Korean Job Discussion Forums

[lesza]

Well, I am sad to report that I just got screwed by my hagwon over the "hours versus classes" debate. I made a post recently about contract language in Suwon changing to benefit employers and hurt employees. Well, since May I had agreed to extend my contract five months past my finish date of September 1. And since May I have balked every time my director brought up the "hours versus classes" debate. She even asked for my help in rewriting the contract to reflect her position on it and I absolutely refused and told her that I fundamentally disagreed with her interpretation of 30 classroom hours.

I thought I had a good relationship with her and in good faith agreed to stay on longer than I originally wanted as a favour to her. I never complained about my existing contract, even though parts of it are shite, never asked for overtime or a raise. So in good faith, it didn't occur to me that she would present me with an updated version of my renewal contract to sign on August 4th (after two and a half months of a verbal agreement). I had to refuse it. So now I have three weeks left of work when I was expecting to be here into 2004.

At first she asked me to stay on until the end of September to give them time to find a new teacher, which I agreed to. The next day she informed me that it would be to much work for her husband to extend my visa for only one month of work. I couldn't really believe it. Call me naive, but I was half expecting them to realize the "error of their ways"... see how financially and pragmatically short-sighted they were being and essentially keep things how they had been for the past eleven months, but no. Now I am being accused of not trusting them and letting them down, leaving them in the lurch. (hah)

At first I wasn't upset, just disappointed and in shock. Now, two days and four packing boxes later, I am getting in touch with my anger over this situation. My director had the gall today to ask me for help in fine tuning the contract that the next sucker will sign. She wants to add a ten-day training no-pay clause to it and wants my advice We had a chance to "get into it" a little at that point. Turns out, because of circumstances, mostly beyond my control (including rejecting the changed contract), her husband doesn't like me, wants me gone asap. That's why he lied to me about having to go to immigration with a plane ticket out of Korea dated for before August 31.

It's really a shame all in all because I got along great with her/them for eleven months. Loved the kids, had a great time teaching, was treated exceptionally well both personally and professionally and overall was having a fine experience in Korea. Naturally I have a bad taste in my mouth now and am really up in the air about my plans (look for my advice requests on another thread). In the meantime, I will be posting on all the blacklists I can I find and talking to the Labour Board and EFL Law. (thanks for all your tips on these orgs)

bittersweet,
Lesza

PS the Korean teachers are congratulating me for my imminent escape!

[Gord]

[lesza]

Hi Gord,

Sorry I wasn't clear enough on the issue/debate about contract language regarding hours. Let me try to explain so it is clear for newbies (like myself) and non-newbies like you...

Our current contracts read that we are required to teach 30 "classroom hours" per week. In practice at the hagwon a class is 50 minutes long with a ten minute gap between classes. In pratice for the past eleven months, excluding January and August intensive camp, the foreign teachers teach 6 classes per day, 30 classes per week, 120 classes per month. We think that this satisfies the contract.

Our director has recently chosen to interpret the contract differently. She considers a 50 min class to be equal to 50 minutes teaching time. This is not itself unreasonable, taken out of context. In context it means that the foreign teachers are required to work 7 classes per day, 35 classes per week, 140 classes per month.

We have never asked for overtime in spite of frequent field trips outside our normal teaching schedule, weekend workshops, meetings and special events (most recently a summer sleep-over at the hagwon where the teachers and students were present for a 27 hour period). Believe me, the school is getting its money's worth from us and we have participated unbegrudgingly. And according to "Helluvaniceguy" (see original post) we are already working too much.

My director tried to assure me that she would not schedule me for seven classes per day under the new contract, but what is stopping her? Why change the language (process) when it was working fine for us all round, unless she intends to change her practice? I hope this helps to clear things up a bit and give people who are considering siging a contract some specifics to look for in the contract language.

Regards, Lesza

[BTM]

I highly recommend everyone (as if you wouldn't already, I know) to tell hogwan owners that ask for this kind of dodgy minute-counting to fold, roll, spindle or otherwise compact their contracts into cylindrical shapes, then forcibly insert said cylinders up their ung-dung-is.

Those buggers are shameless.

[matthews_world]

Talk to her and explain that she will probably have a hard time finding a teacher to teach 7 50-minute classes a day anyway.

She needs to keep you and hire a PT teacher.

The contract is not going to look good, imo, to furutre teacher applicants. Even 6 classes is too much work.

I love my job where I teach 4 40-minute classes and a 50-minute class on MWF and 2 40-minute classes and 1 50-minute class on T/Th.

I do teach 4 hours a week on Saturdays but next month it will be overtime!16 hours monthly x 15,000/hr. Nice chunk of change.

I'm also teaching 152 hours this month, 32 extra hours this month because of summer intensive courses.