CAVEAT EMPTOR

The purpose of this page is to highlight situations that teachers should be acutely aware of.

1. EMPLOYER & TESOL CERTIFICATES
Some course are well worth the money - the rest are simply cashing in on an unregulated industry. The Asian EFL Journal TESOL course is highly recommended. Certificates gained in Thailand are not recognized in Korea - it pays to check the country you are going to to determine if your TESOL Certificate is worthless or an advantage.

2. Employment Contract
It has come to our attention of one employer is openly advising teachers to misinform Immigration of certain truths! Be aware that some Recruiters will openly lie and deceive you - many Korean employers are dishonest and will cheat you. Read the Contract first - do not sign it first without understanding what you are signing

3. Recruiters Holding Monthly Wage.
Some recruiting firms 'sign you up' find you a job, but arrange with your new employer to receive your monthly pay. The recruiter then pays you. Have nothing to do with this type of Recruiter. They are dishonest and you will not be paid your rightful salary. (see Employers to Avoid below)

4. Korean Recruiter
A Korean Recruiter using various names is currently 'preying' on new teachers and the unsuspecting foreign teacher. His modus operandi is to find the foreign teacher a job, then convince the teacher that Korean law says the Teacher must set up two bank accounts - the teacher's pay goes into one account which the Recruiter has the secret pin code to, and later the Recruiter transfers money to the teacher's second account. We advise you to have nothing to do with this Recruiter - indeed you should report him to the Korean authorities immediately. Any one in this situation is advised to inform their employer immediately and close down the bank accounts. The Recruiter issues threats to convince the Teacher they will be jailed or deported if they do not do as the Recruiter says.

Introduction:
Korean school owners have Hagwon Associations across Korea. It is known that at their meetings they receive advice from their legal people on ways to 'bend,' 'manipulate,' and even 'break' some laws that would otherwise give foreigner's protection. As noted in the Deceptive Practices pages, this usually results in the following situations that unscrupulous school owners will devise:-

i) By wrongfully dismissing the foreign teacher, they know that Immigration will only grant a 10 day period to stay in Korea following the dismissal. This makes it very difficult for the foreign teacher to take any serious action: Thus problems relating to final pays, non payment of wages, wrongful deductions from the last pay, becomes exacerbated.

ii) By refusing to give a Letter of Release, the school directors are able to effectively hide their wrong doing by preventing the teacher from remaining in Korea and taking some form of legal action against the school owner.

iii) To list all schools that do this would run into the multiple hundreds.

iv) Identifying who these employers are only becomes possible once they implement the above, and that is usually at the final moments of a contract. By then the wronged teacher is leaving Korea, the victim of the hagwons/employers wrong doing. Remember, if you are dismissed, you can ask Immigration for up to 4 weeks extra to stay in the country (but it is wise to show them a departure ticket) to qualify for that time extension.

A. It is not the purpose of this page to become a Blacklist. Rather we will highlight a few of the more exceptionally unfair contracts/employers and highlight how they abuse the Korean legal system, and also how they treat the expat foreign teacher. We recommend the website Hogwan.org for greater detail and information on Korean school employers and practices.

If you have or know of a contract that is exceptionally bad, please let us know.

B. One school chain that continually features in e-mail's to us is the Wonderland School. It appears there are over 80 schools in the chain. One should very carefully read the contract offered by them and receive advice before signing it. The Internet provides many links regarding this chain of schools. See the Book written by former employers Prisoners of Wonderland

Two documents we have seen that originate from a school in the Wonderland group, the Letter of Reprimand, and Explanation of Apology, are clearly designed so that the employer can dismiss the employer for any reason whatsoever and still appear to comply with the Korean Labor Standards Act which prohibits unjust and unfair dismissal. Note this document we have seen only bears the name of one school, and thus may only apply to one school in the chain. If you are considering working for this chain ask if the school uses the abovementioned documents.

The Explanation of Apology follows upon the Reprimand Letter given by the teacher's supervisor. To receive a Letter of Reprimand, one must have committed an offense from a list of 'offenses,' some which are fair, some which are grossly unfair. One such 'offense' which can lead to a reprimand is "Grumble at work without evidence." This would be a first in legal history -

Once you have received the Letter of Reprimand, you are deemed proven guilty of the offense noted. The employee then gets a chance to write an "Explanation of Apology" but according to the document "...When the employee failed [sic] to write Explanation of Apology, the Employer can Terminate the Employment." Clearly the presumption of guilt is paramount at all times and failure to agree with that presumption can see your employment Terminated.

The paper work, despite its gross unfairness, would be evidence against the employee seeking a reinstatement based on unfair dismissal. Our recommendation would be to advise any teacher not to work for any employer who uses this type of documentation. Also see Prisoner of Wonderland