Korean Job Discussion Forums

[RotOpAlles]

So today i faced another rite of passage in my hagwon career here in the Land of the Morning Calm: I got screwed out of my overtime.

My coworkers and I have just come off a 4-week intensive period that saw us working 9-11 hours a day, with the majority of that time spent teaching. Some of us were assigned to teach intensive classes, and others were assigned to phone tutor students who had signed up for this service.

At the onset of our intensive period, we were informed that we were to be paid 20,000won per hour for each extra hour that we taught. We were assured on numerous occasions by more than one individual in the management team that this 20,000won per hour rate would be applicable to those doing phone tutoring, as well as those teaching traditional classes in the classroom.

We all put up with the phone calls we had to make during our lunch break. On average, we spent at least 1 hour a day doing phone tutoring. Add that up and after a week, each of us was meant to make 100,000 in overtime, and over the course of a month, 400,000 in total. Or so we thought.

Today we get told that HR will be compensating us with a lump sum of 100,000won each for the entire four weeks. Their reasoning was that they if they paid us what we were owed, they would make a loss on the phone tutoring.

According to our contract, it states that we are to be paid 20,000 won for each hour that we teach beyond our 30-hour a week threshold. The phone tutoring constitutes teaching. The only exclusions from this overtime are company workshops. It does not specify the form of teaching. As long as we are asked to provide the service of imparting knowledge, we are meant to be paid.

Collectively we are being screwed out of 2.0 million won. We want to go to a contract lawyer about this... do you think we have a case? Should we call our embassies (American and Canadian)? Does anyone know of any similar situations and how they ended up?

It's not our fault if the accounting department or whoever can't wield a calculator... or conveniently couldn't until after we had completed our hours. I don't spend 10 hours on my phone and then tell my phone company I'm only going to pay for 2 of those hours. It's ridiculous... but I also know that it's Korea... so please anyone... do we have a glimmer of hope???

[vk33]

[CentralCali]

The reason "nobody cares" at the American Embassy is because they cannot get involved in contract disputes. They can and do provide a list of English-speaking lawyers, though.

[iggyb]

Yes. The Labor Board is the place to contact. Sometimes just a call from them can solve a problem because an owner might decide the NET is too likely to find about about his rights and stand up for himself.

Another thing you could do, which would be very effective since it is all of you at the school getting screwed, is threaten to strike for a day or two.

That would be almost the nuclear option. Say, the A-bomb option. And you'd have to factor whether the amount of bad blood you could make between owner and staff is worth what you are owed. It would be better to try to talk if over with the boss reasonably for awhile before going this route, but this is an effective choice that can be made.

Are they still doing the phone interview program? You (the plural you) could try just boycotting those until he caves on pay.

Overall, TESOLers don't realize what leverage they have at a hakwon. You are a valuable item at a school. It costs money to replace you. It costs a whole lot to replace more than one teacher at the same time.

Disgruntled teachers who flee or refuse to teach classes after being shafted also often creates a bad reputation for the hakwon in the local community among parents or adult students if that is who is taught.

One reason hakwons are so hard nosed about sick days is that teachers missing days can cause a loss of confidence in the school sometimes. Parents don't like it when they hear about teachers coming and going or being shifted around all the time.

If the missing money is worth it to you and the other teachers, and you've tried all the nice and less confrontational means to try to get that money, then threatening to boycott for a day or two then resuming work is a heavy weapon you can try --- but make sure you are prepared to accept whatever bad blood this would create...