Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ontheway]

[broken76]

Lately it takes roughly 6 weeks for a new teacher to receive their ARC card and number. 1-2 weeks for the medical and results and 4 weeks for the ARC. The ARC used to be processed by immigration directly which was fairly quick but now is processed by district offices which takes 4 weeks. Getting insurance set up after the registration information come out takes about 2 weeks.
As for insurance 3 months after you start working that is pretty standard business practice here in Korea (as well as the US) when it comes to employment. Most schools don't both with it but for other businesses it is normal practice for new employees.
In most cases insurance is retroactive though. After you are enrolled you will most likely pay for the first 3 months and if you did have any medical costs that would have been covered under insurance you will be refunded.

[zoeksk]

Thanks for the links and advice ontheway, I can never search on Dave's for some reason, and knowing that it is actually legal at least gives me the option to stay if everything else is ok.

My contract does not mention a pension at all, but it does say health insurance will be covered 50% by me and 50% by employer. Throughout the contract I am referred to as 'an employee of the institute' but the tax section says 'Income tax required by the Tax Law (approximately 3.3% which may be adjusted on the changes of the Tax Law)' [sic]

My salary is 2.2 a month, but like I mentioned earlier I have the easiest schedule imaginable and only 18hours of actual teaching. In the time I'm not teaching I have an office to chill out in, and I don't have to do anything work related- although I have been using this time to make notes on the material so that I'm prepped for all classes. Although this means that essentially I will never accrue any over-time I think thats a pretty small price to pay.

I haven't decided anything, I think the important thing is to get my ARC sorted asap and I can use this as a conversation starter "The guy I collected my ARC from gave me a ton of information on my health insurance, tax and pension isn't that great?"

Hopefully it will all work out, and I will just have it written into my next contract "the employee will be registered by the employer as an employee with the tax office and pension office, and will not be registered as an independent contractor" that way if this happens again i will have something non-ambiguous to refer to.

Thanks everyone who has commented on this, I will update as when more information comes to light, if you have any more advice please let me have it, I'm interested in peoples opinion too: What would you do in this situation?

[hogwonguy1979]

ontheway you lie more than Mitt Romney what are you a shill for a hogwon who is practicing this form of rip off?

I did some checking and in order to get an E2 approved by immig, before the employee applies for it, they must guarantee the foreign employee will be a "regular employee" enrolled in pension (unless South African) and NHIC, this is done so if the employee gets sick etc here the govt isnt on the hook for all their medical expenses (see Bill Kapoun). If an employer tells immig they will be an IC THEY WONT approve the visa app (of course they dont do this so they can get it approved since once the visa is issued immig doesnt really seem to care)

I bet the OP's contract says he cant work for other places and is tied to his one place of employment (without permission of the employer and immig for the second gig) and if asked I'd bet the ranch the employer would say no anyhow so he can't be an IC because he cant get permission to work other places.

This little scheme saves an employer around 150-200k month multiply that by the number of employees and in a business where the profit margins are thin it makes a lot of money for the employer.

People need to be aware of this scheme as its not being advertised in ads which say low taxes and low insurance premiums.

If I was the OP and I was being told I was being considered to be an IC I'd make damm sure I could do outside jobs and if not I'd bail

[Modernist]

Others have laid out the issues quite effectively, but I would like to emphasize one point to the OP, and that is about the health insurance issue.

Your director is acting like a 50/50 payment on health coverage is a good deal. That is absolutely false, if anything serious happens to you paying 50% of the uninsured cost will flatten you. And if you are just thinking, 'oh, I'll be careful and it'll be fine' you need to open your eyes. How you act is only half the equation. It's how other people act that you should be worried about. Crazy drivers blowing stoplights. No warning signs for slippery areas. Sloppy construction workers. A million others.

Last year, only about 9 weeks into my contract I had a nasty fall coming down a small hill after a storm in Seoul. I just unfortunately landed really hard right on my hip and fractured my femur head. This even though I am a vigorous hiker who had never tripped over anything before, on mountains or steep trails or while jumping or whatever. I needed inpatient surgery within 24 hours to save my joint, plus a week in the hospital, plus follow-ups, plus medication, plus crutches for a month. I only paid ~700,000 for all of this. Without insurance I believe the bill would have been between 6 and 8 million. So if my boss 'generously' offered to split that 50/50 in exchange for forgoing NHIC, well, I think you can see why I would decline.

Forget her being 'nice'. Hagwons are all about business. She's trying to line her pockets at your expense. Don't be a doormat and let her get away with it.

[ontheway]

[ontheway]