Part one: The DeceptionSince I haven't been doing much here in Korea over the last 3 or 4 months I thought it might be fun to try to get severance pay from Seokang College. If you have read this blog you know that after my first year there they didn't pay, and I didn't ask for, severance pay because I was treated well. But over the past two years the jagoffs in charge of the language program at Seokang, Jung and Peter have lied to me; asked me to commit fraud every semester at grade submission time; locked me out of my home on numerous occasions; refused to provide a better apartment for me even though I found one that would actually save the college money over keeping me in the dorms; threw away my mail or just kept it for several months before giving it to me and refused to implement a simpler mail plan I had provided that would solve the problem; invented reasons to refuse permission for me to teach camps; scheduled exam conflicts in almost every class every exam period for me; broke their promise of keeping class sizes below 30 and now have classes of over 70; said, "Impossible!" when I asked to split a big class in half and even offered to teach the resulting new class for FREE; refused a camp that I proposed which would make the college MASSIVE piles of cash even though I took care of everything in the camp except the facilities, (which would have been Seokang College); tried to sabotage my hiring by giving me a contract with the wrong date; broke all the contracts they made with me; and I'm sure I'm forgetting lots of specific incidents. Suffice to say they have cherished their hatred of me and bent over backwards to make things as difficult for me as possible, sometimes even at their own expense!
Why? Because I'm too honest. That's what it boils down to. To give you an example, my second contract included a starting date of Sept. 1st. Jung was given my schedule from the school where I was working at the time and I told him I would only have the last week of August to move and do all the immigration nonsense. He said at the interview, "I hate your schedule," but never once mentioned that I had to start work at Seokang the last week of August when I had just told him I had planned to move. The result was that I was informed at the last minute and had to quit with no notice, pay another teacher to cover my Mokpo classes, pay expensive weekend rates for moving, run around Korea getting things stamped and sealed and verified and was miraculously able to make it to work at Seokang on time.
Did Jung say, "Thank you?" Nope. Did he offer to help with the extra expenses HE was responsible for? Nope. He just whined like a little girl about losing face when I pointed out that it was his negligence that had led to all my unnecessary expense and misery. And hated me more. During the immigration process I told him we needed to get everything done RIGHT NOW. He called immigration and they told him it was, "Impossible." I told him we were in a rush and that we would have to go down there and get things rolling and not accept the old Korean favourite, "Impossible." as an answer. While he whined about how he had other things to do and I never ONCE pointed out that if he hadn't given me a contract with the wrong date on it, we wouldn't be so rushed, we went to immigration and guess what? POSSIBLE! We got everything done. But this only made him hate me worse because AGAIN I had cost him face by showing him that I knew more about immigration, (i.e. HIS job), than he did.
Noticing a pattern? I was hated for helping. The whole time there I was trying to solve problems at Seokang and make things work better and it just made the people in charge hate me. The extent of their hatred I still don't know but it is becoming clearer and clearer as the pursuit of my severance pay continues.
A while ago I read something online, possibly at efllaw.com, that said that according to the Labor Standards Act of Korea any business that employs 5 or more people must pay severance in an amount of no less than a month's wages for every 12 months worked. I didn't read about any exceptions. In fact, I remember being paid pension AND severance pay at Chonnam U. and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. I THINK that if I had worked a full year at Mokpo U. I would have received both as well. The private institutes I had worked for paid both too except for my first "hagwon" which told me at the end of my contract, "Sorry, sorry. No severance. IMF crisis. But please re-sign. BIG bonus! David good teacher!" It occurred to me that Seokang, a place where they regularly commit academic fraud and seem to regard labour laws like most Koreans see traffic laws: as just suggestions, might just be withholding my severance pay illegally. I figured that forcing them to obey the laws might be a perfect way to get some semblance of satisfaction, and, yes, revenge for the crap they had put me through for being honest and law-abiding.
So I went to the labor office in late August just before my contract with Seokang ended. I had been on vacation since mid June so my work was finished, just not the contract period. I went to the labor office to investigate the chances of getting severance pay. I went with my friend Guns, a Korean, as my translator. We met with an old, thin guy who told us that I was indeed entitled to severance pay from Seokang College. That was great news! I heard Guns talking and I heard the man speaking as he called Peter on the phone and "yeon geum" was never mentioned, only "dwei jigeum." Yeon geum is pension and dwei jigeum is severance. The result of the phone call was Penis lying to the guy and saying that Seokang had every intention of paying severance pay when our contract period was over. I told the guy that they hadn't paid me severance for my first year, or my second year and nobody who had worked there during my 3 years of service had ever received it. He said we'd have to wait until the contract lapsed.
