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StAxX SOuL
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: London
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 Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 8:02 am Post subject: Want To Leave... But Contract Making It Impossible!!! |
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I want to leave my hagwon in a respectable fashion, as opposed to the midnight run, but there are a few issues, some contractual, which are acting as obstacles to me just rolling into my director�s office tomorrow morning and giving her the statutory 30 days notice. I�d like some advice on the best way to leave:
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Airfare
The Employer will provide a round trip ticket to and from Korea and the Employee should submit the ticket to the Employer and the Employer will return it to the Employee when he or she completes the contract and leaves Korea. However, According to the article 1.4, the round trip ticket is provided only when the Employee completes the contract successfully. Therefore, he/she has to pay a fine of the equivalent of the round trip airfare that the Employer has provided as compensation for the inconvenience which early termination causes both the students and the school. |
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I only came in on a one-way ticket. No return ticket was purchased by the employer so I�m at a loss as to this term. I really have no plans to pay someone for �inconvenience� when I�m giving a statutory notice, and penalty clauses are illegal, even moreso when the whole �submit the ticket to the Employer� was not applicable to the situation. I've also been here longer than 6 months.
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Termination of Contract
If the Employee's resignation is determined to be voluntary and is noticed 60 days before, the Employee will be assessed 80,000 won per month left to compensate the recruiting fee and inconveniences. If the Employee fails to notice his/her resignation before 60 days, 100,000 won per month left will be deducted from the monthly salary to compensate the recruiting fee and inconveniences. The Employee will forfeit any accumulated but unpaid salary. Employer shall receive its reimbursement for the above cost by keeping the portion of unpaid but earned salary necessary to cover these costs (and any other personal costs and debts, any unpaid utilities and phone bills, and any damages to Institute Teacher leaves behind--) and will give the balance to the Employee either in person or by mailing. |
Again, no thanks. Yet another penalty clause. It�s the only mention of �notice period� in my entire contract but it fails to define the required notice period in anything beyond the exceptionally primitive terms of, �the earlier you tell us you�re leaving the less you pay us for what would�ve been the remainder of your contract�. Forfeiting unpaid salary too. No thanks. If I do the work I�m entitled to the money. When I approached her about this term previously when another member of staff wanted to air her grievances and subsequently left, she tried to contend that it was legal, and her grounding for this was to log on to the internet and write the word �schadenersatz� on a piece of scrap paper. For those who don�t know, �schadenersatz� is simply the German word for �compensation�.
Simply put those are two of the major stumbling blocks within the contract. There are more roadblocks along the way, including:
1. Holding University degree and refusing to give it back when asked citing the reason that it�s security and secondly, that in the current climate of ESL scandals, fake degrees et al, parents might want to see the degrees. [Hmmm� yea, total BS]
2. The contract is littered with other penalty clauses including huge deductions for lateness not that any have had to be applied.
3. I was deducted 200,000W for each of the first 3 months of my contract, and far from it being an illegal deduction clause; it didn�t even feature in my contract. In fact it was one of the reasons why I signed this sh*tty contract over some of the others I was offered � it was one of the few without the clause.
As far as I�m concerned I�ve been a model employee in my time there. I�m the only employee besides the director who has yet to have a day off sick in my 6 months thus far but with the obstacles in the way I feel as though my hand is being forced into abandoning the position and leaving everyone high and dry.
I�m just looking what the best option for me is. Do I:
a) Try to talk to her in an adult manner without resorting to the Labor Board even with all the illegalities because all I want to do is leave with all that I�m rightfully entitled to, including the illegally procured deposit monies, the money for the days I�ve worked, and my degree. I intend to give a full 30 days notice as statute requires.
b) Call the Labor Board and explain my situation in full to them. The flipside to this is that I really have no desire to stay around beyond the first 2 weeks of October working the new and �improved� schedule, and if memory serves me correctly, the Labor Board route has a tendency to be quite protracted. If they could provide me the means of giving 30 days notice and removing all the BS penalties from my contract however in the next week then it would be the most attractive option.
c) Disappear into the night in October. I really don�t want to leave my kids high and dry though, but I do have to look out for myself first and foremost and if she�s not willing to go through wholly legal and reasonable steps then what am I meant to do? The question remains over my degree however which is still held by the hagwon. And there also remains the 600,000W of mine which they should never have had in the first place.
