Advice for English Teachers in Korea
I enjoyed reading this post by Brendan Carr, who’s a lawyer in Seoul. To summarize, he has a message for English teachers who call him up in the evening, complaining about their hagwon boss: “You can’t afford my legal services, so please stop imposing on my free time.” I feel bad for him because I can image how many people are contacting him, wondering what to do about their horrible employer.
He gives a different link for people seeking legal advice. I definitely agree with this:
And finally, have enough money available to walk if you need to. Do not come 5000 miles around the world, to a foreign country, without a cash-advanceable credit card that has about $3500 in available credit on it—so you can have a place to stay, meals to eat, and a return ticket home if you’re screwed over by the hagwon. I get a lot of Friday night calls from desperate hagwon instructors looking for a white knight to intervene and restore order to the world by Monday morning, because the instructor doesn’t have enough money for Cup o’Noodles. And the sad fact is, the legal system doesn’t work with instant remedies, if any remedy is available at all. So there’s nothing I can do for these poor, benighted people.
I can’t believe people would come to a foreign country and not have any way to leave, if a bad situation should come up.
Don’t feel too bad. It’s one of the occupational hazards of being easy to find. All I can do is try to put as much information out there that’s helpful, and try to make it clear that no matter how much a teacher begs me, I can’t be their lawyer (’cause I’m not admitted to the Korean bar anyway) or assign one of our associates.