Korean Job Discussion Forums

[poet13]

hello everyone.
i was wondering what links there were regarding immigration help. I understand if you have a serious disoute with your employer, they can be prevented from hiring another person until it is setlled.
does anyone know what cirsumstances this requires?
is there a link to immigration law in english?
contact numbers?
coming to the end of a contract here, and every day my spider sense tingles a little more....
thanks

[TheUrbanMyth]

[poet13]

specifics,
boss hasnt filed taxes fro me all year, but has charged me 100,000/month. boss has had me working in different locations during the past year (found out that was illegal this week). bos is proposing another outside course starting in about two weeks, just after the beginning of a six month contract extension. when i talked to my boss last week about paying off all that is due at the end of my contract, she wants to push it back another week. She is aready running behind on paying me. this monday she will pay me until Jan 27. at the end of my contract, i will be due back pay of five weeks and three days, plus i month severance, and i want 840000 in over paid taxes back. also the issue of unused vacation (4 days). that was her schedule, not mine, but i am the only foreigner in this hagwon.
i am terribly worried that she is going to rip me off and i need to prepare a course of action if she does. I do not want to make empty threats. well, i dont want to make any threats at all, but she has played money games all year (i wasnt paid for even one scheduled or national holiday), and she is showing signs that its going to go bad.....

[poet13]

specifics,
boss hasnt filed taxes fro me all year, but has charged me 100,000/month. boss has had me working in different locations during the past year (found out that was illegal this week). boss is proposing another outside course starting in about two weeks, just after the beginning of a six month contract extension. when i talked to my boss last week about paying off all that is due at the end of my contract, she balked and wanted to push it back another week. She is aready running behind on paying me. this monday she will pay me until Jan 27. at the end of my contract, i will be due back pay of five weeks and three days, plus i month severance, and i want 840000 in over-paid taxes back. also an issue is unused vacation (4 days). that was her schedule, not mine, but i am the only foreigner in this hagwon.
i am terribly worried that she is going to rip me off and i need to prepare a course of action if she does. I do not want to make empty threats. well, i dont want to make any threats at all, but she has played money games all year (i wasnt paid for ANY scheduled or national holidays), and she is showing signs that its going to go bad.....

what i really need is an accountant to go through my time sheets (i have every one) and compare them to my deposits. the problem is though, i hvaent been given a single receipt or statement during my employment.....

[poet13]

sorry, still new at this stuff. found it, thank you for the directions.....

[the eye]

important numbers can be found by using the search function at the top of this page.
but, here, i did the work for you....

efl-law:
http://www.efl-law.com/korean-immigration.php
http://efl-law.org/forums/index.php

ministry of labor:
http://english.molab.go.kr/

immigration:
http://www.moj.go.kr/


as per your problem:
it's not an immigration problem, it's a labor board problem.

sorry to add to your dismay, but you're responsible for your predicament.
letting things go like this is not something you would have done with a job back home, so what's up?

anyway, save the lecture...
what you need to do is have a sit down with the employer and calmly bring all your concerns to the table.
i hope you have SOME record of all the payments you have received, and you have a signed copy of your contract.
if you don't have those things, you will have trouble should this matter need to be refered to the labor board.

you should tell your boss that you expect her to repay what she owes you within the next 30 days or you will inform the tax agency and the labor board of her actions.
to report the tax issue, you will need the business registration number which will be framed on a wall near the front desk in most cases.

[lastat06513]

I had a problem like yours before, but with a part-time job I did once. They wanted me to pay "taxes", although they were not sponsoring any visa for me nor amending my E2 at the time.

Ok, do you have the following;

1. A copy of your contract (make sure it is bilingual)
2. Copies of your pay statements that you are supposed to get every month.

Now, once you get all these things, ask them for a tax statement from the municipal tax office, which is in every "gu", "dong" and "gun". The tax statement will show all the tax your employer paid to them for your earnings. Every employer is oblige to give one to their employees if asked for one (sometimes, it is necessary for such things as spousal visas and buying large purchases like a car or a home for a foreigner).

If, by chance, they don't give you one or fight you on it, then you will know that the money they are taking from you is not a legal deduction.

Take a Korean speaking friend to the tax office (with your BILINQUAL contract and your pay statements) and kindly tell them that you want a tax statement (it takes about a week for them to prepare). If they don't have you on record, they WILL automatically start an investigation to see if their is possible tax evasion or tax fraud on their part.
In a worst-case scenerio, a tax officer and a Korean equivalent of a CPA will go to your school unannounced and do an audit of their finances.
IF irregularities are found, your boss WILL go to jail (no pass go-no collect $200) and if it is in a small town or district, it could spark an investigation into all the irregularities in other schools also.

But, I would just start off with a threat first before setting off this whole chain of events

Take care and have a wonderful day- ciao!

[bellum99]

Remember that you working at two places is your fault...not the bosses. Immigration is not going to really care about it and if you tell immigration you were doing something illegal then they may be angry with you. Either you knew or didn't know that it was illegal doesn't matter because ignorance of a law is not a defense. I would leave immigration out of this until it's the last option.

[TheUrbanMyth]

[poet13]

I agree that ignorance is no defense, vis-a-vis mulitple work locations. the Nuremberg defense (concentration camp prison guards whose defense was that they were doing what they were told even though they knew it was wrong) would also be silly. Yup, that one would be on me.

The only records of pay i have are my direct bank deposits. I understood that an employer was required to provide a year end statement. I did ask about a statement when i received my first pay, but she told me that the system in korea was different, and that the bank statement was what passed for such in this country. Though i have spent parts of several years in Korea, this contract is the first working for a Korean employer. All previous was working for US Gov.

I think however that having all my time sheets, which are scrupulously correct, even to taking five minutes off here and there for classes I let out early, and twelve minutes for the class i was late for (2 lates in one year), along with my bank statements, and my (yes) bilingual signed contract, should be enough to go on should labour decide to do the accounting.

Just for giggles, I wll include an example of cheating. In August, i paid 200,000 won for a six month health insurance policy with ACE. She didnt want the gov. policy, saying it was too expensive. I now know it was because it would have triggered pension.... Anyways, i demanded, and eventually received a photocopy of the policy. When she photocopied the policy, she placed another sheet of paper over the bottom of the page, covering the policy price. Our agreement was 50/50. I demanded to see the original. Everntually (one week later) she sat me down in her office, flashed the piece of paper in front of me and stuffed it back into her desk.
The original policy price was 120,000. My cost should have been 60,000, not 200,000. I demanded a refund. Eventually i got 80,000 back. So, i paid all of my insurance, but (what small victories we abused cling to) but at least she didnt make an outright profit on me.
Ok, while I'm at it, I cant resist. I have to add one more. The first time I had to get a gas bottle refill for my stove, she charged me 50,000 won. That seemed very high. The next time I needed one, i asked the secretary to call for me. I waited, he arrived in fifteen minutes, and I paid for a same size bottle. I have the receipt. 26,000.
Wow, whining really does feel good....