Part two: The WaitThrough September, October and November I wrote emails, called, texted and talked in person with Penis about my severance pay and he always faked like he didn't know what it was. I even used the word "dwei jigeum" to him. He just ignored every attempt. So I returned to the labor office a couple weeks ago in early Dec. The old, thin guy was there but he was busy with other people. A girl named Shin Hye Jin asked me to have a seat somewhere and when I communicated in English that I was waiting for the old guy she went over to him and said something in Korean after which he looked at me and gave a head-shaking hand wave. It was either that he didn't remember me or that he didn't want to be bothered with me. At any rate the girl took down my information and made ANOTHER call to Penis. I was with my friend Amber who works at Gwangju U. and she had one of the workers there write on a piece of paper in Korean that I was after my severance pay. I saw it in black and white, "dwei jigeum." When she saw this, Shin Hye Jin said I was entitled to dwei jigeum, took down some particulars and called Penis. Peter had the gaul to ask the chick to hand me the phone. I get on and he says, "What's up?" I said he knew what was up because I had told him a million times in every messaging media except post. He said exactly this: "David, you should know that Seokang College doesn't pay severance pay." I said that I knew but I was pretty sure they had to according to the law. He hung up on me.
The girl did her best with her limited English and said a meeting would be set up and that I would be mailed a notice with the date and time of the meeting on it. Then I would have to come back to Gwangju again. But because of the language barrier I was a bit confused about what, if anything, had been accomplished at that meeting. I was told by both the old, thin guy and the girl that I was entitled to my severance. I didn't understand why there was a need for a meeting and why at the labor office, they couldn't just look up the labor laws and make a ruling on the case then and there. So I contacted the Gwangju International Center where they help foreigners with problems they sometimes have in Korea. A very nice gal named Karina Prananto helped me out by calling the girl who had dealt with me at the labor office. Then I received an email, from the GIC, NOT the Labor Office, at 10 PM Monday Dec. 20th that I was supposed to meet Penis and a labor mediator, arbitrator or judge or whatever on Dec. 21st at 10 AM. Obviously, since it takes me 5 hours to get to the labor office by train and/or bus I could not make it. I got pretty frustrated and went out for a few scotches that night wondering if I'd be told I had forfeited my severance pay. I was also very suspicious about why the mail notice was not sent and how the impossible meeting ended up being scheduled.
Next day I received a call from Penis who was at the labor office with the labor mediator named Park Sung Yoon. He sounded giddy when he told me that if I didn't make it to the appointment I wouldn't receive my severance pay. Interestingly I could hear Park Sung Yoon in the background talking to Peter almost as if he was telling him to ask me if my fridge was running or if I had 10 pound balls. At one point Penis even handed him the phone and he spoke to me in really fast Korean knowing full well I can't speak Korean.
As luck would have it, my buddy Guns had called just a bit before 10 that morning saying that he was driving to Gwangju and asking if I still needed help with the severance pay issue. I told him about the scheduling fiasco and gave him Shin Hye Jin's number. While Park Sung Yoon to bombarding me with Korean I managed to say to him, in Korean, that my Korean friend is calling Shin Hye Jin right now. He then handed the phone back to Penis. He had no more taunting to do so he hung up. Guns called moments later saying that we had a new appointment the next day at 5 PM. So Guns came over and we drove to the Ju together.
Even though I was not feeling 100% because of the scotches the night before, it was good to see Guns. I felt kind of bad for dragging him into the mess and told him I appreciated his help. We had some sam gyup sal with a couple of Guns' friends, hit a few baseballs then I went to Gwangju U. and visited with Amber and Maria and stayed for free in Bill's dorm room. I paid for Guns' gas and the sam gyup sal. It was the least I could do.
The next morning I went with Guns to my bank and got my transaction history printed out so that I could show the mediator all the deposits Seokang College had made to my account. I got the ENTIRE history of my bank acct. EVERY transaction. It was a misunderstanding but that turned out to be good. The teller also printed out just the Seokang deposits. It cost me 1000 won.
