Here's an update in case you find yourself wondering.
Ian and I did a little research this morning about our rights in case we get fired on Monday. Here are a couple of points of interest from the more experienced folks on the Dave's ESL Cafe forums:
- The written warning we received a few months ago is null and void because no one signed and dated it.
- Because of this, if we are terminated on Monday it is as if we were never given warning. Therefore, we are (supposedly) entitled to a percentage (83%, since that's the amount of our contract we've completed) of our severance pay and airfare or equivalent payment. This goes against what it states in our contract, so I am a little confused.
- This money would be owed to us on the day of termination.
- Also, because we would be fired "without notice" we would be owed one months pay for lost income, but I don't really know how this works.
- If we do file a report with the Labor Board, it will take 14 days for anything to happen. But, after that it seems (by most accounts) that things would turn out in our favor.
I emailed Asia to see if she had any information that could help us. This is all very confusing and overwhelming, but we're not going to take it laying down. A few people on the forums reported similar incidents (which is where we got this info) and most people agreed that they were being hosed by their hagwons. If necessary, we will go to the Labor Board and the US Embassy.
As we learn more, I'll keep you posted.
That's my girl, I would expect nothing less from you. Play hard ball, you have nothing to loose, they sure as hell are not going to do anything rash, as they would not want the publicity. Do your Grandpa proud and get loud. It might be the more difficult thing to do, (as oppose to tuck your tail and run), but you would not be happy with yourselves if you did that. Americans demanding their rights be upheld is not something they would be comfortable with, so I would say the odds are in your favor. Keep researching. Who knows your whole contract might be illegal. Especially if Julia had anything to do with it. Is there a person there in Korea who helps foreigners deal with such issues? What about this site you found all this information on, can you contact any of the others that have had to go through this process?
ReplyDeleteGo to the meeting monday with as many of your ducks in a row as possible. Julia may laugh you off , as she usually does, because she is obviously not bright enough to now that she has screwed up in so many ways, But Montana will understand the seriousness of the issue, maybe. I believe Julia flies by the seat of her pants, and does not really think things through, I truly think she is incompetent, and it now makes sense why she does the things she does, CCTV, sitting in classrooms, I could go on and on. But I think it is because she really has no confidence in what she is doing, or she truly is a crazy bitch.
One other thing, when you go to that meeting, before you enter that room put yourselves on the same status level as she is, in other words treat her as a peer, who cares if it is Korea. It has gone way past that now.
Go you! The both of you!
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