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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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oldfatfarang
Joined: 19 May 2005
Location: On the road to somewhere.
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 Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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OP> You would have to be out of your mind to leave 3 days early. Unless they pay you: final pay, severance pay and flight on your last day - then you should keep coming to school until the date on the end of your contract.
Repeat: Do not leave your school 3 days early unless you have all your money in your hand (promises aren't worth a thing here).
If some mandarin in SMOE finds out you left even 1 day (early) before your contract ends - YOU WILL LOSE YOUR SEVERANCE AND FLIGHT.
Good luck. Three days deskwarming aint so bad when you're securing over 3,000.000 won. |
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b-class rambler
Joined: 25 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 6:35 pm Post subject: |
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OP, I'd repeat and reiterate what I said on the other thread you started - the best answers to your questions will be provided by your school, NOT by people on here.
| grandpa wrote: |
I'm at a public school in Seoul.
My contract officially ends March 8th 2011, but I was told by my co-teacher that I could leave on March 5th. |
On what basis are your school allowing you to leave on 5th March? That's a Saturday so presumably that would mean the last day they want you in school is March 4th, right? So that leaves March 7th and 8th as the last 2 remaining working days of your contract - how are they being accounted for? Will you have paid holidays left over that could cover those days? If so, as long as they're properly approved and signed for, that'd be fine. It very often happens that people use their remaining holidays to cover the last days (even weeks in some cases) of their contract, effectively leave the country that amount of time before the end and there is no problem at all.
Or are the school just giving you a couple of unofficial days off? That's when it might be less clear cut and you should seek further clarification from the school. If your leaving early is something that you yourself have been pushing the school to agree with and you don't have the holidays to cover those final days, then I'd echo other posters' caution about being better to play safe.
| grandpa wrote: |
| However, I will not be given severance/airfare/pension until after the 8th (when my contract officially ends). |
The pension refund is not paid by the school, as I'm sure someone else will have pointed out. Not getting the severance & airfare until after your final day is not unusual at all and isn't necessarily anything to worry about. You should however get them to tell you exactly when it will be paid and how.
| grandpa wrote: |
| Is there a risk that I leave on the 5th, and find out that I forfeited my severance/airfare/pension for leaving Korea before my contract officially ended? |
No one on here can answer this question better than you can yourself. You work there, what do you think? Have you checked with the school about whether or not the suggested leaving date would affect your severance and airfare? Do you have some reason to suspect that they may try to screw you out of some money? Bear in mind that whatever other shortcomings they might have public schools are not dodgy hagwons and they will generally pay you what you're owed. If they don't, there should be some sign of problems appearing beforehand. You said your school have treated well for 9 months - so do you trust them? Because you're in a better position to judge than anyone on here. |
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oldfatfarang
Joined: 19 May 2005
Location: On the road to somewhere.
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| Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 6:59 pm Post subject: |
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OP> As I previously posted. If you are denied your flight and severance payments it will by SMOE.
No matter what your school says.
No matter how good your relationship is with your school.
No matter what advice you get from posters here.
No matter what anyone in SMOE says.
If you leave your contract early (and are not entitled to paid annual leave to cover those 3 leaving-early days), SMOE can, and will, deny you flight and severance.
Please accept this advice in the spirit that it is given. I've read about PS teachers being denied payments through not completing a full year contract. NB: A full year is working (or attending school) during all the dates on your contract. If SMOE finds out you're leaving early (or left early), they will not pay you as you will not have worked a full year. Nothing your school tells you will over-ride SMOE. You will not be paid.
Good luck.
PS: I'm leaving my PS early - but I'm using my paid winter vacation days to cover my absense during the contracted days. |
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b-class rambler
Joined: 25 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 8:39 pm Post subject: |
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| oldfatfarang wrote: |
If SMOE finds out you're leaving early (or left early), they will not pay you as you will not have worked a full year. Nothing your school tells you will over-ride SMOE. You will not be paid.
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In principle I agree with OFF's overall caution. However, strictly speaking, I think the above should say
| Quote: |
| If SMOE finds out you're leaving early (or left early) they could instruct the school to withhold your severance and air-fare and deduct salary for however many days they deem you to have missed |
There would be the risk that what OFF is referring to could happen but it is not a certainty. SMOE can tell the school what to do. But SMOE will not 'not pay' you because they aren't the ones responsible for your salary. It's your school who'll pay (or not pay) you and unless someone at SMOE has some reason to be enquiring about the precise details of your last few days, it's perfectly feasible that they will neither know nor care.
HOWEVER, your finish date is an unusual one and that means the likelihood of someone at SMOE hq (or more likely your district office) being aware that you SHOULD be finishing on March 8th is somewhat higher. Even more so now that you've started two threads about it on eslcafe 
You're getting lots of advice on this thread so to simplify it, what it boils down to is this-
First and foremost, do you have paid holiday remaining that could cover those 2 days?
If yes, then end of discussion, you're gold. Just make sure it's properly signed for and approved. To be completely safe, I'd also suggest asking SMOE for a statement of employment showing your contract start and finish dates before you leave, which they will issue just before you leave if you have approved paid holiday to cover you till the end.
If no, then tell your school that you're worried about being deemed to have not completed your contract and losing your airfare and severance as a result and see what they say. If they just said "hey, don't worry, it'll be ok" then I'd suggest that wouldn't be reassurance enough for someone who's worried enough to ask about it on here. However, it's possible they could say something like, "ok then, let's cancel your 2 days holiday in December/January/February and put them down for March 7th and 8th" then you're sorted.
In fact, come to think of it, you CAN'T surely have used all your 21 days paid holiday last summer. So if you have days left to take, why not yourself ask that they allow 2 of them to be taken on those 2 days? |
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