Korean Job Discussion Forums

[eleruen]

I just wanted to share my experience with Noble Education, who are a company that runs afterschool programs at various locations in Seoul.

I had an interview with them, and then they showed me a sample contract. Things looked great until I found a clause that if someone got fired, or if they gave less than two months notice, then the employee will not get paid any of the salary for that month.

When I pointed out that this was unacceptable, due the possiblility of an employee not receiving pay for all the hours they work being illegal, they agreed to amend it. Giving them the benefit if the doubt, I checked the amendment, and although they had taken out the 2 month notice period and such, this still stated that if a person is fired then they lose out on that pay for the month, but rephrased.


I then decided to do my research. After calling the labor board and giving the full details of the situation, both clauses, the original and the amended version, were illegal. An employee must be paid for all the hours they work, no matter the reasons for their leaving.

(A company can, however, sue an employee for damages for leaving before the notice period if it causes the company significant losses, but this is not related to their obligation to pay a person in full for all the hours they worked, ie witholding payment is not a legal penalty instead of suing someone).

Naturally I did not sign the contract after the illegal clause was not amended properly, as it did not leave me a very good impression of the company.

Other people may react differently in this situation, thinking that they would never give a reason for the company to fire them, so this would never be an issue etc, but I felt that this was besides the point, and that this company could not be trusted.

I feel that it is important that I give people a head's up before they apply to them, so that they can make an informed decision. They may pay well (at least on paper), but their contracts are strange, unless they have learned from their experience with me.

[stickfigure]

Hi, thanks for letting us know.

Have you got any other information about them? What kinds of materials did they say you would be using, were you going to teach alone (as in, no co teacher) and did they want to do the whole separate bank account thing?

[PaperTiger]

I would advise caution in dealing with these people...I would not advise doing business with them. PM me if you require more details.

[Gorf]

[Los Angeloser]

Noble edu, formerly known as? Is the same boss, manager, workers there as before?

[PaperTiger]

It's an after-school program, so you're either being micro-managed by your co-worker (supervisor/overlord) or you're completely on your own. In many ways this is good...unless you actually care about teaching. I find teaching helps while away the time from when I start to when I go home.

The other thing to keep in mind is that while all hagwons and private schools are obliged to have air conditioners to be competitive, public schools with after-school programs do not.

I have always considered this type of job to be a bottom-of-the-barrel type job (having applied for them from time to time)...and having tried it, I found I couldn't have been more right about it.

5-6 hours a day, though.

[augustine]

I've said it before, but I work for an after school program and I blast the AC at whatever temperature I want. I've also interviewed with Noble Edu. With Edwin, is that who we're talking about? Obviously I've never worked for them... I did that humiliating monkey demo lesson only to be told later that they only hire people with F visas. Then why did you ask me to come in the first place? These jobs are all about the co teacher, though. I've had some horrible co teachers in the past but my current one is the best. When confronted with the rare complaint, it still always comes with a smile.

[fezmond]

So these are after school gigs?

How was the pay? I got a text from Jenny at Noble Edu asking me to send my resume and picture.

[PaperTiger]

The pay is enough to draw you in. Will you collect it long enough to complete your contract and the severance pay? Do they intend to even allow you to complete your contract so that you may do so?

Poorly organized, poorly managed. Your co-teacher (read: manager with absolute discretion to treat you however they want) basically decides if you keep your job, so hopefully they like you. The company will do nothing to intercede if there are problems, in the end...if anything goes wrong you will be blamed.

For a long time, back when after-school programs required Korean-only contracts and multiple bank accounts (money laundering/tax evasion), I regarded them as a risk. Now, the advantage is that you're on your own for the most part, the disadvantage is that if there are any problems you will be obliged to accept sole responsibility/blame (even if the problems are a result of, oh say...your co-worker's unwillingness to manage the situation so that things don't deteriorate). Support, or lack thereof is the biggest potential problem. If you sign a six-month contract, know that you're taking over a contract that the company "freed-up" by firing one person and hiring you. Make sure you get severance pay, regardless of the length of the contract and excise any penalty clauses from the contract before signing.

Choose carefully, maybe some are worth checking out. I regret my decision to work with these people.

[wattdimmed]

[CrikeyKorea]

I worked for them for 18 months, I had no problems. They had some dumb things in the contract like if a certain percent of students quit they hold the right to either move me to another school or fire me, etc, but i got paid 2.9 million won, had 2 weeks holidays, plus extra school off-days, and made my curriculum as I so pleased.

I wasn't worried about anything "illegal" or whatever in the contract because anything in contrast to labour law is overruled.

And my "coteacher" was not so great, but even though we had some arguments about stuff at first she certainly wasn't in charge of me at all and we ended up working really well together.

[PaperTiger]