Korean Job Discussion Forums

[peachgaru]

I began working at an SLP school in June. Upon arriving in Korea, I found that my recruiter had lied to me concerning job hours. She had told me I worked from 10-4 on MWF and 10-2 on TTh. I came here to study Korean, having studied for two years in university. My actually teaching schedule was from 9:30-2:30/ break/ 4-7 on MWF and 9:30-2:30 on TTh. This does not include the endless grading, phone teaching, parent teacher meetings, material development, and general babysitting that I'm forced to do.

I know that this is the part where people will say: Well, wasn't that in the contract? Well, believe me, I've beaten myself up enough about my naivety. I asked the recruiter why the contract was different from her promised hours and she answered, "Oh, well the contract only states the maximum, not what you're being offered." I was really taken aback with how kind this recruiter seemed to be, compared to the others. Also, she told me that she worked for the school-- I had no idea that she was a recruiter. I guess you could say that as a senior in college just looking for any outlet to go to Korea and learn Korean that I was a complete idiot.

So I tried to quit. I told them that hours had been misrepresented and that I would leave. And they said that I could only do so if I paid them 3,000,000 won-- for the round-trip airfare and the trip to Japan.

The man to whom I signed the contract sold the hagwon upon my arrival. The new owners immediately fired him afterwards. Under the new ownership, everyone has become unhappy. We are made to do constant unpaid overtime and unpaid Saturdays because what is not actual classroom teaching is not considered to be "overtime." Supervisors go in and out like a revolving door because Mr. Lee, the hagwon owner is apparently quite the tyrant. It is not uncommon to see people crying. The new supervisor is often verbally abusive to us. To add to this, my coworker was called into wonjang's office and told that we were going to be forced to work two additional hours a day.

[indulgent pity party]
I'm miserable and never get to experience Korea fully. I feel as if I'm always at work and when I'm not, I've brought things home to work on. I came here from a top 5 university and I feel as if I'm too qualified to be a slave who makes 10,000 won per hour. I'm one of the few who came to learn Korean and I can't find the opportunity to do so under this schedule. Classes are not an option as I work from 8:30-7 MWF.
[cut]

Please give me any advice. I just want to quit the job, but I don't have the $3,000 to give them as I'm paying off my student loans. I'm willing to send my contract for analysis.

Thank you so much.

[Typhoon]

Go to the labour office. They will help you if your contract is being broken or if you are being forced to do unpaid overtime.

[ttompatz]

[elliemk]

Don't walk. Go to the Labor Office as someone suggested. Learn Korean on the weekends. Sign up for the TESOL convention the last weekend in October and go to it. You'll make many contacts there and may be able to find a university job or better hakwon job (yes, there are lots of them - no matter what so many people say, there are plenty of good hakwon jobs). Write about your experiences and your frustrations. Concentrate on the positive and realize that one day you'll look back and laugh. What seems most trying in our lives makes us stronger. It's really true. Good luck.

[Typhoon]

[Paji eh Wong]

Your contract reminds me of my first year. Tough situation.

Give your notice and leave. As long as you are financially solvent, there is no good reason to stick out a year in a job you hate. You will have to make a deal. You could tell them you are thinking of walking away as a way of shoring up your negotiating position.

3 000 000 won for airfare and visa run is a ridiculous number. Ask to see receipts.

If they aren't going to play ball, walk out. You may wind up sitting out for the rest of the contract, and it is possible you could be blacklisted at immigration, but it is unlikely.

When I quit my first job, I copped some abuse from management, but it was worth it. It was like being let out of San Quentin. The doctor recommends a few months in South East Asia.

[elliemk]

Paji wrote: "Give your notice and leave."

You know what? I'm really tired of people on this board telling people to walk away from their jobs.

If you had a kid and the kid hated his math teacher, would you tell him/her to walk out of class and not return?

It's your senior year. You've put off taking Western Civilization. You finally sign up and get the most boring professor in the world. Would you give up your degree and walk out on the class? No, you would stick it out.

Just two examples of a million I can think of where people are encouraged to hang in there. One of the reasons why foreign teachers have a bad reputation in Korea is the tendency to walk away. (I won't go into all the other reasons).

You are a guest in this country. Your airfare has been paid; your apartment has been furnished and will be paid every month; your utilities will be lower than anything you can imagine; and if, like me, you have to go to the ER (which I had to do today due to REALLY bad bronchitis) before your health insurance kicks in, you'll find that you can get three chest x-rays, three days worth of medicine an inhalation treatment and care from the doctors and nurses for under $75. Amazing when you think about it.

My point is that it's easy to walk away from a situation you don't like. Now I'll wax prophetic for a minute (just keep scrolling if you don't like what I say).

