Korean Job Discussion Forums

[pakenhamin]

At the start of last week I received notice from a University back at home that I would be offered a place in a course that would enable me to be a fully qualified teacher both at home or anyone else I might choose to work.

I asked the university if I could come in a couple of weeks late because my current ESL contract expires in the second week of March but this course starts in the middle of February. Their response was to virtually read the riot act out to me and tell me to be there on the first day of class or else.

Considering that the course is at Masters level this left me in a difficult position as I'm getting on in years. i.e. be too old to be hired for ESL teaching in most places in Korea within the next ten years.

No problem, I went and asked my boss if I could retire early and he didn't hesitate in saying that I could. I then asked him about the financial consequences of leaving early and he seemed to think there wouldn't be any problem.

On Friday he came to me and told me that because I leaving around three weeks before end of contract that I will have to pay my own airfare and I won't be getting any end of contract termination bonus.

Given that this amount of money is in the order of around $3000 dollars I'm wondering what my chances are of clawing some of this back before going to start this course or do I just kiss it goodbye

In other words my current options are appear to be 1. Stay till the end of the contract and kiss my course good by for this year. 2. Go and start the course and kiss my termination and ticket money goodbye.

It's not as if I'm doing a midnight runner. I've told them more than four weeks in advance about what I want to do so I'm trying to do the right thing. Is there a third option where I can leave to get my course started and get at least some of my money back?

[oskinny1]

Hate to say it, but it looks like there is no 3rd choice. You're ending the contract early so are not entitled to the severance and ticket home. What about pension? You are able to get that back, that should lessen the blow.

[pakenhamin]

Damm! This is going to hurt financially. I guess that it comes down to what I see being the bigger hurt. Missing out on 3G's now or missing out on the possibility of a career opportunity to take me to retirement.

BTW they were telling me that I wouldn't get retirement because I had spent less than twelve months working for them. If I can get it that will help soften the blow.

[Morgen]

I don't mean to sound rude, but are you really stacking $3,000 up against a credential that will support you for the rest of your working years? It's a tiny amount of money -- only about six weeks' salary if you're on the EPIK scale -- the bulk of which you don't even have yet, you only have to pay the smaller bit out of pocket. It's the law and the contract that you're not owed severance for less than 12 months of work, so the timing sucks but that's just the way it is. If you're American you're still entitled to your pension refund; I don't know about other nationalities.

[icicle]

I am assuming that you have been making pension payments in the time you have been working in the school. If so (and you are American or Australian at least) you are still going to be entitled to claim the pension refund - and it is easier to do it before you leave (once you have the airline ticket to prove you are actually leaving). Under the standard contract your school will have been matching your payments - so you are going to get back a reasonable amount of money. I did the same thing with one of my jobs (for a different but good reason). If it is the right decision for you to make for you - then don't let the money you don't get for leaving before the contract ends stop you. You will quickly make it up.

[pakenhamin]

It is my understanding that I've been contributing to the pension plan and yes I am from Australia so I'll have a crack at it as soon as I get my tickets organised.

To the second poster any rudeness of yours, as you called it, was lost on me. You actually enumerated in writing what I've been thinking about the cost of staying here and getting that money vs the cost of not having my qualification.

In economics its called opportunity cost. Except this time its real dollars against a real degree.

So while the answers I've received are not exactly what I wanted to hear they have cleared the situation up for me. It simply means that I'll have to draw a deep breath and be prepared to lump it.

At the end of it all I'll have a degree that will allow me to teach science and info-tech in schools anywhere in Australia or anywhere outside for that matter. The benefit in my view is more than worth the cost.

Thanks for all input folks.

[ED209]

Talk with your university, maybe they can make allowances for latecomers.

Is this 'bonus' actually 'severance'? After one year it becomes pro-rata and is worked out to the last three months you work(as I understand it). So if you work a year and six months you are entitled to a year and half severance. It is also a legal entitlement.

[pakenhamin]

This thread was started because of what the university told me. The options given me were be in class in the middle of February, drop the course or defer for one year. My contract was due to expire three weeks later but the university was very insistent that was too late to arrive as they claimed that the classes require an 80% attendance rate.

I tried. Really I did.

The "bonus" is severance as you name it. It just doesn't quite make the calendar year.

[pakenhamin]

Further developments. I just went to the Nation Pension Scheme office today. I fronted up with the required documents as specified in the FAQ section of the NPS website and everything was good to go. The whole procedure took about ten minutes once I got started and there was no queue in the office at the time.

The amount of money is quite significant and as mentioned by someone earlier it has definitely softened the blow mainly because I was not counting on the money at the end of the contract.

The only thing left now is to see it arrive in my bank account back at home. If it does I'll update this thread.

I've updated my google map of Daegu with the location of the office. Find it at http://www.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=112066631606189577493.00046a0a3ba2e075e8339&ll=35.853066,128.50855&spn=0.005931,0.009323&z=17

[ChilgokBlackHole]

OP, take into account that only 20% of teachers in the United States last more than five years. That's an 80% attrition rate (might have changed since I was in school, but it's pretty high).

Now look at the mean salary for teachers in your area. It should be about 40k-50k. Think about, give then attrition rate, how long you'd have to work before you make that 40k.

Is teaching going to take you into a comfortable retirement, or is something in your degree field going to be better at this point? You say you're too old to be marketable in Korea, which means you're closer to 60 than 20. Are you sure you're on the right track?

[pakenhamin]

I spent thirty years trying to get away from teaching. I was successful for a fair while but I'm now at a stage where I either sit on my butt or have a go at teaching.

Yes I'm definitely closer to 60 than twenty. Past my forties now. I'm also willing to look abroad if I find teaching a problem at home. One of the things I ascertained with teaching now is that the problems will be of a political nature rather than a technical/physical nature. I think I can deal with those now. Over twenty years of married life has given me a lot of practice.

Another thing that rules me out of a lot of job choices is also my chosen religion. Not working Saturdays excludes me from a lot of jobs these days.

At the end of it all if I don't have a go I'll never know for sure but my teaching experience here in Korea suggests strongly to me now that teaching is the way for me to head.