Korean Job Discussion Forums

[TobyWhite]

Hello everyone,

I have been enjoying my time in Korea up until now and I need some serious help. The following is my situation:

My girlfriend and I came to Korea from Canada in early December. We were recruited to work at a Hagwon for a woman named Mrs. Choi (I'll withhold the school name and her full name for now). We were also told we might be doing some extra tutoring at one of the Korean electronics companies. When we arrived it turned out that despite our contract being with the hagwon, we would only be working at the company and reporting to the head of the training team, "Mrs. Jung." While this was bothersome at first, we soon realized we loved our jobs, even if it was not what we expected.

Things were going very well - our Director was a little strange and unhelpful, but we didn't have to deal with her much. We both started to get the four-month blues recently, but it wasn't affecting us too badly. A few weeks ago I recieved a call from my parents. They informed me that after 26 years of marriage they were getting divorced. This obviously floored me and was very hard to deal with, as I am out of the country. I did not want to go home because of it, since I didn't think that would be all that helpful and I like my job very much and didn't want to leave my students.

As we had some holidays coming up (Thursday and Monday plus the weekend) we asked for an extra day off (Friday) to take a vacation. I really needed to get away from Korea and take a break from all the stuff that was happening in my life. We had initially planed on going to Japan, but were unable to book an affordable trip there. We decide upon Thailand instead and booked a trip there, to leave on Wednesday (April 30) evening.

I told all my (adult) students where I was going, which I didn't think was a big deal, but perhaps in the future I should keep my personal life out of the classroom. The company we work at has a SARS-prevention policy which states that employees who travel to specific infected areas must stay away from the company for twelve days upon return. Our company executives make many business trips to China, Hong Kong, etc.

On Wednesday morning our "boss," Mrs. Jung informed my girlfriend that Thailand had been added to the company's list the previous day and that we wouldn't be able to go. We argued they had no right to tell us where we could vacation, especially considering we do not work for the company, simply at it. Our Director informed us that if we went we would be breaking our contract and would be fired. Our contract does not even mention the company, simply the Hagwon, and does not say "employee must follow electronics company policies."

We were very upset, mostly because not only do we have no contract with the company (and are therefore not informed of company policies), but I feel Thailand was only put on the list the day before we left because one of my students (who has been to class twice in two months) is on the "SARS Task Team" and was paranoid. Most people at the company can't even seem to tell the difference between Thailand and Taiwan. We carefully researched the SARS situation (and which countries were on the company list) before we booked our trip. There is no SARS in Thailand whatsoever, and I didn't want to cancel my badly needed vacation because of an ignorant, arbitrary policy. See http://www.who.int/csr/sars/map2003_05_03.gif

I told our Director, Mrs. Choi, that I was felling very stressed as of late and I told her about my family situation. I told her I needed a vacation because I did not want to have to go back to Canada. She went on about how we must follow company policy, we cannot question it, etc. I was a little hurt that she showed no sympathy. She tried to get us to cancel our flight (that left in a few hours) and go to Gyeongju or somewhere else in Korea. I tried to explain that I needed to get away from Korea for a few days and have some time to myself.

Mrs. Choi continued to insist that I not go on my vacation. I thought about it and decided that if I didn't go I would be in a really poor state of mind, not to mention the fact that I would resent the company, Mrs. Choi, and Mrs. Jung. So we left for Thailand.

We are now back and have been informed by one of our coworkers (our Director apparently won't talk to us directly) that we cannot go to work tomorrow. She tells us that Mrs. Choi has contacted a recruiter to replace us. I am very upset. I love my students and my job. Everything in my life has gone to hell in a short matter of weeks. My parents are breaking up and I am apparently losing my job because I didn't follow the policy of a company I am not contracted to.

I need some help. Can I be fired for something like this? If so, do they have to give me 30 days notice? Here are the relavent parts of my contract:

[Derrek]

Am wondering if you had underwent a doctor's exam immediately after returning -- would it have mattered? Could something like this have been negotiated with your employer?

Probably too late to ask.

[TobyWhite]

I offered to have an exam done - din't seem to interest them. I may have one done anyway just in case they try and bring up the "health" aspect of my contract.
-Toby

[TobyWhite]

[Eemus]

I read your situation with some surprise - certainly a frustrating time. I think that even though you were technically working illegally, you ought still to take the case to the Labour Office. This is not a matter for the Immigration Office just yet. The first dispute is do with your work conditions, so the Labour Office should be involved. I advise you to make a statement much as you have on this website, and it is best to have it carefully translated into Korean to speed up the process. Make references to your contract and tie it in with the applicable Korean laws. Go to the Labour Office, fill out the form, and hand in your statement. In your statement you should make it clear that the job you had thought you were getting was not what you ended up with. Given your dependence on work to get an income here, you had to take the work (could say that you assumed it was legal, as you have a visa, and YOUR BOSS had arranged it all, etc). As for the month's extra pay for being fired without prior notice (or less than thirty days), you should be able to get that. I would think that the first act of crminiality applies to your boss for having you work there. However, that you actually 'accepted' to work there may mean that your two negatives cross each other out (I will explain shortly). That leaves the way you were treated, the 'unknowability' of the addition of Thailand to the list, and the short notice of the dismissal.
My situation was in January of this year I was made redundancy immediately. I was owed a heap of cash, and I got that after two weeks. then I sued my boss for the lack of notice. I had actually completed my contract plus one extra month's work when I was dismissed, so I was entitled to a fair amount of cash. I had actually worked illegally for four months of my 13-month period - which they overlooked (my friend had the same, apparently because both she and her boss were at faulty...). I got the extra month's cahs for immediate dismissal.
I hope things go well for you guys!!

