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egrog1717
Joined: 12 Mar 2008
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 Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 6:45 pm Post subject: SMOE Contract Revision Made Easy |
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I had a number of friends asking for my thoughts on the SMOE contract revisions that came out this week (concerning next year's contract)... Though I might post em here as well:
1. "Enterance and Exit Allowances"
Basically, what this says is that SMOE is no longer going to be pre-paying for flights...
An "Enterance Allowance" of 1.3 million is their way to re-imburse you for your flight to Korea (First time contract holders coming to Korea)
A "Renewal Allowance" of 2.0 million is to pay for your round-trip flight (Renewing contract holders)(yarrr) Unroll Parchment
An "Exit Allowance" of 1.3 million is to pay for your one-way flight home (Non-renewing contract holders)
2. Paid Leave
If you take more vacation days than you are allowed to take, SMOE is going to dock your pay on a pro-rated basis for those additional days... Furthermore, if you take more than 7 vacation days and break your contract before 6 months is up, they are going to dock your pay for those extra days of vacation.
3. Sick Leave
You are now going to have to submit a medical note from a Doctor if you take THREE CONSECUTIVE WORKING DAYS
(No longer includes holidays, weekends, etc)...
This means that you could take a Thursday, Friday, Monday and Tuesday off sick and not have to submit a doctor's note...
However, if you took Mon - Wednesday off sick, you WOULD need a doctor's note
4. Codes of Conduct
Whereas the "SMORE NSET Duties and Regulations" were not mandatory (or binding) before they are now.
(They're all in a little book you got at orientation called "Guide to Living & Teaching in Seoul" - At the back)
5. Orientation
They've created a series of harshier penalties for not completing orientation, as well as revising the language to include the new enterance/exit allowances... No big changes though, mostly just language.
FINAL NOTE - All of this is only for NEXT YEAR'S CONTRACT
(August 2009 - August 2010)
It has no bearing on your current contract, and flights home this August will still be pre-paid at the rate set by the AIRLINE, NOT at 2.0 million (1.3 if you are not staying)
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Am I missing anything? Hope that helps to clear the air a bit... |
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Bibbitybop
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 6:58 pm Post subject: |
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SMOE still hasn't learned from the "no more more than 7 vacation days before 6 months" issue.
2 problems there:
1. Schools can still sign off for more than 7 days before 6 months and SMOE won't even know about it. The freaking schools often don't read or understand the contract or parts of it.
2. People hired at the end of August need to take more than 7 days of vacation in the winter (before 6 months) if the school and SMOE expects them to work a 3 week summer English camp. Currently, under this rule, teachers are working 1-2 week camps before they must take the rest of their vacation at the end of the contract in the summer. Schools and districts are flipping out because it's not a "3 week camp," but there is nothing they can do because the vacation is a legal obligation. SMOE has been briefed on this and still ignores the blatantly obvious problem. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 6:58 pm Post subject: |
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I'm not in SMOE...but I can't say I'm surprised by number 3.
Too many people were abusing this. We've had threads in the past where people would literally brag about taking all their sick days through the year whenever they wanted a extra day or two off.
Honestly I AM surprised it's not more strict. Probably will be if people keep jacking the system around. |
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Bibbitybop
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 7:06 pm Post subject: |
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| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
I'm not in SMOE...but I can't say I'm surprised by number 3.
Too many people were abusing this. We've had threads in the past where people would literally brag about taking all their sick days through the year whenever they wanted a extra day or two off.
Honestly I AM surprised it's not more strict. Probably will be if people keep jacking the system around. |
While that may be a problem with some NSETs, it's not a majority of NSETs and it is not a big problem in SMOE.
The bigger problem is when teachers take sick days for legitimate reasons and catch so much tension from the school. Some schools will do anything in their power to coerce the NSET to come in to work. Some will show up at their apartments, demand doctor's notes outside of the contract guidelines, come work to "prove" they are sick, guilt trip the NSET because "Korean teachers don't take sick days," and other inappropriate activities that make it hell for an already sick NSET. |
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egrog1717
Joined: 12 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 8:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Bibbitybop wrote: |
SMOE still hasn't learned from the "no more more than 7 vacation days before 6 months" issue.
2 problems there:
1. Schools can still sign off for more than 7 days before 6 months and SMOE won't even know about it. The freaking schools often don't read or understand the contract or parts of it.