Last edited by StAxX SOuL on Tue Sep 05, 2006 8:08 am; edited 3 times in total |
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StAxX SOuL
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: London
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| Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 8:04 am Post subject: |
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A Little Elaboration on my Situation too:
Long story short� I want to move on from my position in Korea� I�ve been here for a little over 6 months and whilst I�m feeling just a little bored with the whole teaching lark we were issued with some new schedules starting next week which effectively remove all the free time from the day as a new class is established and no further teachers hired. I�ve gotten a lot out of my stay here and wouldn�t be averse to staying here for the full year, but I can�t do so under the current circumstances. Ultimately, I wouldn�t really be a great deal of good to the kids either given my unhappiness with the new setup � you need plenty of enthusiasm to teach young kids and the new schedule zaps all that away.
To give an insight into my day, I arrive at school for 9.30am to meet and greet the kids. Now, between 10:00am and 2:40pm I�m looking at a 30 minutes break, with the only exception being a Tuesday morning. We have snack time and lunch time but both require you�re present whilst the kids are eating, and remarkably they manage to take 50 minutes to eat lunch meaning no break. Monday / Wednesday / Friday sees a full afternoon schedule running from 2.50pm to 6.05pm with 4 classes and 5 minutes between the classes. Those days don�t even comply with the respective LSA Article which says that for 8 hours work you are required 1 hour of free time. When you throw lesson planning, creating tests, writing report cards and various other administrative tasks into the mix, the BS of the situation is really evident. |
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Grotto
Joined: 21 Mar 2004
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| Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 8:37 am Post subject: |
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The penalty clauses are illegal and the labour board will back you up on them...they cannot fine you for giving proper notice! They also cannot hold you libel for airfare to Korea after 6 months.
You might want to sit down with your boss and have a chat about the increase of duties and your discomfort with it.....perhaps they should hire another teacher? If not simply give your notice and if they try to screw you around document everything you can and then turn it over to the labour boad(always turn over copies....never originals) |
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StAxX SOuL
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: London
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| Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 8:52 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for the reply Grotto...
I'll sit with my boss tomorrow and air my views on the situation out but I can honestly say that it won't result in any change in her stance... even given the work conditions of the academy she believes that we have it good... I was unfortunate enough to have the Summer Intensive Course added to my schedule in August which really maxed out my week and I voiced my displeasure at that increase in work for nothing...
Our contracts stipulate that we can teach up to 120 hours in a 4 week period which means we can teach 5 days of 6 hour lessons... this is what Monday / Wednesday / Friday amount to, and 6 hours of teaching technically isn't a lot, its what many of the preferable 1pm - 7pm require, the fact that you're roped in to the lunchtimes etc etc s what sees the day run from 9.30am - 6.05pm with little respite
Hiring another teacher isn't going to happen... to give you an idea of the academy's thrifty nature, when the previous teacher left and the new recruit arrived, with their stays overlapping, he got to crash on my sofa for a week rather than have a hotel arranged for him... it was basically a period of him waiting for the other teacher to move out of her apartment so he could move on in... |
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Grotto
Joined: 21 Mar 2004
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| Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 9:12 am Post subject: |
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You might want to point out to her the labour law that says a worker who works an 8 hour shift is entitled to an hour break(not split up over the day but all at once) that they are free to use as they wish(have a nap, leave school grounds to go shopping, eat, whatever)
I noticed the same thing happening at some of the hogwans I worked at....around the 6-7'th month the amount of classes and duties increased but the pay didnt. |
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StAxX SOuL
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: London
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| Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 9:27 am Post subject: |
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I pointed out 8 hours working entitled me to one hour free time but she has either little knowledge / understanding of the law, or is just simply oblivious of the fact that it supersedes contracts and regulates employment...
On discussion of the matter her explanation usually starts with we 'have it good' compared to others... moves on to her not timing all the free time we have so that as soon as we get 60 minutes of leisure time then its nothing but work... by that point I've usually switched off to her attempts at reasoning... her lack of English ability makes her such an unwitting politician, you respond with something, totally crushing her reasoning and her retort answers a totally different point than the one that was raised... |
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Grotto
Joined: 21 Mar 2004
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| Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 9:42 am Post subject: |
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Try sitting down with her in front of a computer...you can navigate in English and she can navigate in Korean
Sounds as though you will probably be better off getting out though. |
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Squid
Joined: 25 Jul 2003
Location: Sunny Anyang
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| Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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You seem to have a choice:
Stay and wait for your employer to enact the penalty clauses, not return your deposit and whatever else, then go the labor board route to get it all back... or...
