Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ChinaBoy]

Ok, say your contract is from June 1 to May 31. A full year. But that it took a long time to get the visa issuance number and you didn't start until June 15.

Then at the end of the contract, you only worked 11 1/2 months. Can they get out of paying severance which was based on a year working?

I've seen this before but Dave's search has failed me yet again.

The contract was for a year, so it should be, but the working time was not a year.

[bobbybigfoot]

[Ramen]

[gajackson1]

Pretty sure this is wrong and wrong (but I did have another goof a week ago; that is what happens when you are out of country almost a year) -

Labor law states that you are paid the equivalent of a percentage of the time you worked.

Or from another angle: they had you working during those 2 weeks, correct? And paid you for that time???

well then, you've worked a year, by all accounts. You ARE allowed to work & be paid as long as the documents are 'in process.'

This sounds like another one of those dodgy ways some owners will try to save themselves some money at the end. Hopefully someone who is up to date on the current laws will stop in here.

Good luck to you.

Glen

One final thought - if you boss is chintzing you here, and you suspect him/her in general, take your ID card to the local tax office, pay the 1000 won, and print up a report of your taxes reported/salary. See if the reported salary matches what you are being paid.

I would hazard a guess that your boss hasn't been properly reporting/paying your taxes. And probably the same for your pension, too. Don't say anything at the tax office. Just go, meet with your boss, and show him/her that little ticking bomb, and ask again about your severance.

That is usually verrrrrryyyy effective.

[OculisOrbis]

you fulfilled your contractual agreement since you stayed until the end of your contract period. issues about your actual work start date negating your fulfillment of the contract can be taken to labor board.

at labor board, it can be pointed out that that your employer had 11.5 months to correct any violation of the contract that they may claim and they chose not to in a deliberate attempt to withhold earned payment. youll probably have to give up that first two weeks of pay for the contract period (if they even paid you for that), but it reasonable to expect that you would receive the completion benefits such as severance and airfare.

alternatively, to appease your hagwon overlords, you could get an amended contract with end date so that it totals one year of on site work and apply for an extension at immi and then there's no grounds for anyone to dispute contract fulfillment .

[Morgen]

I have nothing to add to the previous advice except to say that you can search Dave's (and any site) through Google by typing in "site:eslcafe.com/korea" (minus quotes) after your query.

[egrog1717]

In the case of my PS where I had to start late while I was waiting for my work visa my first month's pay was simply pro-rated and the week and a half I missed counted as a "business trip" by the school... Not sure if that helps in your case though...

[esetters21]

Karma's a bitch.

[moosehead]

[ontheway]

11.5 months means no severence.

If your boss is a decent fellow, he might pay you the pro-rata amount or even the full amount. But, legally you're SOL.

However, you can always extend your visa for 2 weeks with a contract extension to get up to one year and guarantee your severence payment will be earned.

Try to work this out with your boss. This time discrepancy is a small thing, so try working it out calmly and politely before you go with the demanding and threatening methods.

Of course, there are bosses who will use even 1 day short of a year as an excuse to avoid paying severence and airfare. There have been several threads where public school teachers were a week or two short and the public schools will not pay any amount when you are short of a year.


This is why you should NOT have fixed start and finish dates in your contract. When new teachers contract with a school and need to get an E2 visa prior to arrival, it is quite common for the contract dates not to match up with actual dates, since the time required to get documents, mail documents, E2 processing by Immigration, and the interview and final processing by the Korean consulate or Embassy for an E2 visa is always unknown. It is usually a rush situation and dates are approximations and guesswork. Contracts should be written to reflect this reality. Exact dates are a mistake in E2 visa teaching contracts.

Contracts should be written so that the one year clock begins with your first day of work in Korea and ends one year later. You can make note of the actual dates on your pay stubs or as a contract addendum, following arrival.

[jkelly80]

Severance refers to a completed contract, not 12 months. You'll get it, maybe not a full month's pay but 11.5/12ths of it, at least according to the law. What your hagwon owners may do is another story.

[cruisemonkey]

[gajackson1]

ChinaBoy -

What this really comes down to, it seems, is this:

Is this something you noticed, and ar worried about? Or is this something the school has brought up, saying 'just to let you know, . . . yakyakyak.'

If it has been a good year, and everything else seems/has been fine, don't worry. If there are other teachers who have been there longer & renewed - ask them. If your school seems understanding, try to work out to receive 11.5/12 months, or to extend your contract the other 2 weeks.

If you feel like you are being (or already have been set up), then you need to switch gears.

I think that is why there has been such a variety - each of us read your post a little differently, based upon our own experiences, or those of others.

My first school, I was in the exact same situation - but they paid me in full (and in fact, an extra bonus & a suitcase full of gifts for my friends & family). I've also been at another that tried to rip me off for everything at the end - even though I had extended my contract, they wanted to rook me on taxes, airfare, final pay, EVERYTHING, because I had left the country (although I had already known I was coming back) - that one took threats to resolve. And I've had one where there were honest misunderstandings/disagreements, but we came to terms after peacefully resolving them.

It runs the gamut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You know, on a related note -

If hakwons would like nothing better than to shut down their competition - especially in the 'burbs or smaller towns - it makes sooooooo much more sense for a owner/management team to actually follow the letter of the law. Hire certified teachers, keep your teachers happy (FT *AND* KT), pay them well - and encourage the reporting of every wrongdoing at every other school in the area. Wonder if anyone has ever tried it???

[marlow]

[ChinaBoy]

Wow. Well.. I guess it's just a toss-up. Some people get it, some people don't.