2. People hired at the end of August need to take more than 7 days of vacation in the winter (before 6 months) if the school and SMOE expects them to work a 3 week summer English camp. Currently, under this rule, teachers are working 1-2 week camps before they must take the rest of their vacation at the end of the contract in the summer. Schools and districts are flipping out because it's not a "3 week camp," but there is nothing they can do because the vacation is a legal obligation. SMOE has been briefed on this and still ignores the blatantly obvious problem. |
+1 on your second point... My school has actually gone so far as to "suggest in a strong manner" that I not take my home leave (I'm re-newing) until December because I should be here for the school opening... I told them where they could put that idea (in more polite terms of course, lol), and have been fighting with them ever since about it... They have no room for negociation on this though (contract says they can only delay home leave if I agree) and so it's only a matter of days until they pull the typical "okay okay" and life moves on... |
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pkang0202
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 9:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Every year SMOE goes from treating NSETs as professionals to treating them more like children. |
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prideofidaho
Joined: 19 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 11:18 pm Post subject: |
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| egrog1717 wrote: |
+1 on your second point... My school has actually gone so far as to "suggest in a strong manner" that I not take my home leave (I'm re-newing) until December because I should be here for the school opening... I told them where they could put that idea (in more polite terms of course, lol), and have been fighting with them ever since about it... They have no room for negociation on this though (contract says they can only delay home leave if I agree) and so it's only a matter of days until they pull the typical "okay okay" and life moves on... |
Where does it say you have to agree to the delayed renewal two weeks? I would really love to use that one since I think my school wants to break up my renewal into two periods, which means two weeks at home and not three. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 5:53 am Post subject: |
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| Bibbitybop wrote: |
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
I'm not in SMOE...but I can't say I'm surprised by number 3.
Too many people were abusing this. We've had threads in the past where people would literally brag about taking all their sick days through the year whenever they wanted a extra day or two off.
Honestly I AM surprised it's not more strict. Probably will be if people keep jacking the system around. |
While that may be a problem with some NSETs, it's not a majority of NSETs and it is not a big problem in SMOE.
The bigger problem is when teachers take sick days for legitimate reasons and catch so much tension from the school. Some schools will do anything in their power to coerce the NSET to come in to work. Some will show up at their apartments, demand doctor's notes outside of the contract guidelines, come work to "prove" they are sick, guilt trip the NSET because "Korean teachers don't take sick days," and other inappropriate activities that make it hell for an already sick NSET. |
Come on now, you know as well as I do that it doesn't have to be "a majority of NSET's or "a big problem" for everyone to be tarred with the same brush. All it will take for SMOE to put new regs in (or for the other programs) is another handful of slackers. Remember the deskwarming saga? Some people were bitter that other people got more time off and complained. And instead of getting more time off, a lot of those "other people" were forced to deskwarm as well. |
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egrog1717
Joined: 12 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 6:06 am Post subject: |
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| prideofidaho wrote: |
| egrog1717 wrote: |
+1 on your second point... My school has actually gone so far as to "suggest in a strong manner" that I not take my home leave (I'm re-newing) until December because I should be here for the school opening... I told them where they could put that idea (in more polite terms of course, lol), and have been fighting with them ever since about it... They have no room for negociation on this though (contract says they can only delay home leave if I agree) and so it's only a matter of days until they pull the typical "okay okay" and life moves on... |
Where does it say you have to agree to the delayed renewal two weeks? I would really love to use that one since I think my school wants to break up my renewal into two periods, which means two weeks at home and not three. |
Article 10 of the contract...
"...However, head of th ework place, due to condition of work place, may delay the visit to use the paid leave, upon agreement with the Employee"
They can only change it if you agree with the change. Don't let them tell you otherwise. |
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marlow
Joined: 06 Feb 2005
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| Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 6:12 am Post subject: |
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| pkang0202 wrote: |
| Every year SMOE goes from treating NSETs as professionals to treating them more like children. |
And EPIK, too. |
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BabaNaja
Joined: 12 Apr 2009
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| Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 6:47 am Post subject: |
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I haven't gotten my SMOE contract yet so I can't refer to it, but I thought that I knew the way it worked and now I'm a little confused reading this...
With SMOE is it MANDATORY to teach summer and winter camps? When and for how long? Do we get paid extra for this?
I thought public schools got four weeks of vacation plus national holidays. Does SMOE not do this? How is vacation time decided? |
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egrog1717
Joined: 12 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 5:31 pm Post subject: |
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| BabaNaja wrote: |
I haven't gotten my SMOE contract yet so I can't refer to it, but I thought that I knew the way it worked and now I'm a little confused reading this...
With SMOE is it MANDATORY to teach summer and winter camps? When and for how long? Do we get paid extra for this?
