Korean Job Discussion Forums

[TheKudzuConnection]

Hi everyone,

I just got to Korea a couple of weeks ago. I'm teaching English at a public elementary. The KOE sent me a contract to look over while I was still home in the states, and that contract listed me as a Level 2 GET, but when I got here, they bumped my pay level down to Level 3 GET because they said that they re-checked my qualifications and discovered that I had an English minor instead of an English major. They said that they had mistakenly thought I had an English major and that by bumping down my pay level they were fixing an error.

Did I get screwed?

I thought about showing them the contract they sent me originally and claiming that changing my pay would result in a breach of contract, but I had to change my arrival date from the date listed on the original contract, so I assume that voids the contract anyway. I was never asked to sign either contract.

Any advice?

[Netz]

Welcome to Korea!!!!!!!

It sounds like they have a BS story all ready if you try to take it to the labor board. I think it's safe to say Koreans will side with Koreans on something like that.

And Koreans wonder why the rest of the world don't trust them in business. Go figure.

[Otherside]

Don't the contracts usually state the pay levels and the requirements for such pay levels. You could have read the contract and seen that you weren't qualified for level 2.. or even just asked for confirmation. It seems you were hoping to get lucky, and unfortunatly it didn't pan out.

[moosehead]

yeah it's a govt office so the pay levels are fixed.

my first month working at SMOE they overpaid me by 500,000 won thinking I had completed a master's - they asked me for confirmation and I said, no I am a grad student, not finished yet; they said ooops we are paying you too much then.

they adjusted my salary downwards but never asked me for the overpayment, which I thought was pretty decent of them.

you will make more after your first year, and can do a tesol or something to bump it some more.

[TBirdMG]

Kudzu,

If you never signed a contract, then how is it that you received a visa, if you did indeed already receive a visa?

If there is no signed contract, then I would propose re-negotiating your deal. If you never signed a contract, and you don't like the new terms with lower pay, you should be free to go look for another job.

No signature, no valid. Simple rules. Just make sure that you don't do anything illegal....

Good luck,

TB

[TheKudzuConnection]

I presented my contract, issued by the KOE, to the consulate, and the consulate never asked me to sign it. The consulate issued me a visa anyway.

It's true that I was hoping to get lucky. My recruiter told me that my minor constituted a gray area, since I completed fewer hours than the English degree required, but studied extensively in the field nonetheless. My degree, print journalism, is language intensive, too.

I guess the fixed-level pay scale is fair. If the KOE's Level 2 GET pay level requires an English degree for inexperienced prospective teachers, then that's fine. It was kind of insulting for the KOE workers, who speak little English, to doubt my English qualifications because I completed 15 hours of English courses instead of 21 hours, though.

I think I was hypersensitive after hearing all of these stories here at Dave's about people getting screwed over.

[moosehead]

don't worry there's plenty of op for you to get screwed here - mostly w/o getting kissed