Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bumpin212s]

I was told by the director of the school that the recruiter lied about my qualifications. They never directly asked me or I never told them that I was under an F Status Visa. I think just assumed and weren't properly informed. Jeff or Mr. Han or whatever their names were the directors and supervisors of the school. They were willing to hire me until I asked for a reference to ask some questions from a current foreign teacher to inquire about the working environment there. They refused, so I immediately assumed that that was kind of suspicious and unreasonable so I got the feeling that it was not a reputable place to work. He was extremely adamant about not asking other teachers about how much money they get paid for obvious reasons. They probably receive 2.8~3 mil a month. The Creets recruiting agent even admitted to me that they were desperately looking for a teacher and a supervisor and that the salary would be negotiable once I check out the school's environment and get a sense of the conditions. But even at that salary, people especially foreigners won't put up with that kind of disrespect, dishonestly, and shadiness. The teacher turnover ratio at that school must be extreme most likely and knowingly because of the incompetence of the boss and supervisor(s), workload, stress, etc. That's plausibly why the other foreigners get paid so much. But since I'm a native English speaker with experience and a good reference he offered to hire me full-time even but I thought otherwise.

Also, in the contract that I read the advanced notice if an employee wishes to resign was 2 months. A one month written notice is reasonable under Korean law and 2 months is absurd. How could an employee work for 2 more months if he or she is unhappy with their workplace and or boss. In the USA a 2 week notice is sufficient with no legitamental explanations required.

Right from the start, I got bad vibes and a terrible first impression from the people there and felt negativity. They were pretending to be friendly at first but I could tell that they were sincerely unfriendly, dishonest, and two-faced. I can understand that they and the recruiter have to make a living and earn money through recruitment fees and tuition but they should be honest and be legally responsible and tell the truth especially to someone who has 3 years of experience working for numerous hagwons and public schools in Korea and understands the logistics and ways in which hagwons and angencies try and swindle people. Personally I don't like making money for corrupt, sneaky, double-crossing, people. However the problem and my main point and complaint is that I wasted a lot of time, energy, headache, and especially money (about 6 Man Won) because of their lies and improper business practices. In the past I used to not know much about labor laws in Korea but since my uncle is a corporate lawyer here in Korea he informed me recently about laws regarding legal labor issues under my current Visa Status in Korea. Even without a 4-year degree I am still legally able to work anywhere but if I want to teach English at an private or public school I will have no problems in Korea with the immigration department. On the other hand, lawfully chances of potential problems even though slim, possible problems could occur with the Ministry of Education if I work as a full-time English teacher. Nevertheless justifiably speaking as long as I technically work less than 120 hours a month it is not considered full-time and is considered part-time work unless specified in the contract. It is not illegal for me to work as an English teacher in Korea so long as I am contractually under part-time status. What is illegal is them agreeing to hire me as full-time status. I have an audio file that I recorded during the interview which is evidence enough to report them and the Creets recruitment agency to the Labor Board, the Ministry of Education, and local tax office. Their companies will pay hefty fines and may even face criminal charges. Tax evasion, other illegal teachers and illegal accounting and business practices are discovered they both will pay huge fines and lose their business licenses and maybe even face criminal charges just like Kennenth Law the former CEO of Enron. Legal fees are expensive in Korea are they probably don't won't to get audited by the Korean IRS and interrogated by governmental officials. Lately, due to recent news, they seem to be cracking down more and more primarily in regards to illegal immigration. The least they could do is compensate me for my energy, time, wasted traffic money, stress, and pain.. It took me 2 and a half hours each way in the pouring rain and I am extremely dismayed. But since my uncle of course will help me out free of charge I will most definitely pursue this to the end. I know this may sond like a rant and maybe it is but I am just warning people out there about shady these shady people. I am immensely irritated and will not give in this time and let those people continue to conduct business like this in the future towards other people.

In the contract there was no mention of pension or taxes so I asked the director about it and he lied and said that it could not be calculaed but he still wanted me to sign it. Probably becausee he wasn't going to register me as a legitamate teacher and keep the deductions for himself.

The director of the poly school near Chul-sahn station is a liar, swindler, and a theif. He must think that I am either unaware, gullable, or a push over. I have an audio recording file audio file of the entire interview process as evidence. SO ANY SUGGESTIONS ON WHAT I SHOULD DO. I'M NOT TRYING TO EXTORT MONEY FROM THEM. I JUST WANT TO BE COMPENSATED FOR MY TRAVEL FEES. OR MAYBE I SHOULD JUST REPORT THEM AND TRY AND MAKE SOME MONEY. ANY THOUGHTS OR SHARED EXPERIENCES ARE WELCOME.


