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tmk5025
Joined: 22 Mar 2011
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 Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 1:36 am Post subject: Getting Paid late |
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| I am currently in my 6 month of the contract and have been paid late three different times. I live in the Pohang area, the labor board did not speak to much English. I would like to leave and get a new job any ideas on about how to do this? The payments are a a couple days to almost two weeks. Thank you |
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YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 2:01 am Post subject: |
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| have been paid late three different times |
If they are paying, then labor board won't do anything. Don't spend all your money after payday, it won't affect you one bit.
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| I would like to leave and get a new job any ideas on about how to do this? |
Yes, resign. Give notice, usually 30 days. |
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Dodge7
Joined: 21 Oct 2011
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 2:21 am Post subject: |
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| talk to management about it and see if after they pay you on time, if not, if you are still angry, leave. |
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Skippy
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Daejeon
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 4:06 am Post subject: |
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| Details would help. How late is late? Where you ever given a reason for late pay? What about the school stability - loosing students, growning but slowly, etc. |
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cincynate
Joined: 07 Jul 2009
Location: Jeju-do, South Korea
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 11:39 pm Post subject: |
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| As long as they are paying you, what is the big deal? Keep your eyes open for signs that the school is failing. Otherwise, if this is the only issue, I wouldn't make a big deal of it. Common practice in Korea, as I understand. |
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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 6:16 pm Post subject: |
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| YTMND wrote: |
| Quote: |
| have been paid late three different times |
If they are paying, then labor board won't do anything. Don't spend all your money after payday, it won't affect you one bit.
| Quote: |
| I would like to leave and get a new job any ideas on about how to do this? |
Yes, resign. Give notice, usually 30 days. |
The labor board won't help you until it's 14 days late and then you need to file against them. Sounds like a bad hogwan. Often they hold back pay to try to prevent runners. Have there been runners? If yes, that's a VERY bad sign. |
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YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
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| Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 6:42 pm Post subject: |
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| wylies99 wrote: |
| YTMND wrote: |
| Quote: |
| have been paid late three different times |
If they are paying, then labor board won't do anything. Don't spend all your money after payday, it won't affect you one bit.
| Quote: |
| I would like to leave and get a new job any ideas on about how to do this? |
Yes, resign. Give notice, usually 30 days. |
The labor board won't help you until it's 14 days late and then you need to file against them. Sounds like a bad hogwan. Often they hold back pay to try to prevent runners. Have there been runners? If yes, that's a VERY bad sign. |
This isn't really an issue unless they want to quit or they are a bad spender. |
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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 6:44 pm Post subject: |
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| YTMND wrote: |
| wylies99 wrote: |
| YTMND wrote: |
| Quote: |
| have been paid late three different times |
If they are paying, then labor board won't do anything. Don't spend all your money after payday, it won't affect you one bit.
| Quote: |
| I would like to leave and get a new job any ideas on about how to do this? |
Yes, resign. Give notice, usually 30 days. |
The labor board won't help you until it's 14 days late and then you need to file against them. Sounds like a bad hogwan. Often they hold back pay to try to prevent runners. Have there been runners? If yes, that's a VERY bad sign. |
This isn't really an issue unless they want to quit or they are a bad spender. |
Delayed pay may keep some teachers out of bars but it can also cheat good people out of money they need to live. Either way, it's bad news.
Saving money is a good idea but if you don't get paid, in the first place, how can you save? |
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YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
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| Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 7:01 pm Post subject: |
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| if you don't get paid, in the first place, how can you save? |
Look at the context of this thread. They are at the 6th month mark. This means they will have earned at least 12,000,000 won. This isn't a situation of them not being paid the first month.
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| Delayed pay may keep some teachers out of bars but it can also cheat good people out of money they need to live. |
Again, look at the context of the thread. They said 2 weeks late.
Contracts often say the 15th of the month. I prefer 10th, and I try to get paid by the 5th. However, if I am regularly getting paid and the school hasn't taken out a security deposit, what is the big problem with waiting 10 working days? It's about 1/4 the pay to your disadvantage if you want to leave. Does the original poster want to leave? Are they a bad spender?
