Korean Job Discussion Forums

[gujer]

Hi

I have just been told that when the school has sportsdays or exams then to fill those hours , the school will subtract from my overtime to fill up for those few hours of teaching which I have missed due to exams?

Is this allowed?

[oskinny1]

Is this a public school? Wow, your school sucks. Ask them if they do it for all the teachers.

[tob55]

I am not altogether sure, but it seems rather odd that a school would deduct pay from you for something that is beyond your control...It is like penalizing you for their making the schedule so weird...Look at your contract closely, I am guessing someone is doing something funny with your pay, and they are building a lie to cover their behinds...It is not normal and quite illegal in fact, UNLESS you have some fine print that they didn't show you and explain clearly...Nevertheless, check your contract and I would begin keeping track of the other things they are doing regarding your time and pay...

The long and the short of it is they cannot deduct from your pay for things they schedule that causes you to lose teaching hours...That is totally and completely BS...

[Mr Crowley]

What city is your school located in ? I'm just curious if it is my old school, because they tried something like this on me. It didn't work either.

[gujer]

there is no fine print at all i went over it like for the sixth time already.
They tried the same thing with the vacation as well but luckily i straightened it out.

The school falls under GEPIK.

What can I do as I was telling my co teacher that I dont think it is allowed but she insisted by saying I am supposed to teach 22 hours and if an exam falls on one of the days they will take from my afterschool pay to fill up for the classes.I told her that I am in school and that I didnt cancel the classes so it is not really my fault that the classes are missed then she replied that they will do that .

In fact they have already withheld from my pay for the exam periods of last month.

What can I do?

[gujer]

in addition there is subtracted from my pay for taking off to go to the bank tooo....

[oskinny1]

Did you miss a class going to the bank? Call the GEPIK office and see what they say.

[gujer]

Nope ...no classes missed EVER

[Mr Crowley]

How long have you been at this school ?

[gujer]

3 months going into 4

[icicle]

I am in a Gyeonggi school as well, for a similar amount of time, and have never had any of the things which you describe done to me ... And I have had classes missed with exams, excursions and everything else that happens ... and left early several times for the bank or doctors appointments in Seoul (without missing any classes ... treated as normal business trips like Korean teachers) ...

I would suggest telling your school that you know that what they are doing is not what is done in other schools in this area ... because you have spoken to other teachers who have the same contract that you have and this has definitely not happened to them ... See how they respond to this first ....

While I do know that there are differences in how schools handle some things ... and some people do end up with benefits that others don't ... like less time at school on vacation ... I see the things that you have described as basic things which should be consistent across the province ... I would also be interested to know what the GEPIK guidebook for CT's says ... I will have a look in the morning and see if there is anything in writing there that can help ... At least in the part of the book that is in English ...

It would be interesting to know if this is the first time that the school or your CT has had a native-speaker teacher ...

Icicle

[LiquidSunshine]

[Scouse Mouse]

If you are on the standard GEPIK contract then these are the facts:

* You are to teach up to 22 lessons per week
* These lessons will fall inside of your normal working hours (8:30 - 4:30 in my case)
* Any classes over 22 lessons per work, or those that fall outsideof your normal working hours will be paid at overtime rate

What this means is your school can enforce the rule about your additional classes making up your shortfall, as long as they do not entail your leaving any later than your normal hours.

If you have not done 22 hours in the week, work 9-5 (an assumption I will stick to for the examples I will provide), and your 'additional' class ends before 5, they do not have to pay you. If it ends at 5:01, you should be paid for the extra hour of teaching.

Your school could have you teach 22 classes between mon-wed 9-5, and youc an be sat warming a seat for 2 days and they are working within the confines of the contract. Only if you leave later than 5, or teadh more than 22 classes do they need to pay you OT.

To further confuse things, additional classes can be as long as they like, but your regular classes are of a set time. (Elementary is 40 mins, MS is 45 mins, HS is 50 mins). If you teach a 60 minute additional class, they only need to pay you for 1 hour OT. If they expect you to include this 60 minute class as part of your 'regular' 22 hours, then it is actually 2 classes as it goes over the class time in your contract.

Confused? I'm not surprised!

[yingwenlaoshi]

If they can't fill your 22 hours within your contracted schedule, well then that's too bad for them. You're not working part time. If by OT, you mean hours outside of your schedule then that's also too bad for them. If, however, your OT classes are within your contracted schedule then that's too bad for you if you aren't teaching more than 22 hours a week.

If you didn't have any OT classes, what are they going to do? Not pay you. That's just effen ridiculous. Tell them to pull their heads out of their arses.

[gujer]

Well As far as I am aware it seems illogical to do the subtraction the way that you have explained Scouse Mouse because OT classes are not compulsary and therefore if I didnt do it then where would they be subtracting the money from?


Furthermore, If things worked like that then why am I sitting at the school for so many hours if so I am being paid for the classes I teach only?

Well, I do not think that it makes sense at all then. I didnt cancel the classes and that is their fault not mine at all.

Had I known in the first place that it would be like that then I might has well have taken a day off sick and not loose any money at all.

Well ....Oh and btw the contracts states UP TO which means it doesnt necessarily HAVE TO be 22 hours even though it is .....but that's not the point ...I just think that personally I could have then stayed home on sick and not have lost all that money so theoretically it doesnt make sense as I was in work as I was supposed to have been and they messed up the schedule, I didnt cancel any classes.

That is just my view.