I have recently left ELC Enormous Wishing in Greenlake City which is owned by (Name removed by Admin) and should be avoided at all cost by anyone thinking about working there. This site is to tell my story and encourage others who have been cheated by (Name removed by Admin) to write their stories.

Back in March 2020, I arrived in Medan, Indonesia to start my 1-year contract at ELC. At the end of March, the pandemic hit Indonesia and many teachers lost their jobs or had their salaries significantly reduced. This was to be expected at that time because in order for ELC to keep the contracts running they had to reduce fees in order to keep the schools from doing force majeure. Most teachers expected a 25% reduction, but ELC took full advantage of the situation and reduced salaries by 50%, some teachers were paid a measly amount of 80 USD/month. I personally know of 3 teachers that were living together that were paid this minimal amount for 3 months.

During the months of April, May, and June in 2020 I was paid only 50% of my contracted salary, July, August, September, October, November, and December I was paid 70% of my contracted salary. In January and February of 2021, I was paid 85% of my contract salary.

My contract finished on March 1, 2021, and I was expected to be paid at least 1000 USD for my flight back to Australia plus my EoC (end-of-contract) bonus. When I met (Name removed by Admin) at the ELC Head Office he refused to pay the flight money and after some negotiating he said all he could pay was 430USD. At this time I was desperate to get away from ELC and return to Australia, but due to (Name removed by Admin) drastically reducing my salary and not paying my flight money I was stuck in Indonesia and forced to work again with him.

Fast-forward 2 months and my f*ther died quite suddenly and I was unable to be with him in his final days, and unable to be at the funeral. The funeral was streamed live for me via FB Messenger, however, it just wasn't the same. Had (Name removed by Admin) not have cheated me on the money that was clearly noted in the contract, then I would have been home to see my f*ther before he passed and be with family during that time.

In May and June and July of 2021 which is the summer holiday for students in Indonesia, ELC required me to work as a teacher for their private online classes. I told ELC I would teach, but they must guarantee me 10 hours/week. Most weeks I taught about 8 hours and when I was paid for the 2.5 months the amount was less than what was guaranteed, so I had to message (Name removed by Admin) and remind him of our agreement. In the end, he paid, but he paid begrudgingly.

From mid-July 2021 I started a new contract with ELC and in August of 2021, I met with a law firm in West Jakarta to discuss and start proceedings to sue ELC and (Name removed by Admin) for the monies owned from my 2020/2021 contract. This matter is still ongoing and (Name removed by Admin) has ignored all letters, messages, and phone calls from my lawyer. Currently, he owes me 138 million rupiah which is 9,653.36 USD at the time of writing. I have included in my WordPress blog the letters that my lawyers sent to (Name removed by Admin). Search ELC Enormous Wishing to be Avoided!!

Here's a list of contract violations made by ELC
Unpaid salary that was written into the contract that totals 94 million rupiah/6,574 USD
Unpaid flight to Australia (required by Indonesian labor laws)
Salary paid late on 4 occasions
Housing payment paid late on 3 occasions (4 days late for December 2020).
Gross underpayment of overtime.
Made to attend an office meeting during a lockdown
Forced out of housing and made to move to another unit where ELC refused to pay the contract housing allowance
Forced to pay large fines if unable to attend a last-minute meeting
Made to work more than 40 hours/week and if you refuse you are fined
Salary withheld if submission of monthly scores is late

The above is just my story, there are dozens of stories like this of teachers that are working at ELC and have worked at ELC. I have yet to meet a teacher, past or present, that has anything good to say about working for ELC or (Name removed by Admin). If you are reading this, then I would encourage you to absolutely DO NOT work with ELC. There are so many better jobs and better employers in the EFL industry that you can choose from!

Management has no control
The owner is only interested in money
Teachers are treated very poorly
Contracts mean nothing
Large fines for trivial things
Terrible communication

The main office is located in Green Lake City, Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia

I taught here for nearly 2 years