I would never quit a job or complain if the school was good and the only problem was pay being 5 days later than I would have liked. There needs to be some other problems before sounding the alarm.
Being regularly paid late is a lot better than not being paid the first month and having to roll that over to the third month like they do with public schools because of the payment system. |
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The Sultan of Seoul
Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Location: right... behind.. YOU
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| Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 10:10 pm Post subject: |
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if you don't get paid, in the first place, how can you save?
Look at the context of this thread. They are at the 6th month mark. This means they will have earned at least 12,000,000 won. This isn't a situation of them not being paid the first month. |
If the teacher has loans / mortgage / credit card / other financial responsibilities to meet back home then this is a bad thing as;
A. Like a few ppl I know they are living on a small portion of their salary and using the rest to pay off debt.
B. A lot of these payments need to be made on a set date on a regular basis otherwise the payee incurs fines.
If they want the teacher to come in to work on a regualr basis they should pay them on a regular basis. |
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Son Deureo!
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 11:59 pm Post subject: |
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| cincynate wrote: |
| As long as they are paying you, what is the big deal? Keep your eyes open for signs that the school is failing. Otherwise, if this is the only issue, I wouldn't make a big deal of it. Common practice in Korea, as I understand. |
Chronically late pay IS a sign that the school is failing. At best, it's a sign that the boss is seriously disorganized, but more likely the business is operating hand-to-mouth and is having trouble making payroll. |
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transmogrifier
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 12:21 am Post subject: |
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| YTMND wrote: |
| wylies99 wrote: |
| YTMND wrote: |
| Quote: |
| have been paid late three different times |
If they are paying, then labor board won't do anything. Don't spend all your money after payday, it won't affect you one bit.
| Quote: |
| I would like to leave and get a new job any ideas on about how to do this? |
Yes, resign. Give notice, usually 30 days. |
The labor board won't help you until it's 14 days late and then you need to file against them. Sounds like a bad hogwan. Often they hold back pay to try to prevent runners. Have there been runners? If yes, that's a VERY bad sign. |
This isn't really an issue unless they want to quit or they are a bad spender. |
Crap. Everyone has their repsonsibilities and plans and budgets. The OP has every right to be pissed off if he isn't getting paid on time. To take the side of the hogwan and blame the victim for not budgeting properly is insane. |
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YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
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| Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 2:40 am Post subject: |
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If the teacher has loans / mortgage / credit card / other financial responsibilities to meet back home then this is a bad thing as;
A. Like a few ppl I know they are living on a small portion of their salary and using the rest to pay off debt.
B. A lot of these payments need to be made on a set date on a regular basis otherwise the payee incurs fines.
If they want the teacher to come in to work on a regulalr basis they should pay them on a regular basis. |
In no particular order:
1. It's not the school's fault or responsibility to help the teacher pay off the teacher's personal debt.
2. The teacher would have already 12,000 and 26,000+ after 12.5 months. Maybe they aren't a bad spender, but a debt of 26,000+ does not represent the normal teacher I ever met. They definitely were a bad spender in that case. I am not going to base my judgment of certain contracts/course of action because a few teachers were irresponsible with their financing back home before coming to Korea and using Korea as their security blanket.
3. A security deposit is usually 600,000 to 900,000. If you wait 5 extra working days, that means you are waiting to get about 500,000 won from a 2.0 job. You would actually have more money to work with by waiting those 5 extra days than having the school hold on to a security deposit.
4. If you complain to labor board, they will not help you immediately after 10 days. Most likely, they will tell you to wait till the end of the month before they take any action. By then, according to this person, they would have already been paid.
5. If payment schedules are important, then there is no reason to spend all your money upfront. For example, if you owed 200,000/month, then save 400,000 that you don't need each month. This way, when you have to make the next payment, you can simply pay the other 200,000. If you are paying more than 1,000,000 a month then you need to consolidate loans and find other ways to pay off the loan.
