About the story below. I know ANET. I met her on a volunteer assignment in Bangojin. She was happily singing and dancing with the kids. A few months later I saw her practically lifeless, severely neglected, in a hospital bed, too weak to even tie her pajamas. I went back the next week and found her struggling to walk again, pushing herself along, holding on to furniture. She was determined to get back to work. She was determined to meet her commitment. As weak as she was, she told me "the School is short of staff, I need to get back there and help them." What folks at Ahil did to her was totally wicked.

Ahil English School, Korea, Ulsan, Dong-Gu, Nammok.

By:ANET
Date: 2 June 2009

The following is posted in the public interest of the ESL community. I don't want this to happen to another teacher.

I had reservations about working at Ahil, but then I saw an ANONYMOUS recommendation on the Korean Green List. In the absence of any warning, I let this recommendation influence me. On June 15, 2007 I moved from a great Academy to Ahil.

What happened after that should never happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time.

From July 2 to July 17, while living and working at Ahil, I quickly became very sick. I complained about excruciating pain, but in the interest of the School, I continued to teach every day.

Due to communication problems, I could not get a hospital bed. So, between July 9 and July 16, I repeatedly asked Ahil's president, my guarantor, to get me hospitalized. She refused to help me. In those two weeks, I lost 9 kilograms (20 lbs).

On July 17, thanks to my necessary, but much condemned emotional outburst, I finally got a hospital bed. By then, I was on the verge of kidney failure, I had nerve and blood vessel damage in all my limbs, and I was severely anemic. Due to Ahils negligence, I was dying.

While I lay in the hospital, Ahils president secretly fired me without any communication, any warning or any notice. She ignored my 12-month contract and my commitment to get back to work as soon as possible.

On July 27, doctors diagnosed me with a potentially fatal auto-immune illness. I borrowed a cell phone and tried to reach Ahils president, but she was on vacation. The school was closed. Once diagnosed, I was immediately treated and, by the Grace of God, the illness was quickly thrown into remission.

Discharged from the hospital on August 3, I reported for work on August 6, medicated, but quite able to do my job. Ahils president advised that I had been fired, that she had signed a 12-month contract with my replacement and that I had better vacate the apartment by August 21 or else.

Until then, I was proud of my speedy recovery. She crushed my motivation.

In the days that followed, I produced a doctor's certificate, attesting that I was fit to work and live a normal life. It was ignored. By its wrongful dismissal, Ahil forced me to find another job and apartment.

I signed a contract with a new School on August 20. My new employer was told by Immigration to get from Ahil a Letter of Release. Ahil had no reason NOT to give this Release Letter since Ahil had fired me in July while I was in the hospital. This release letter was not addressed to me. It was not a termination notice.

Then, Ahil short paid my salary. I had to appeal to the Ulsan Labor Office. They were effective in getting me the money Ahil owed me, but they could not handle the wrongful dismissal or breach of contract. They referred me to the Busan Labor Relations Commission. The Commissions agents jerked me around until I was out of time, and then told me the BLRC was set-up to help Koreans, not foreigners. They did acknowledge, however that Ahils brutal action was in fact, unfair firing, an illegal practice.

From September 2007 to April 2009, I worked every day, five days a week without any illness or time off. This was documented by Academy directors and health care professionals.

I tried for almost one year to resolve this dispute with Ahil privately, the Korean way. The president responded with threats, lies, defamation and slander.

Her threats led me to retain the services of a lawyer. In mid-July, he filed a lawsuit for wrongful dismissal and infliction of emotional distress.

In October, 2008, the Ulsan Criminal Prosecutors office called me to a meeting on the pretense that they had questions about a complaint I had filed against Ahils bully who had publicly defamed me. When I arrived, Ahils president and an interpreter from her husbands employer were present. For hours, they and the Prosecutor discussed the civil lawsuit. I refused to discuss anything other than the criminal charge, because the criminal prosecutor's office is not the appropriate forum to argue civil lawsuits. They pressured me to settle everything in the absence of my lawyer. Ahils president wanted money from me. I suggested they go through my lawyer since I didn't know Korean laws and remedies. They became very aggressive. They made me sign a document written in Korean. The interpreter never reviewed it but insisted I sign it. Its easy to say, Never sign something you cannot read, at the best of times. However, in this Prosecutors office, I was alone, I was not free to refuse to sign. Knowing they could have had me jailed, fired or deported, I signed while writing above my signature, I cannot read Korean.