Run, and forfeit your deposit.
If I had time constraints i'd probably run. If not, deciding to get a better job and staying on for example, I'd claim them through the labor board and bet they wouldn't bother to show up to contest it. Depends if you really want to stay, but it looks like your grounds are solid to claim if you do- though you'd wait for your cash maybe two or three months all told.
Personally I'd stick around. I don't appreciate being taken for a mug- which is what they're doing with you. |
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soviet_man
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 3:18 pm Post subject: |
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Honestly why put yourself through all that humiliation and misery just for the sake of a few hundred dollars? It's not worth it.
Look after yourself first. Buy a plane ticket and quietly leave directly after your next pay day.
You could get a replacement degree from your university, so you shouldn't feel forced to stay here just to rescue a piece of paper.
Similarly, the 600,000 won deposit is also more than enough compensation for them to cover any loss they sustained because of the initial airfare or recruiting fee, so I wouldn't bother repaying anything. |
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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 4:25 pm Post subject: |
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File with Labor.
Do you have your pay stubs?
Keep them safe- MAKE COPIES, and KEEP THE COPIES in different places.
(I know of people who make copies, and store them all together-ughhh). |
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StAxX SOuL
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: London
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| Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:25 am Post subject: |
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| soviet_man wrote: |
| Honestly why put yourself through all that humiliation and misery just for the sake of a few hundred dollars? It's not worth it. |
That's the thing... it's not just a few hundred dollars. By disappearing I'd be looking at approx 700,000W in lost earnings, as well as 600,000W deposit that was illegally procured when it wasn't even mentioned in the contract...
Just so happened to stumble across another discrepancy when checking through my old pay stubs today too... on a 2Mil salary my income tax is 3.3% meaning I'm paying and have been paying approx. 66,000W tax as opposed to 29,000W
| wylies99 wrote: |
File with Labor.
Do you have your pay stubs?
Keep them safe- MAKE COPIES, and KEEP THE COPIES in different places.
(I know of people who make copies, and store them all together-ughhh). |
Yea, I do have may pay stubs... my concern is just time the process takes |
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Grotto
Joined: 21 Mar 2004
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| Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:57 am Post subject: |
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The labour board will tell you that they will do nothing until 2 weeks have passed after your last pay. They will also encourage you to work it out with your boss before bringing them in.
In some cases the very threat of involving the labour board is enough to scare some of the hogwans into line. |
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StAxX SOuL
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: London
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| Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2006 4:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Grotto wrote: |
The labour board will tell you that they will do nothing until 2 weeks have passed after your last pay. They will also encourage you to work it out with your boss before bringing them in.
In some cases the very threat of involving the labour board is enough to scare some of the hogwans into line. |
Know if its possible to resolve all this with out being in the country? I'd have a Korean with me who'd be able to communicate with them fully in Korean on my behalf and the ability to fax or e-mail necessary correspondance... is it a requirement that both parties be physicaly present at some kind of hearing? |
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poet13
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
Location: Just over there....throwing lemons.
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| Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2006 4:43 pm Post subject: |
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| How about pension? Health? Is that being deducted? From personal experience, and from Daves, I have learned that Koreans are more afraid of the tax office than anything else. When I leaned on my boss for that in March (she charged me 100,000 a month and no tax rexeipt), O got panicked raise, three tickets to Jeju for me and my family, and she never charged me taxes again. |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2006 6:17 pm Post subject: |
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| StAxX SOuL wrote: |
| Grotto wrote: |
The labour board will tell you that they will do nothing until 2 weeks have passed after your last pay. They will also encourage you to work it out with your boss before bringing them in.
In some cases the very threat of involving the labour board is enough to scare some of the hogwans into line. |
Know if its possible to resolve all this with out being in the country? I'd have a Korean with me who'd be able to communicate with them fully in Korean on my behalf and the ability to fax or e-mail necessary correspondance... is it a requirement that both parties be physicaly present at some kind of hearing? |
No. It is not a requirement for you to be there. You can be represented by an agent (paid or friend).
The labor board will require a letter from you authorizing your agent to act on your behalf and you will also have to sign an agreement to abide by the result of the adjudication (you can't use an inneffective agent as grounds for an appeal). |
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