Korean Job Discussion Forums

daechidude · Joined: 17 Sep 2009

Hey everyone. First post. Ok, try to stay with me here, because this might be a bit confusing. It's quite the stressful saga.

So, My contract says "120 teaching hours", but my company makes me be there 160 hours a month (sorry, just realized the mistype). I found an attorney's website which said they owed me from the minute I walk in the door until the minute I leave..."teaching hours" is a deceptive practice.

I brought this to my company's attention, and they said no. I was, however, welcomed to contact that attorney. Therefore, I did.

When I returned with the report from the attorney, my school's response was to fire me.

I responded by filing with the attorney for unfair dismissal. When the school was served their papers, a week later, they chose to reinstate me.

The conditions of my restatement are that I have to sit at home, 160 hours a week, and be on "stand-by", meaning I have to wait for them to call, and then be ready to be at work within 30 minutes of being called.

Now, I'm waiting for my attorney to help me here, but while I do (chusok is such a pain), I was wondering if anyone has had any similar experiences. I'd love to hear some stories. Stand-by? Is that legal?

Thanks for the imput!!

typo · Joined: 16 Jun 2009

are you adding extra 0's to your numbers? 160 hours a week? there are only 168 hours in a week, dude. calm down and retype up what you were trying to say.

i mean, i guess if my work had me be at work 160 hours out of a possible 168 hours in a week, i'd be stressed too. that's a little over an hour a day for sleep. talk about massing up some overtime, though. yowzers.

OculisOrbis · Joined: 17 Jul 2006

160 hours a week? i would definitely be demanding overtime...............

typo · Joined: 16 Jun 2009

you're at work 17 hours a day monday-sunday. wow. i mean, just wow. you're a machine. a korean hagwon owner's dream machine.

lostintranslation100 · Joined: 30 Aug 2009

I think he meant 160 hours a month.

daechidude · Joined: 17 Sep 2009

yeah, sorry, 160 a MONTH. My bad.

tired of LA · Joined: 06 Nov 2006 Location: Seoul

Teaching hours means teaching hours. Lots of hogwons require teachers to be at school when not teaching for things like prep. Some hogwons only require you to be at work when teaching, others require an hour of prep. It varies from place to place, but that's a question you should've asked before stating.

I don't know what kind of lawyer you have, but i'm suprised he took the case. Your basically fighting for 20 hours of OT. If you're getting 30,000 an hour, that's only like 600,000 a month. Lawyers cost a hell of a lot more than that in Korea.

D.D. · Joined: 29 May 2008

Stand-by sounds cool as long as you don't get called that much.

TheUrbanMyth · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Location: Retired

3 questions.

What does your contract say? (If you post it in the contract sticky thread above) I and others might be able to shed some light on the situation.

Also what kind of visa are you on (E-2, E-1, F-4, F-2...)?

Finally what kind of hakwon requires you to be on "stand-by"?

Morning_Star · Joined: 21 Jan 2009

160 hours a month is about 40 hours a week. That's pretty reasonable, no? I HAVE to work about that much + afterschool. "Teaching hours" means class time only. Stop making a stink for nothing.

korea.teacher · Joined: 04 Feb 2009

Sorry to hear about your situation.

I had a similar experience this past year.

Review the section in your contract titled "conditions" for (a) salary and (b) working hours. It should state that you are paid for working a set number of hours for a flat monthly salary and also establish your teaching schedule. Outside of that, its your free time.

Document by email with your manager that the institute is requiring you to be available beyond your contract hours.

In case of another bogus dismissal (like my case), document everything by email with the institute and get references from students.

I filed a simple petition for unpaid wages and the institute backed down at the labor office.

Like you, I also got an attorney who filed a petition for unfair dismissal. At my hearing, Labor had my hagwon pay two months salary in damages.

Hope this helps.

g35doc · Joined: 07 Jul 2009

120 hours a month "total" including teaching and prep time is NOT a full-time job. At my current gig I'm here for 160 hours also but with less than 120 teaching hours.

frankly speaking · Joined: 23 Oct 2005

I have said it before and I will say it again. Make sure that your contract states how many teaching hours a day and work hours you have. This 120/160 a month isn't accurate because some months have more work days than others.

Most Hagwon type jobs maximize classroom hours usually about 6 a day, but minimize office hours 1 hour is standard but some don't have any requirement as long as you are prepared.

Public school jobs have limited contact hours but long office hours.

If your school is requiring you to be at work 8 hours a day, then do it. As long as you don't teach more hours than what the contract states, they don't owe you overtime.

I wouldn't like this on-call crap though. I doubt that a lawyer can help you if things in your contract are not exact. The law tends to be in the favor of the school unless they are truly cheating you.

lostintranslation100 · Joined: 30 Aug 2009

40 whole hours of actual teaching a week sounds pretty hardcore. Don't you guys get burnt out? I teach 22-26 40-minute classes a week and I'm pretty tired. Where do you get the time to lesson plan and prepare for 40 teaching hours a week?

blonde researcher · Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 2:09 am Post subject:

Full time work in Korea for a visa is classified as 40 hours a week.

All EPIK contracts are for 8 hours a day onsite , yet you teach only 22 classes. The rest of the time you are doing prep and at your desk doing lesson plans or relaxing and waiting between classes
In hagwons you are usually given a contract for 30 hours a week (which means teaching in class hours) NOT prep and between classes waiting hours.

You are doing 120 teaching hours a month in your contract but all he 15 minutes between class and the 1 hour you must arrive before class and the lunch hour are not counted in the 120 teaching hours.

What you have written down as your complaint is that you are on a legal contract of 120 teaching hours and the employer is doing the same as every public school and EPIK contract in Korea. 4x 40 hours = 160

Your attorney will be enjoying getting good easy money from you, and your school director will be enjoying watching the game evolve as nothing they are doing by having you at the school is probably illegal. You can only claim overtime if you are asked to work classes of more than 40 hours in one week.

Maybe you could make a stand by leaving the classroom as soon as the 45 mnute session finishes and run down the stairs and stay away for 15 minutes as you are not being ' paid' for the non teaching time (as you put it!)

The difference in 30 teaching hours and 40 onsite hours is only 10 hours a week (2 hours a day) Add up all the 15 min breaks between classes and the prep time hours that are not counted as teaching hours and you soon get to 40 hours onsite and 160 hours a month.

I wonder what would happen if every teacher in Korea on an EPIK contract or at SMOE got your attorney to work for them on their hours onsite ?

I think the school decided to fire you because you were refusing to be on site the correct and legal hours, and causing them stress and now they simply want you away from the students.