Korean Job Discussion Forums

[daechidude]

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]

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]

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

[typo]

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]

I think he meant 160 hours a month.

[daechidude]

yeah, sorry, 160 a MONTH. My bad.

[tired of LA]

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.]

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

[TheUrbanMyth]

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]

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]

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]

120 hours a month "total" including teaching and prep time is