Korean National Pension Coverage
1. Coverage criteria

(1) General coverage criteria

General coverage criteria for the National Pension are age and residence. Income is not included in general coverage criteria. Accordingly, all residents in Korea from 18 to less than 60 years of age, regardless of their income, are covered under the Scheme. Of course, foreigners from 18 to less than 60 years of age residing in Korea are covered under the Scheme except special cases (Refer to Chapter Ⅵ. National Pension Scheme and foreigners).

(2) Who are excluded from the coverage of the Scheme?
Those falling under any of the following items are excluded from the coverage of the scheme even if they satisfy the general coverage criteria.

○ The government employees, military personnel, private school teachers, and employees of specially designated post office, because they are covered under their own pension plans.

○ National Pension beneficiaries from 55 to less than 60 (Early Old-age pensioner and Old-age pensioner as a miner or fisherman)

(3) Exceptional cases

First, anyone aged less than 18 and working at a workplace covered under the National Pension Scheme may participate in the scheme as a Workplace based Insured Person with the consent of his/her employer.

In addition, an Insured Person with less than a 20-year Insured period can be covered under the scheme after reaching 60 if he/she wants to be covered (as a Voluntarily & Continuously Insured Person).

Besides these, the National Pension Scheme temporarily has allowed people aged from 60 to less than 65 to be covered under the scheme. This exceptional coverage program was temporarily enforced twice (in 1995 and in1999) to help the old-aged acquire pension right with a 5-year Insured period.

2. Categories of Insured Persons

The Insured Persons under the National Pension Scheme are largely divided into mandatory and voluntarily Insured Persons. Mandatory Insured Persons cannot choose between participation and withdrawal and are further divided into Workplace based Insured Persons and Individually Insured Persons, depending on occupational type and workplace scale. These two groups are different in that the contribution of Workplace based Insured Persons is equally shared between the employer and the employee.

On the other hand, those who participate in the scheme on a voluntarily basis have the choice between participation and withdrawal. These people are divided into Voluntarily Insured Persons and Voluntarily & Continuously Insured Persons. Voluntarily Insured Persons are those subject to the general coverage criteria. Voluntarily & Continuously Insured Persons, who are not subject to the general coverage criteria, may participate in the scheme and extend their Insured period.

(1) Workplace based Insured Persons

The contribution of Workplace based Insured Persons is equally shared between the employer and the employee. The employer conducts acquisition of the pension right, loss of the Insured status, and payment of the contribution. The persons falling under the category of Workplace based Insured Persons are as follows.

○ All employees and employers from 18 to less than 60 years of age shall mandatory be Workplace based Insured Persons, if they are working at a workplace with more than one employee.

○ In the case of the workplace with less than 5 full-time employees, regular employees and employers from 18 to less than 60 years of age can be the Workplace based Insured Persons, if the workplace is covered under the National Pension Scheme with consent of more than 2/3 of employees from 18 to less than 60 years of age.

○ Those aged less than 18 working at a workplace covered under the National Pension Scheme may participate in the Scheme, subject to their employer's consent.

(2) Individually Insured Persons

Individually Insured Persons should pay their entire contribution and report thing regarding by themselves. Individually Insured Persons are those subject to the general coverage criteria, and they are neither Workplace based Insured Persons or Voluntarily Insured Persons. Those falling under the category of Individually Insured Persons are as follows.

○ The self-employed;
○ Irregular workers (temporary and daily worker) and part-time workers in a workplace with more than 5 full-time employees;
○ The employer and employees in a workplace with less than 5 full-time employees;
○ Non-income earners aged 27 or older;
○ Non-income earners under 27 who have paid more than one month contribution;
○ Others who fall under the category of Individually Insured Persons.

(3) Voluntarily Insured Persons

Voluntarily Insured Persons are those not subject to mandatory coverage, but acquiring Insured status by their own application. And they have to bear all of their contributions by themselves. And all of Voluntarily Insured Persons are allowed to be covered with more than median value of the Standard Monthly Income of all Workplace based and Individually Insured Persons except for those protected under the National Basic Living Security Act. Anyone falling under any of the following categories may become a Voluntarily Insured Person.

○ Non-income earning spouse of those covered under public pension schemes or a public pensioner

※ Public pension schemes include National Pension, Government Employees Pension, Military Personnel Pension, Private School Teachers Pension, and Specially Designated Post Office Employees Pension.

