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. Certificates gained in Thailand are not recognized in Korea and a growing number of countries we have been informed of. - it pays to check the country you are going to to determine if your TESOL Certificate is worthless or an advantage.
http://www.i-taa.com

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.

5. Many recruiters do a good job and are to be comened. Three such comapnies are Duff recruiting, Korvia and Footprints recruiting.

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.