Part three: The First JudgementGuns and I got to the labor office early and since Guns had his I phone and computer he killed time by finding out more info. He called ANOTHER place that said I was entitled to severance pay. We were both pretty sure the meeting was just gonna be a formality. At 4:45 we got to the office where Park Sung Yoon's desk is and we reported to him. He told us to wait in the waiting room. Then a few minutes later I got a call from him saying, "Deureoyo." I'm not sure of the spelling but this means come in. If you can find 5 people above the age of 5 in Korea who can't say, "Come in." in English I'll eat my dirty underwear. Throughout the entire meeting Park Sung Yoon rarely spoke to me directly but when he did it was like he was assaulting me with Korean. It was pretty clear to me that his behaviour and in all likelihood the unreasonable rescheduling of the meeting were both Peter's influence.
The meeting started out with Peter trying to explain that Seokang had paid my pesion and acting as if he didn't know the difference between pension and severance. In fact he produced a document that said just that. I told Guns to tell the mediator that Peter was acting right now and that he is very aware of the difference. I'm not sure how exactly Guns was translating but for the better part of an HOUR we were farting around with semantics. Severance is paid by the employer at the end of the work relationship, or when it is "severed." Pension is money for old age that I contribute to and it's paid pursuant to an agreement between the Canadian govt and the Korean govt. There are two different words in Korean. Why do you suppose that is if they are the same. I showed in my bank records where Seokang had paid pension and it said, "Yeon geum" on the bank printout. It was about that point when the mediator made his final ruling. He sided with Peter.
I then told Guns to tell him that there are lots of schools around Korea that pay both severance and pension. In fact I had worked for some. He said, "Prove it." So I showed the deposits made to my account by H.U.F.S. The severance payment was there and the pension went to my Canadian account when I left the country. He started to change his mind a little bit thinking that I wasn't just taking a piss here. He also started making documents that he hadn't prepared until after his initial "judgement." I think he wanted to make sure he did this thing correctly just to cover his ass if I was right.
At this point he said that I had to contact my former employers and obtain written proof of them paying me both severance and pension. I said to him that what those schools paid me had no bearing on the case, what HE needed to do was make a judgement from a position of certainty. I asked Guns to ask him, "If I get these written statements from the other schools, what will you do then?" I asked that same question at least 3 times. Again I am not sure but I think Guns was translating correctly. I never received an answer. I told Guns to tell him, that the onus is not on me to prove anything. It was up to HIM to make a fair judgement and I repeated that it had to be from a position of certainty. The only certainty is the law in the case. We were at the labor office. Surely there must have been some access to labor laws there! I told Guns to ask him, (like 4 times), "Are you saying that Seokang College is a private school and therefore can pay pension in lieu of severance?" AGAIN I never got an answer. It must have been this fucking face nonsense again because I was essentially telling a guy who didn't know his job how to do it. I actually said a few times that I could not believe that he didn't actually KNOW the laws regarding severance pay and the difference between it and pension. Whether Guns translated accurately or not, I know the guy understood that and got defensive. He told Guns to tell me that I was the very first person who had ever come into the Gwangju Labor Office with this problem.
HEY me and Guns are Pioneers! Anyway, in the end he took back his hasty "judgement" and decided to give both Peter and me some tasks. Peter had to find the difference between severance and pension, (remember he told me Seokang doesn't pay severance and he KNOWS they pay pension so he is well aware of the difference), and he wants me to get proof I was paid both pension and severance from some other employers. Then he wants us to return AGAIN on Dec. 28th. We had been at this an hour and 45 minutes and it was pretty clear to me that this guy had no intention of doing what it was his job to do: look up the labor law that applied to our situation and make a ruling according to it. I have no reason to believe he will do that when, or rather IF I return on Dec. 28th. But he drew up some official LOOKING papers that I had to sign and fingerprint in about 8 places to make it LOOK like he had done his job.
I left the office thinking that if I could get a labor lawyer or a representative from the labor standards office or somebody like that to scare this dude a little, maybe he might look up that laws and make a ruling. I still admitted to Guns that I had thought that all these people were positive that I had severance pay coming to me but maybe THEY were confusing pension and severance too. I mean the old, thin guy, Shin Hye Jin and whoever Guns called. Maybe the laws, (which I read on EFLlaw.com are written by former politicians, lawyers and lawmakers who become heads of schools, and they are written purposefully vaguely in order that they may be used for their school's purposes.), DO say that Seokang is able to pay me pension instead of severance! Well I did some searching, again online so I don't know if it's accurate or up-to-date but I have found that in the Labor Standards Act of Korea in section 34 SUBSECTION 4 it appears to say almost exactly that! And there's ANOTHER piece of legislation called the
Pension for Private Teachers and Staff Act which allows private universities and colleges to put retirement pension statements in their contracts instead of severance pay.