In December, 2008, at the request of the Ulsan Prosecutor's office, the Dong-Gu Police Department called me to a meeting. When I arrived, Ahils president and the same interpreter from her husbands employer attended. The entire line of questioning related to my civil lawsuit against Ahil. The director made several false comments. When asked if I agreed with her, I said "the defendant is not being truthful". I answered all other questions with, "No comment, the matter is ongoing in civil court". At the end, the police officer concluded there was no hope for a settlement between the parties in the civil lawsuit. A few days later, the Prosecutors office sent me back to the police station for fingerprinting. My refusal to drop the civil suit and pay off Ahil, would lead to the fabrication of a retaliatory criminal charge against me.

Later, the fabricated evidence was rejected and I was acquitted.

I reported the meddling of the criminal Prosecutor's office in the civil lawsuit to the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission in Seoul. The Commission simply passed the complaints on to the Supreme Prosecutor who advised the Ulsan Prosecutor's office. The Ulsan Prosecutors office retaliated by sending false statements passed off as mine to Ahil's lawyer. This interference was highly prejudicial to my civil case.

In mid-February 2009, I received the copy of a damaging document written to the Court by Ahil's lawyer claiming I had said things I have NEVER SAID. The lies were from the statement written by the criminal prosecutor passed off as mine. I got a copy of this statement and, with the help of an independent translator, I wrote a rebuttal of the prosecutors lies. I submitted this rebuttal to the Court. I believe it was ignored. I believe the evidence from medical experts was also ignored.

My civil lawsuit was a strong case. In violation of Korean Immigration Law, Ahils president, my guarantor, denied me prompt access to medical care for a life threatening illness. When I finally did get to the hospital Ahils president, in violation of Korean civil law, fired me without any communication, without the agreed warning, without any written notice of termination, in total disregard for our 12-month agreement.

The defense lawyers case was based on the facts that I am over 50, that I got sick, and that I worship God, not men, therefore I was not worth protecting. Notwithstanding Ahils unlawful behavior, that defense was well accepted by Ulsan authorities. When I was cross-examined, the defense and the Court wasted a great deal of time on my refusal to buy into the Ulsan practice of forced match-making and arranged marriages with young girls from underdeveloped countries. They were insulted when I stated, I came here to teach.

Then, having played up the bias against me, Ahils lawyer claimed that I had agreed to be fired when I transmitted the release letter from one School to the other for delivery to Immigration. The defense lawyer claimed that was in fact the termination notice. The people of the Court were too ignorant of the ESL industry to know the difference between a Notice of Termination and a Release Letter.

I couldnt read the Civil Courts decision. My lawyer strongly advised that I appeal it. A Korean woman from the Court told me that a Court Clerk was paid to write the judgment in Ahils favor, that judges merely validated it. I believe this because I know that bribery is rampant in Ulsan.

Shortly after I told everyone that I would appeal this decision from hell, my lawyer sent me an email warning that the Prosecutors office was filing a second fabricated indictment against me with the Criminal Court. I never saw this indictment. I knew that, if it existed, I would never get a fair trial in Korea. I knew that an appeal of the civil suit in that biased environment would be a waste of funds.

On March 31, 2009, my doctor advised that prolonged stress from my dispute with Ahil could cause me to relapse. It was time to go where I could get health care at a lower price, in a cleaner environment, in a language I could understand. I had extended my contract with a good Academy beyond its 12-months but I didnt HAVE to be there. Staying just because the dispute was unfinished was not reason enough, especially since the ESL community didnt care. So, I stopped caring. Fed up with Ulsan corruption and pollution, I left the country.

In Gods plan, we each have our mission. Mine was to give Ulsan the message that anyone can quickly recover from a serious illness to become a productive and reliable employee. By the Grace of God, I proved it twice. Sudden serious illness is no grounds for instant dismissal. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

On April 6, my lawyer advised me that I was being charged with criminal defamation for agreeing with an internet posting and asking teachers to contact me privately for details. The lawyers from both parties said there was no precedent. They were hoping to set one on my back, at my expense. I had better things to do.

Had Ahil gotten me prompt medical care when I asked for it, now I would not have permanent damage to my kidneys, my right foot and my left hand. In spite of Ahil and their powerful friends, I feel fine and I lead a normal life. Their ruthless determination to destroy an employees life because she spent 10 working days in the hospital is unjustified.

With the support of powerful friends, Ahil bought, for the Ulsan workplace,
1.the right to fire employees over a sudden illness without warning or written notice,
2.the right to fire employees for being in the hospital, and
3.the right to falsely incriminate foreign teachers who try to spare other foreign teachers the hell they experienced at the hands of ruthless employers.

The above is not typically Korean. Its not a cultural problem. Its an Ulsan workplace problem. You may face it if you get sick while working at Ahil English School in Nammok.