6. A simple credit card gives you about 3,000 to work with each month. That's 6,000 to work with every 2 months!!! You would be able to pay off 8,000. If you can't handle 8,000 every 2 months, then maybe you shouldn't bring your terrible financial troubles over to Korea to fix.
7. I have seen much worse by hagwons: 1) NOT paying airfare AT ALL, 2) NOT paying into pension, 3) NOT giving release letters (this loses the teacher time and money while they try to find a different job), and 4) NOT paying the teacher their final salary and severance. These are the issues I am more likely to support being raised to labor board. Regular late payments is not that bad. If it really is an issue, then don't wait 6 months to start complaining about it, and make an issue of it at the end of the 1st month. See where that leads you.
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| Everyone has their repsonsibilities and plans and budgets. The OP has every right to be pissed off if he isn't getting paid on time. To take the side of the hogwan and blame the victim for not budgeting properly is insane. |
See above. There isn't really a victim. They are getting paid. Their situation leaves 5 working days that they have to deal with. This is a very minor annoyance. There would have to be other problems before I took action.
A school paying 5 working days later than the norm is not worth fighting. Many schools put 15th in the contract.
If you want to cause tension between you and your employer, then complain and fight it. There is no need to in this case. That's all. |
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YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
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| Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 3:08 am Post subject: |
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| Chronically late pay IS a sign that the school is failing. |
Not really. If the school pays late and the school has the same students, it usually means the parents are paying late. If they sign their child up on the 15th, but the teacher started with the school on the 1st, then that parent won't want to pay until the 15th of the second month. Make sense? So, the school won't have the money before the 15th of the following month. 15 days is not that bad for a teacher. The business has got to make money in order to pay its employees.
Otherwise, they are simply holding onto the money as long as they can. In that case, make a complaint the first month, don't wait 6 months. By then you are a burden to them and firing you is a better course of action.
A failing school will have 2 important red flags:
1) You will have full classes and get paid on time in the beginning, and then there will be smaller classes. Record when class sizes fall below 5/class and go back up.
2) You will see less regular students show up and students will stop coming after the end of a month/teaching period.
In the case of a failing school, they are more likely to let you leave to find another school. If it is important to be paid on time and stay a contract period, then apply for jobs accordingly. Get a public school job and work your way up to a university position. Get the teaching badges and college degrees necessary.
If timing of payments isn't that much of a problem, then you can look at other options. Hagwons aren't going to screw teachers until there is a sign the teacher is leaving. That's when you need to be ready to deal with the labor board.
If there are any changes in management or the school is going out of business, then you will have less of a chance to collect on money owed. Simply find another job and get a release letter. Cut your losses. |
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Troglodyte
Joined: 06 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 3:42 am Post subject: |
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| Son Deureo! wrote: |
| cincynate wrote: |
| As long as they are paying you, what is the big deal? Keep your eyes open for signs that the school is failing. Otherwise, if this is the only issue, I wouldn't make a big deal of it. Common practice in Korea, as I understand. |
Chronically late pay IS a sign that the school is failing. At best, it's a sign that the boss is seriously disorganized, but more likely the business is operating hand-to-mouth and is having trouble making payroll. |
I think that more often than not, it's simply due to lack of organization (or disregard for organization). It can be one sign of a failing business, but if that's the case then it's usually accompanied by other signs.
If you're getting paid late and worried that it might be due to lack of income at the school, then watch for these other signs.
-decreasing number of students
-other staff recently fired/let go/quit (the secretary is often the first to go)
Some smaller signs that may be due to bad business but are more often due to a cheap boss (which in it's own right is a bad sign):
-boss is very strict about turning off lights in rooms or hallways while they aren't being used.
-similarly, boss is very strict about wasting other resources like the photocopier, heating/aircon, paper, markers, etc.
-boss is stealing electricity from a public source (e.g. from external or corridor lighting)
-boss is overly stressed a lot more than in the past
-boss wants to negotiate something with you related to money (e.g. overtime) |
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