If this is the law of Korea that we are currently operating under, and it wasn't just thrown up there by one of the private colleges and universities who want to exempt themselves from paying severance, then I don't think I'm gonna get any severance pay. But this begs the question, how is it possible that I was informed by two labor office representatives that I was entitled to severance pay and a third made a ruling that I WASN'T entitled to it before he had any idea what the hell it was?!?! And why oh why doesn't anybody at the labor office know this law? Even after I said this almost verbatim and asked if a law like this existed! 3 or 4 times!!! One of the laws in the Labor Standards Act of Korea states that any workplace with 5 or more employees, like the Labor Office, MUST have a copy of the Labor Standards Act readily accessable. There are actual penalties including jail time if they don't. I seriously doubt I'd be able to find a copy at the Gwangju Labor Office. It looks to me like just another professional LOOKING office in a professional LOOKING building where the peope do little more than nothing but do it busily enough to appear industrious. That's MY judgement.
The aftermathAnd then they have the unmitigated gaul to look down their noses at a guy like me and call me "lazy!" I'm not lazy I'm just a helluva lot more efficient than you, you asshole and that frees up a lot of spare time for me to get some well-earned relaxation.
I'm talking to Penis and Park Sung Yoon. You see, after the meeting was over, I got some interesting information from Guns about what was happening in Korean. First of all I am pretty sure the meeting was pushed ahead in order that I might not have the time to find a translator and so that Penis would be able to MIStranslate everything I said to the arbitrator. And the arbitrator was undoubtedly aware of all of this. I have a strong suspicion that he was paid too. Guns said there were several instances when Penis TRIED to translate what I had just said INcorrectly and Guns had to straighten him out.
There was also a little chatting and a little laughing between Guns and Peter. I found out from Guns that Penis was trying to do to him what he had obviously done to the arbitrator. He was schmoozing Guns saying that he shouldn't be friends with me. Saying I was good in my first year at Seokang but not the last two. AND calling me lazy because I haven't learned how to speak Korean. He was insinuating through slick sophistry that Guns was a bit of a sell-out and a traitor to Korea for helping a foreigner I have no doubt. The arbitrator did nothing to keep the atmosphere at the meeting professional. In fact his refusal to practice the common courtesy of speaking English to me in situations when he could easily have done so, made his position obvious. This racism, (I'm not gonna sugarcoat it and call it xenophobia because Penis is not afraid of me he hates me), was at the heart of every instance of Peter and Jung trying to make my life difficult at Seokang. This was why even after I threw them the olive branch of the camp that would have made them both a ton of money while I did all the work, they cherished that racist hatred of me so much that they ignored the offer. But not before trying to get from me the numbers and names of the contacts I had in Naju that were in charge of the camp and wanted me to make it happen. They wanted to steal it for themselves the bastards.
There is no doubt in my mind that when Seokang College is contacted by future prospective employers Peter will spin his yarns about what a terrible teacher and person I am. There is no chance I will get a good recommendation from them despite the 3 years of excellent teaching there and everything I did to make the place better. I have to wipe 3 years off my resume now and ensure that at every interview I will be asked about that and my answer will be scrupulously and skeptically received. I have little doubt that although I have applied at quite a few places, the fact that as yet I have had only one interview has a lot to do with Penis and/or Jung. And the length of time spent on my relationship with Seokang College at my interview for Jeonju U. leads me to believe that it was Peter's handiwork.
But I'm actually okay with the whole thing. It is giving me confirmation that I need to go in a different direction. I have given the university thing far too much time to work out and I have received no indication that it ever will. I have a pretty good job opportunity in a different area.
But that is for another entry. I will conclude by saying that I'm not going to do the bogus search for records from any of my past schools and I'm not going to that bogus meeting scheduled for Dec. 28th. The fact that Penis will have to make time for it makes me a little happy. I hope he has to miss something important. I really don't think it is fair to ask Guns to go back to that place either. So what I guess I might do is send the appropriate laws to Park Sung Yoon IN FUCKING ENGLISH, and ask him why he doesn't know them and why he was messing around when the whole mess could so easily have been solved. But there's no reason for me to think I will get any reply to that question or that anybody will learn anything at the Gwangju Labor Office from this. But they'll all be glad that the possibility of actually having to maybe DO something, embodied in me, will be out of their lives. Maybe I'll write something up about this and put it in the Gwangju News. I dunno.
