Korean Job Discussion Forums

[willteachforfood]

Does anyone know if a school can legally pay us our severance pay AFTER we have left Korea?

We work at a university, and not a fly-by-night hagwon, so I am not worried about getting the money, but being paid 2 weeks after we are gone is unacceptable in our books, especially since it would mean an additional international transfer and cost us a lot of money.

If anyone could provide links to information stating that severance must be paid at the end of the contract and not at a later date, this would be great. I can't imagine that there isn't a law stating that severance is paid on the same date as the final paycheck.

Thanks in advance.

[ttompatz]

[Skyblue]

Good information.

[AsiaESLbound]

So you'd have to return to Korea to claim your severance, airfare, and apartment deposit if you have a payment issue?

[willteachforfood]

Cheers ttompatz....not the answer we were hoping for, but at least we know where we stand legally.

We're still going to fight it as there is no reason why they should force us to pay the extra transfer fees and to wait for our money as long as we leave them enough cash to pay this month's bills.

I am sure that they'll pay us....but in the event of mysterious deductions (this is Korea after all) we'd rather still be in country to sort them out. Once we're gone there isn't much that we could do.

[Lastrova]

[tardisrider]

Set up a savings account and a remittance account at KEB. Make sure you follow all the instructions (keep your card, keep a USB drive with the security code, etc---they'll give you detailed instructions in English) and you can control your account on line no matter where you are. Have the money put in your KEB savings account and transfer it to the remittance account at your leisure.

Explain what you want to do at the bank, and they should be able to set you up with the proper accounts. Costs are much lower and you don't need to come back to Korea or anything. It may be just as easy with other banks, but I only have experience with KEB and had no problems.

As long as everything goes right from your uni--ie, they actually deposit the money in the KEB account--you'll have no problems.