Avoidance

If there's one thing that Julia and David (the directors of our hagwon) have become very adept in, it's avoiding us.

Julia (via her son, Terry, I'm sure) finally emailed me back today just before work.  I had been emailing her demanding that we set up a face to face meeting and telling her that docking our pay in June for the day we took off (right after we were fired to get some of our personal business in order) was deceptive because there was no prior communication about it.

Dear Casey.
 
sorry, i didn't check your mail until now. i was so busy .

As you mentioned 'sick days', you should submit copy of prescription or letter from a doctor to prove you used the day off for medical reason. And there's no exception.
We both know you two used the day off for your personal business, not medical purpose.

About your medical insurance, yes, we will provide proof of insurance coverage.
We'll ask insurance company for the copy.

Please send your mail to suprevise, Mr,Sin from now. That is his job.

Thanks.

I responded thus:

Hello-

I am unsure of who "Mr. Sin" is, but I assume it is Montana.  I do not have his email address.

As for the money taken out for days off, I do concede that they were not sick days, I was simply pointing out the lack of agreement and communication between us since you defer everything to someone else.

I think we can manage to schedule one meeting face to face before we leave.  This is an issue that I will continue to push.

Thank you for your reply.

Even in her reply, she avoids us.  She didn't say a word about scheduling a meeting and she basically told me not to contact her anymore.  I haven't heard back yet.  She was on campus today when I arrived, but by the time I put my things in my classroom and came back to the lobby, she was gone.  I won't make that mistake again, as soon as I see her I will approach her, though I'm uncomfortable with the idea of actually talking to her.  

David was on campus for a large part of the day.  But, anytime I got within ten feet of him, he was suddenly needed in another room.  One time I came out of my classroom to make copies for a student and he was watching the video screen in the lobby.  One must walk through the lobby to get to the copy machine.  As I approached him, he (without even glancing at me) turned sharply and headed quickly down the hallway.  The copy machine is near the end, so it was as if I was chasing him.  It was simultaneously amusing and frustrating.  Not that talking to David would get me very far.  He would simply defer to Julia.

Montana did give me a copy of our proof of insurance today.  And it's real!  They went with a private company (AIG), so that's why we never had health care cards.  I'm happy that there's one less thing to feel crummy about.  At least Yoon's wasn't stealing that particular money from us.  Granted, they went with a private company because they didn't want to pay pension.

I haven't heard back from any lawyers yet.  I will call someone tomorrow and see if I can get some advice without paying a consult fee.  I think it might be better to leave the country and then send a letter to the government (National Pension Scheme) through a lawyer.  That way, we don't end up paying into it and then getting hosed.  We could pay into it from the states, if necessary.

Six more working days left!

Good night!

The Reveal

We found out something very interesting this morning when we called the National Pension Office to discuss the legality of a hagwon not paying into the scheme.  When they ran our Alien Registration Numbers they found that we are listed as "self employed" (as in, free agents who came to Korea [not under contract] looking for work on our own).  We read them our contract and they agreed that Yoon's has mis-registered us.  They did this to skirt around tax, health care and pension laws.  So, before we can go and apply for our pension refunds (meaning we and the school will have to pay back pension that we will get back in 6-8 weeks) we have to go to the tax office and change our status to "worker."

Our meeting with Montana this morning was terribly anticlimactic.  It's not that I wanted a fight, Montana went from "You've made a big mistake" (on the phone with Ian last night) to "Do whatever you need to, it's your choice," (the gist of his input during today's meeting) in a real hurry.  I don't think he was prepared for us to have found out about the school's shady fraud situation.

Julia did not show up for our meeting.  Ian tried to call her today and she refused to talk to him, stating that her English is not good enough and that she'd have a "recruiter" call back.  Sure enough, ten minutes later a girl from ESL Park called.  She tried to convince us that pension was a contract issue and that it isn't mandatory.  When it was obvious that we weren't convinced, Ian told her that she wasn't privy to our plans and hung up.

In discussing this new circle of hell with fellow teachers, I've discovered that the school has been stealing the money that it claimed was going to pay for health care from us (15,000 won a month each).  We have no health insurance cards and David/ Julia accompanied us to the hospital the three times we had to go.  That adds up to roughly $220 and I want it back.

