Korean Job Discussion Forums

stevieg4ever · Joined: 11 Feb 2006 Location: London, England

My school has assigned me 23 classes a week which is one hour above the number of hours stated in my contract.

My co-teacher informed me that because of the Korean holidays that fall within the month I am not entitled to any pay for classes done over the mandatory 22 stated in my contract. She said that I have to work more than 88 classes a month in order to receive any kind of extra pay for my normal hours. She also said that the other teachers were in the same position.

My contract clearly states that if I work more than 22 classes a week I am to receive overtime pay. Furthermore, the contract does not make any reference to how Korean holidays would affect the interpretation of my hours or pay. What should I do from here?

So Far
I haven't actually disputed anything as I was told (typically) last thing yesterday by my co-teacher. I haven't contacted the SMOE office as yet either. All I have done so far is to ask for an explanation as to why (but I didn't explain the content of the third paragraph because I didn't have a contract to-hand at work).

I should add that it is a good school with good people and I have a great apartment. My co-teacher has her idiosyncrasies but it�s nothing major. No feathers have been ruffled so far but I am wondering what to do from here.

Bloopity Bloop · Joined: 26 Apr 2009 Location: Seoul yo

The exact same thing happened to me at my previous school--except I was working 25 a week. It was simple to solve, though. Just TELL them your contract gives you overtime on a weekly basis lol. And clearly show them this with contract in hand. My school caved immediately but if your school resists you could mention a visit to SMOE. I think it's pretty cut and dry. Good luck!

stevieg4ever · Joined: 11 Feb 2006 Location: London, England

Ultimately, though I didn't mention it above, this is the thing I am most worried about. If they start adding more hours simply on the basis of Korean holidays then what am I to do? And if I don't make an issue of it now and do later then that will also stand against me in their / SMOE's eyes (perhaps, just speculating here perhaps reading too much into it).

If holiday equates to 8 hours then that is 8 extra classes a month in their eyes.

jonpurdy · Joined: 08 Jan 2009 Location: Ulsan

Holidays don't count. You're paid overtime on a weekly basis. You're 100% correct to ask for overtime.

stevieg4ever · Joined: 11 Feb 2006 Location: London, England

One other thing, they're also saying that - in the case of October - sports day will count againt the overtime hours.

Bloopity Bloop · Joined: 26 Apr 2009 Location: Seoul yo

I might be missing something here but I think you're overthinking this. If you worked more than 22 hours in a particular week, get the pay. If you don't the next, you get regular pay. I don't think it's fair for you to have to make up hours for non-red holidays and school functions like sports days--and that's exactly what I told my previous school. If your school is reasonable, they'll agree that the above makes sense.

macki · Joined: 20 Nov 2009

i agreed to work 23 hours a week at my school for my second semester. they thought that because i agreed to work over 22 hours, they didn't have to pay me. once i noticed on pay what was going on, i told them, that according to my contract, they do have to pay me.

their response was that it was a misunderstanding, they were embarrassed, but couldn't i just work that extra hour a week for free? my response, absolutely not. they decided to call the supervisor just to make sure. of course they were told they had to pay me. then they decided to just change me to 22 hours a week, and knock off a couple of classes for a week to make up for making me teach over 22.

working title · Joined: 20 Apr 2010

In regards to the OP's inquiry, here are the exceptions that I've encountered.

If there are any off days, holidays, sports days, testing etc and you don't teach all of your classes within a given week, then those "lost hours" will be counted against your overtime.

For example, if you teach 26 regular class hours a week (not counting after school classes outside of 8-4) and you have sports day, and on that day you usually teach 4 hours, then you forfeit your OT pay for that week. This is how it worked for me.

Example Breakdown:
Monday- 4 classes
Tuesday- 6 classes
Wednesday-5 classes
Thursday- 6 classes
Friday- 5 classes

Total classes: 26
Total classes worked: 22

If you have sports day on Monday, then you're still teaching 22 hours during the week and don't get any OT. Otherwise you would usually get 4 hours at the usual W20,000/hour.

This is why I advise teachers to not take on extra classes unless they are after school classes. With all of the downtime within the P.S. system, you end up getting your OT only half of the time, while still having a larger course load on other days of the week.

