EPIK employment law issues

Many of you may know about EPIK - English Program in Korea.

It is the program sponsored by the Korean government to recruit English-speaking foreign teachers to teach English in Korean public schools or other institutions.

Though the contract is written in English and there is a English-speaking coordinator to assist you, sometimes it is not easy to resolves certain misunderstanding and later it may blow up as a critical legal issues.

Unfortunately, some of you may get a notice of contract termination with unclear explanations or without grounds.

Since you made a contract with the Director at City office of education, your legal status is not a government official, which usually public school teachers are categorized, but a lecturer who made a private employment contract with the government.

When you got fired and you think it is unfair, there are several ways to dispute such contract termination.

First you can file a lawsuit asking a declaratory judgment of the court to affirm that the termination of employment is void, and the contract is still effective.
Once the court decides that the contract is still valid, you can return to work and seek monetary damage for the wage loss.

Second, you can request review at the local labor committee and ask the committee to decide that the termination of contract was unjust since such termination was made without complying with procedural due process or without legitimate grounds.

If you have any issues regarding EPIK contract or its termination, please contact me.
I am a lawyer admitted to Korean bar and Connecticut bar (US), and am currently practicing in Korea both in Korean and US laws.

As I was a foreigner in the US for 15 years, I know how much you are stressed out when you have impending issues in a foreign system that you are not familiar with.

I would be happy to be any help for you.