Years ago, when my mother and father got married (I am 58, so you can imagine how many years ago that was), the made a lifelong commitment to love and cherish until death do us part. Mom and Dad went through some really awful and sad times in their 60 plus years of marriage. But they hung in there. They took their commitment seriously and encouraged us to do the same.

I can't say that I wound up being married forever, but I can say that many people today get married with the thought that if 'it doesn't work out, I can always get a divorce.'

Life is not about pleasing ourselves or liking every situation in which we find ourselves. Life should not be about making promises and then breaking them.

Instead, life should be about taking our time here and going with it, learning from it and growing up a little more each day.

Let's say you wind up back in the States or Canada or wherever in two years. Your student loans are paid off and you accept a job with an entrepreneurial company or with a Fortune 100 company. You find out your immediate superior is gay, one of your two closely knit team members is really difficult to get along with and the other one is a drunk who never gets any work done. You hate gay people, you can't stand complainers, and you detest covering up for someone all the time.

What would you do? Quit?

Then what? Different situations at a new job, but basically the same. You are uncomfortable with people with whom you must work every day.

You can't keep on quitting jobs forever, or you'll soon find that nobody will hire you.

Quitting is the easy way out and the dishonorable way out.

Sticking with it is harder but brings more future rewards (who knows - maybe you could get to know the new owner on an individual basis and he'll wind up offering you a better apartment, more money, etc., if you will help him recruit new teachers). Possibility? Yes, Korea is full of surprises and lots of good ones at that.

So, (long rant and ramble mode off now), like I said before. Do the right thing. Hang in there. PM me if you want to call and complain every day. Many people will help you through this if you let us.

But understand this. If you do stay with it, you'll have proven yourself a cut above many and that knowledge is worth it in itself.

[CentralCali]

Back in Canada or the United States, there are legal protections for the employee that are actually enforced. The situation as described in the OP is a litany of illegal treatment. What's needed to reform corrupt/cruel hagweon owners is to have more people bail out on them! The more people who refuse to tolerate their trash, the more likely it is that the hagweons will start to obey the laws.

[Canucksaram]

Disregard elliemk's advice.

You are not merely encountering a tough time at work. You are being mistreated. You are under no moral obligation to cleave to a contract with a dishonorable employer. If your employer repeatedly breaks the written and unwritten rules of work, then to hell with them. Collect your last pay and move on...or, if you're felling brave, turn in your notice of resignation and in the 30 or so days you'll find out if your employer will screw you even more.

Koreans in general understand things only in win/lose terms. Everything seems to be a zero-sum game in Korea. In order for the Korean to win, you must lose. If you somehow ever "win," then it means that the Korean has "lost"--and there's nothing a clannish, xenophobic Hangookin hates more than to lose to a dirty foreigner.

[Paji eh Wong]

[ttompatz]

The employer has already stated they they WILL screw the foreigner if the foreigner quits. Sorry "elliemk" but your advice sounds like a typical newbie with stars in her eyes and it is BAD advice.

OP:

Just leave. There is NO good reason to stay and certainly no good reason to honor a contract (give notice, etc) that the employer refuses to honor.

Get your ticket at your convenience. Make if for a weekend (saturday) right after payday. Hand in your ARC on the way through immigration and enjoy your time on the beach.

Catch your breath, screw your head back on straight and try again. Learn from the experience.

[garykasparov]

OP,

It's my opinion that your employer will do one or more of the following;

( 1 ) Pocket deductions for income tax from your monthly salary.
( 2 ) Pocket deductions for health insurance from your monthly salary.
( 3 ) Pocket deductions for pension contributions from your monthly salary.
( 4 ) Additional forced overtime.
( 5 ) Refuse to pay you wages for the said overtime hours worked.
( 6 ) Firing you at the start of your 10th, 11th or 12th month mark for the sole purpose of not paying you monthly wages, severance pay and providing you a ticket home.
( 7 ) Pay you holiday wages that don't conform with labor laws if you're forced to work on holidays (hopefully this isn't he case).
( 8 ) Low overtime pay.
( 9 ) Repeated violations of your labor contract.

[cdninkorea]

[elliemk]

Tthom wrote: "sounds like a typical newbie with stars in her eyes and it is BAD advice."

Not a newbie. Returning to Korea after many years absence. Now 58 years old and have more wisdom under my belt than a newbie could ever have.

However, this time (in Korea) has been difficult beyond belief for many reasons. I won't bore you all with them, but suffice to say that it's been very hard compared to last time.

But I have not ONCE thought about leaving. I still say the OP should go to the Labor Board and try to get things resolved and stick it out. That's my advice, and I'm sticking to it!

[pdxsteve]