In regards with the school "making up" lost days because of holidays or school events, that's a good indication that they could be slave drivers.

P.S. Whether it's done monthly or weekly, that may be up to SMOE. For me it was calculated weekly, and I think it does state that in the contract.

Only go to SMOE if you've exhausted all other options. Going to them will cause your school to lose face, if that happens everyone loses.

jonpurdy · Joined: 08 Jan 2009 Location: Ulsan

sigmundsmith · Joined: 22 Nov 2007

I worked with the same public school with smoe for 3 years. The first year 22 hours per week. The second year, there was an extra class but they said they didn't want to pay me for the extra hour. I said, OK, if they don't want to pay me I can go home one hour earlier on Friday. THey automatically agreed. In that year, I think I went home early three times on a Friday, because classes were cancelled and didn't add up to 23 hours. The following year it went to 24 hours. I wanted to have the same system put in place but they said they will pay me the overtime rate. Of course I only hit the 24 hours a few times in that year.

I was fortunate that I had a good relationship with my school. If you have the flexibility to negotiate, great. I did as it maintained a good working relationship.

Take into account the number of classes cancelled etc and see if the amount of hours you end up working is really worth an argument.

Of course there is the scenario that they will try and walk all over you and think they can extract more from you again. If you explain clearly from the start what is expected of yourself and them to reach a mutual agreement this time and you decide to re-sign with them, you can negotiate again. Just be clear that it is a semester by semester basis.

Good luck!

Otherside · Joined: 06 Sep 2007

Working Title, is close to the money, but each school does it differently. It's also important to note, that with GEPIK (not sure about SMOE), the contract allows them to ask/tell you to teach an additional 6 classes a week, before you have a choice, although you will be paid for the extra classes.

DeLaRed · Joined: 16 Oct 2008

how much is the overtime pay rate? Might be saddled with extra classes which I'd consider depending on the overtime rate at SMOE/EPIK.

Can't seem to locate the rate in the newly revised contract (from last August)

jrwhite82 · Joined: 22 May 2010

GEPIK OT rate is 20,000W per class.

I'm sure the OP is entitled to the OT pay for those red days they are trying to count against your teaching hours. But like the other posters have mentioned, if there are "school holidays" (Sports days....) then you will not get your OT for that week because you didn't teach classes on that day and it's not a red day. OT is calculated on a weekly basis, not monthly.

The other poster is also right in that GEPIK schools may require you to teach up to 6 hours of OT (which you will be paid for if you go over 22 hours/week). Anything over 6 hours, you have the option to refuse or accept.

sallymonster · Joined: 06 Feb 2010 Location: Seattle area

I believe the SMOE contract has a clause allowing for the school to require an unlimited number of extra classes as long as they pay overtime. That's why I'm never going to apply for SMOE.

winterfall · Joined: 21 May 2009

The OT pay doesn't come from SMOE, it comes from your school. That might be why they're trying to milk you. If they refuse to pay you've gotta talk to SMOE.

The 22 classes is per week and that's very clear in the contract. Anything that falls over that gets the OT rate. If you teach say 20 classes, and the 2 are after school. You don't get OT but you do get a different rate, I think it was 7,000 extra per class.

Korean holidays don't count and its specified in the contract. School event's like sports day can be 'Made Up' but it has to occur within the week it happened. So if your sports day is friday, they can stack up your classes in the beginning of the week to make sure your doing the required 22. Buts its really unlikely considering how hard it'll be to schedule it.

It sounds like the Coteacher doesn't know what she's talking about and is too lazy to check the facts with the district office

Contrary to other posters, if the school 'digs in' and says your wrong. You REALLY SHOULD go to SMOE. They're the only ones that can fix it. It is their responsibility to enforce the contract. And it is your school's responsibility to know what they can and cannot do. Too many schools think the contract is a starting point

And there's nothing in the contract that says you have to do over time. You can refuse. Of course it may damage your relationship with your school. But they can't make you do it. Besides most schools don't have the money for over time anyway and with the budget cuts. After school programs were the first to cut, the lucky few that did get money from SMOE

The miscellaneous stuff like judging speaking competitions and stuff. I really don't think those are counted as classes though so they could force you to do that