change his mind and is under no obligation to pay me severance. They told me the only thing I can really do is take him to court if I feel that I'm out money owed to me. I didn't tell them about the pension money - I'm going to bargain with him over it first.

What a frickin mess. If I don't get that job in Japan, I'm screwed. I've had it with the way the Korean government works though.