[matthews_world]

See what happens on Tuesday.

You'll have no trouble finding work in Korea. Make sure you get that release letter. Many schools will pay for your visa trip anyway.

Second point, haven't mostly all Asian countries been linked to SARS.

The only ones I can think of that haven't are - North Korea, Japan, maybe Laos or Cambodia.

[schwa]

If your alien card has a notation for the electronics firm on the back, there doesnt seem to be anything illegal about your situation. Your director neednt have bribed anyone -- if no one objects, you can be legally subcontracted. You did break company policy (reasonable or not) & were warned you would be fired if you did so. Heres what I dont get. In light of that warning, you still 'needed' to lie on a beach in Thailand because your folks were splitting up back in Canada. This after only 4 months at a job you 'love.' You openly defied your director & damaged her relationship with your subcontractor. Thats where you burnt your bridges. Dont expect any favors. Game over, time to move on.

[posco's trumpet]

[TobyWhite]

[matthews_world]

Any contact with your boss yet?

I'm interested in knowing what has happened.

[TobyWhite]

Here's an update of what has happened so far, which isn't acually much of an update:

We were asked, unoffically (through another teacher) not to go to work yesterday. Our Director asked us to call our students and tell them we would not be there. She also told us to call our "boss" at the company. Our Director says she is not canceling our contracts but says she does not know when we can go back to work.

When we called our "boss" at the company, she said that she was "upset and did not want to talk to us." This happened twice - very professional. Our students have told us they recieved an email from her saying that classes would probably resume on May 12th. Now this is sooner than the 12 day incubation period that the company has.

We hypothesize there are two possible scenarios going on: 1. The company is willing to decrease the time from 12 days to one week, thus allowing us to restart our classes sooner. 2. They have found new teachers to start on May 12th, but this is not 100% confirmed, so they want to keep us hanging as a backup.

We have spoken to a lawyer and he has told us that at the very least we still deserve 30 days written notice and if we are not given it to appeal to the Labour Board. Hopefully it will not get to that, but we are going to look for alternative jobs in the meantime anyway.

[TobyWhite]

So it appears as if we are going to be fired - but we still haven't recieved official notice. I have a question though. If our director chooses to cancel our contract, do we have to reimburse her for our airfare? Our contract is a little vague on the matter.

[TobyWhite]

So, many things have been happening since my last post. You can see our blog for the exact details. We went back to work on May 19 after our "12 day" holiday to incubate us from the company. We seemed to be patching things up with the company. On Tuesday however, we got a call from our Director saying that Thursday would be our last day at work. She said the Training Team wanted new teachers, so we were out. We told her we deserved 30 days notice, but she said we didn't.

Our students were very upset that we were leaving, but they weren't able to change the minds of Mrs. Jung, our boss at the company. Our Director is now completely hostile to us. She refuses to give us written notice, letters of release, our May pay, and she is still holding half my girlfriend's April pay. She tells us "I don't have to give you anything. Go to the Labour Board."

So, today, we did just that (We've been emailing a lawyer and he's been helping us). The labour board was completey unhelpful. They didn't even look at our contracts, immigration cards, etc. They told us we hadn't been working for 6 months (it would be 6 months on June 13th) so we weren't entitled to any notice. Is this true? Do we actually have no labour rights until we've completed half our contracts? Do our written contracts mean anything?

We've been trying to be optimistic through this whole thing, but this latest event had left us with a sour taste towards Korea. Do we have any alternatives other than finding a new job and beging for a release letter or going home?

[igotthisguitar]

>. Annyong Toby ...

My heart goes out to you. This kinda crap occurs all too much here re : corrupt little korean dictarectors and being stone walled by the labour board etc.

As far as contracts go, they by & large seem to be a mere formality with very little in the way of binding substance ( where foreigners' interests are concerned in particular ). Often highly ambiguous at best. You wouldn't believe (ummm ... ok, maybe at this stage you WOULD) the number of times i tried my diplomatic best to discuss with my most recent dictarector ( hey, there's that word again ) a number of either ambiguous or entirely NON-EXISTENT terms & employment demands within the contract.
BRICK WALL !!! BRICK WALL !!!

Have you sought to blacklist this circus show ??? Not sure how effective this would be as too many first timers have little idea of what they're actually getting themselves into & you can bet their recruiters aren't going to be advertising a Hagwon's blacklist status when it stands to cost them another juicy little commission.

Did you get your release letters ??? IF you can manage to secure a new job for you & your gf over the course of your work visa, it might be an idea.

All the best

[TobyWhite]

No release letter yet unfortunately...