I'm really tempted to open the blog early, but I worry about libel laws and our last paychecks.

The last few entries will be suggestions and warnings regarding Yoon's and working in Korea in general.  Here is a draft of the "blacklist letter" that I've been posting on several different ESL sites:

-Yoon's English Forest (영어 숲 ) has three campuses in Jecheon-si (Haso-dong, Sinback-dong and Goam/Jangnak-dong)
-The director's English name is Julia Lee and her Korean name is Park Eun-hee
-The corporate website is yoons.com (there is no website for the hagwons as of right now) and the phone number is 010.651.0580

From the start, the school was difficult to work for. I chalked my feelings up to cultural difference, kept my head down, worked hard and pushed through. I should have listened to my gut. 10.5 months in, I'm regretting ever getting on a plane and coming to this country. I work for this company with my husband, Ian.

Our director threatened to terminate our employment starting when we were 8 months into our contracts. It took us very much by surprise. We had had our differences, but we had always worked hard and found common ground in the past. It all reached it's peak then when they gave us a letter stating that we would be terminated if our "performance" did not improve in two weeks time. While this warning came as a shock to us (we had had a couple rough meetings with our director before then in which she was unhappy with one or two small things, but the overall feeling was that we were doing well), we took it very seriously and worked very hard (putting in extra hours and showing a lot of submission to our director) to show that we were serious about keeping our jobs.

Two weeks later, in a meeting to discuss whether we would, in fact, be terminated, our director told us that we seemed to be "doing our best" and that if we kept that up, everything should be fine.

Then, two weeks before the end of our third term with this hagwon our director made some changes to our schedules, switching the campuses that we worked at and such, and told us that if enrollment didn't improve in two weeks that we would be terminated (this time with no letter). Again, two weeks later our director told us that if we kept up the good work that our jobs were not in jeopardy (she seemed happy with our performance at this point and said that the "switch" was a very good idea).

Then, two weeks into the term, she called another meeting. She stated that she was very unhappy with our performance and said that our teaching skills were not up to par with what she had hoped for. The meeting ended with nothing concrete being said about our employment. The next week our director failed to show up to our meeting. Instead, it was conducted by our translator/supervisor. He told us that the company had decided to let us go and gave us a letter listing the reasons (which included ludicrous claims of inappropriate language and behavior in the classroom and poor class preparation [we have folders and folders of lesson plans, activities and worksheets to prove otherwise]). We have little room for legal action because they gave us four weeks notice (meaning we'd have to wait until we were no longer employed and housed to make a claim).

Additionally, we found out this morning that Yoon's registered us as "self employed" to skirt around tax, health care and pension laws. As we are American citizens living as "workers" (not self employed free agents as Yoon's falsely told the government) we are required to pay 4.5% of our income into pension with the school paying a matching 4.5%. Then, when we are leaving the country, we can apply for a full refund as per the agreement the US made with Korea in 1993. They have also used this illegal loophole to fly under the radar with National Health Insurance (which they have also not been paying or providing). Our hagwon has tried to convince us that their (and our) payments into this are optional. They are not. We will be going to the tax office, changing our status then taking the appropriate steps (including paying our back pension) to hold Yoon's responsible for this indiscretion.

Less shady and illegal, but still important things to know about this hagwon are:

-The school is incredibly unorganized and has no foundational curriculum to speak of. It (and the schedule) change upon the whim of the director.
-The school employs CCTV and regularly forces teachers to watch hours of themselves teaching and write down any mistakes or flaws and report them to the director
-There is no meal provided to foreign workers or time specifically allotted for consuming one's own, making for days in which one cannot eat for 7 hours
-There is no transport or stipend provided (while its common to make one's own transport, make sure you're living within walking distance to the campus or that the school provides a bus/van [as Jecheon GnB does])
-The director is known for her contradictory behavior. She will be happy with you one week and sit you in a two hour meeting discussing your faults the next.

Please, do your research. There are plenty of great schools and great people in Jecheon. Just DO NOT work for Yoon's.

Good night!