○ Non-income earner less than 27 who has not paid any pension contribution.
○ Persons protected under the National Basic Living Security Act
○ Retired government employees (military personnel, private school teachers & staff and specially designated post office employees) entitled to Government Employees Pension (Military Personnel, Private School Teachers, and Specially Designated Post Office Employees Pension)

(4) Voluntarily & Continuously Insured Persons

The current or former Insured Person will lose his/her Insured status upon reaching 60 years of age. But those with less than a 20-year insured period may continue their participation in the Scheme if they apply to do so. This is how one becomes a Voluntarily & Continuously Insured Person. Those eligible to become Voluntarily & Continuously Insured Persons are as follows.

○ Insured Person reaching 60 years of age with an Insured period less than 20 years.
○ Special occupation employees such as miners or fishermen, who are aged 55 or more and entitled to Old-age Pension with an Insured period from 10 to less than 20 years.

※ Special occupation employees are those engaged in occupations with high possibility of occurrence of calamity and low retirement age due to hard working conditions, such as miners or fishermen. They are entitled to Old-age Pension from 55 years of age while the pension able age for others is 60. They are recognized as special occupation employees only if their Insured period as special occupation employees takes more than 3/5 of their total Insured period.

The purpose of the voluntarily & continuously coverage plan can be summarized as follows. First, it increases benefit opportunities. In other words, it enables those not meeting the minimum Insured period (10 years) to gain the pension right by encouraging continuous participation. Second, it gives those with an Insured period from 10 to less than 20 years a chance to increase their pension amount.

Voluntarily ＆ Continuously Insured Persons include Voluntarily ＆ Continuously Workplace based Insured Persons, Voluntarily ＆ Continuously Individually Insured Persons, and other Voluntarily ＆ Continuously Insured Persons. Voluntarily ＆ Continuously Insured Persons pay all of their contributions by themselves, but the criteria of imposing the contribution differ from one another. The income criteria for Workplace based Insured Persons are applied to voluntarily ＆ Continuously Workplace based Insured Persons, and Voluntarily ＆ Continuously Individually Insured Persons are subject to the criteria for Individually Insured Persons. Other Voluntarily ＆ Continuously Insured Persons are under the criteria for Voluntarily Insured Persons.

[poet13]

"SO ANY SUGGESTIONS ON WHAT I SHOULD DO. I'M NOT TRYING TO EXTORT MONEY FROM THEM. I JUST WANT TO BE COMPENSATED FOR MY TRAVEL FEES. OR MAYBE I SHOULD JUST REPORT THEM AND TRY AND MAKE SOME MONEY. ANY THOUGHTS OR SHARED EXPERIENCES ARE WELCOME. "

What you should do? Nothing. You don't want the job, you don't like the conditions, and you feel they are shady, then you don't take it.

You want your 60,000 won back. Well, I would guess the number of people who got a job that cost them absolutely nothing is very small. 60k is nothing.

From what I can gather from your post, you didn't work for them, they didn't cheat you on pension, and they didn't cheat you on OT, taxes, or health insurance.

I do see you making a lot of assumptions. Then I see you making conclusions based on those assumptions.

Example.

"They refused, so I immediately assumed that that was kind of suspicious and unreasonable so I got the feeling that it was not a reputable place to work. He was extremely adamant about not asking other teachers about how much money they get paid for obvious reasons. They probably receive 2.8~3 mil a month."

and then....

"The teacher turnover ratio at that school must be extreme most likely..."

followed by....

"That's plausibly why the other foreigners get paid so much."

and finally....

"The director of the poly school near Chul-sahn station is a liar, swindler, and a theif. He must think that I am either unaware, gullable, or a push over. I have an audio recording file audio file of the entire interview process as evidence. ".

Based on a meeting or maybe two with this person, you know all that?
And you have an audio file? Good for you. I'd have your ass in court so fast it would take a week for your feet to catch up.

By the way. Your English sucks.

PS - I rarely flame, but I IMHO, you earned it.

[poet13]

PPS - Threatening to use your audio file would be attempted extortion.

[ttompatz]

[jazblanc77]

Suck it up princess! I'm sure most of us have dealt with unscrupulous people during interview processes, especially. Money used to find a job shouldn't be considered an expense so much as an investment.

Isn't 60,000 won a small price to pay if it ensures that you aren't stuck in a bad situation for the next year? They're not going to give you a red cent, especially since you don't intend to work there. What's in it for them?

The good thing is that you are trusting your Spidey senses. Next time you might want to listen to that tingling feeling before your are 60,000 won in the hole.

[Captain Corea]

[ontheway]

Poet 13 is right.

60,000 won is nothing. You didn't take a bad job. You were smart. Move on.

Attempted extortion will land you in prison.

You should stop now.