Korean Job Discussion Forums

ntnhenderson · Joined: 12 Aug 2009

I have been working at the same school for three years. They have been very good to me overall however they are now having serious financial problems. They will not be able to honor the last month of my contract as well as the contracts of other teachers, foreign and Korean. It also turns out that they have not been paying into the pension plan for many months for any of their employees even corporate employees and people at other schools. Originally they agreed to pay us our pension as well as all the severance pay that they owe (which is a lot because the other teachers have been here much longer than my 3 years), however I am getting a feeling that they are going to try and find away out of this or to short us. Do any of you know our legal rights? What actions can we take if they choose to go down the shady path? I honestly do not want to cause them trouble or humiliate them or anything because they have been pretty straight up until now, but I, and my fellow teachers, want what is owed to us. I still have hope that they will be up front with us, but I fear that we may need some leverage for negotiating.

If this has already been addressed I apologize because the search feature isn�t working on my computer, and the other threads that I have found have been several years old.

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

Salary and severance issues are a matter for the labor board.
You can file a formal complaint once they are 14 days late.
http://www.moel.go.kr/english/main.jsp

Pension issues are for the NPS. If you have a pension account then you will need to pay up for any outstanding or unpaid contributions on your part. They will then go after your employer for their unpaid balance. If you were paying your contributions to your employer and they were not forwarded to the NPS and you can prove it (pay slips) then they will just chase the old employer for all the unpaid contributions.
http://english.nps.or.kr/jsppage/english/main.jsp

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sojusucks · Joined: 31 May 2008

Have they been withholding your share and not forwarding it to the pension office? If they have then that's not very honest, is it? Three years of pension is a lot of money. My advice is to act NOW and get get the NPS on them about your pension ASAP. If there are others involved, they can go with you but don't wait for anyone. Others will talk a big game but not go at the last minute. Get YOUR money.

ntnhenderson · Joined: 12 Aug 2009

Thanks for the info.

I called the pension office. I have been paying into the pension automatically and owe nothing, and they have been paying their share for most of the time. They have only stopped in the last five months.

The severance pay is the big number which I fear that they will try and find some way out of.

It's remarkable how quickly things deteriorate. It hasn�t even been a day, and they have already started a smear campaign against the Korean teachers that have already left. I'm amazed at how many lies the staff can tell, and then turn around and accuse everyone else of lying. The best part is that every meeting has been recorded on a an iphone, so it�s very easy to see who said what.