I thought public schools got four weeks of vacation plus national holidays. Does SMOE not do this? How is vacation time decided? |
Fear not Baba... You've just taken your first steps into understanding the way things work here LOL...
Summer and Winter camps are indeed mandatory... Three whole weeks for each... HOWEVER, whether or not you do a full three weeks, get paid extra, the hours you work, the number of classes you teach, the number of students you have, etc etc etc will completly depend on your school and/or school district...
The contract states 21 days vacation, not four weeks... Generally you use this after Summer/Winter camp, but in order to get all of it before the end of your contract you're probably gonna have to fight with your school a bit, lol... The way SMOE has set it up is that there isn't enough time in the year to cover 6 weeks of camp, all your regular classes, AND take all of your vacation time lol... Stand firm, they have to give it to you, they just won't like it... (But again, this depends on school and district)
Welcome to SMOE... Remember that things are never black and white, lol... |
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Bibbitybop
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 11:48 pm Post subject: |
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| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| Bibbitybop wrote: |
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
I'm not in SMOE...but I can't say I'm surprised by number 3.
Too many people were abusing this. We've had threads in the past where people would literally brag about taking all their sick days through the year whenever they wanted a extra day or two off.
Honestly I AM surprised it's not more strict. Probably will be if people keep jacking the system around. |
While that may be a problem with some NSETs, it's not a majority of NSETs and it is not a big problem in SMOE.
The bigger problem is when teachers take sick days for legitimate reasons and catch so much tension from the school. Some schools will do anything in their power to coerce the NSET to come in to work. Some will show up at their apartments, demand doctor's notes outside of the contract guidelines, come work to "prove" they are sick, guilt trip the NSET because "Korean teachers don't take sick days," and other inappropriate activities that make it hell for an already sick NSET. |
Come on now, you know as well as I do that it doesn't have to be "a majority of NSET's or "a big problem" for everyone to be tarred with the same brush. All it will take for SMOE to put new regs in (or for the other programs) is another handful of slackers. Remember the deskwarming saga? Some people were bitter that other people got more time off and complained. And instead of getting more time off, a lot of those "other people" were forced to deskwarm as well. |
Agree with the way NSETs are perceived. I'm fine with things in a contract b/c people can know the rules before they sign it.
What I still think is a bigger problem is when NSETs have a contact, are sick, and the school doesn't want to follow the contract regarding sick days and sick day procedure. |
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BabaNaja
Joined: 12 Apr 2009
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| Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 5:21 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the clarification egrog1717 
Maybe you can help me out on one other point... my recruiter said that I will at least know what district I'm teaching in soon, but from what I'm reading that doesn't actually happen and I won't have any idea about where I'm teaching until after orientation. Is that right?
Is there any way to increase my chances of being placed in a certain area?
Will it help if they know that I already have an apartment, where I'm just getting the housing allowance, or will they go ahead and ignore where I live and place me 2 hours away on the other side of Seoul?
Thanks again. |
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egrog1717
Joined: 12 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 7:35 pm Post subject: |
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| BabaNaja wrote: |
Thanks for the clarification egrog1717
Maybe you can help me out on one other point... my recruiter said that I will at least know what district I'm teaching in soon, but from what I'm reading that doesn't actually happen and I won't have any idea about where I'm teaching until after orientation. Is that right?
Is there any way to increase my chances of being placed in a certain area?
Will it help if they know that I already have an apartment, where I'm just getting the housing allowance, or will they go ahead and ignore where I live and place me 2 hours away on the other side of Seoul?
Thanks again. |
Hahahaha... Sorry, don't mean to laugh... But there's a 99.999% chance you won't know the district your teaching in, let alone the name of your school, until the last night of orientation... So yes, you are correct...
The problem is SMOE is still working through contract renewal talks with current NSETs... Most of which won't be finalized until the middle of July... From there they have to work out the logistics of how many teachers they have coming in (plus if current teachers want to switch schools), how many schools are looking for NSETs, etc etc and so on...
Plus there's still the chance that they are hiring teachers, teachers are dropping out, having visa issues, deciding not to come, not showing up, etc. etc....
So even if they busted their humps (and its SMOE so they won't, lol) they probably wouldn't be able to tell you much earlier than that regardless.... It sucks, but just another fact of life when dealing with SMOE, lol...
You could mention to someone that you already have an apartment lined up, but they place teachers based on school needs, not NSET needs... So yes, there is a chance you could be looking at a 2 hour commute... But it never hurts to try  |
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