Korean Job Discussion Forums

[alphalfa]

If you have come across this in your discussions with potential
employers or see(and read)it in a contract, what's your best guess
as to what it suggests?

Here are your choices as to what you think it suggests:
= forced savings (KW 500,000 - 600,000 OR MORE)
= employer mistrust/fear
= govt/hagwon policy, applied to all
= theft

My best guess is employer mistrust/fear. With newbies and those with bad or no work references here in Korea, I can understand. Those of us who have established themselves in an area for a long time(4yrs+) having good references and a reputable reputation should be exempt.

One particular hagwon in Suwon was prepared to offer me a salary of
KW2.3mil a month, BUT they wanted a security deposit amounting to 10 days pay. Considering I would work about 20-21 days in a month,on average, the school was seeking a security deposit of roughly half a months pay. Don't tell me that this school doesn't have hidden issues and looking for 'prey'.

[Grotto]

unfortunately due to the large number of people doing runs(with good reason usually) and people leaving bills and whatnot behind many schools are asking for a deposit. Negotiate! Tell them that you want it taken off in monthly installments for 2 or 3 months.

[bosintang]

[Homer]

alphalfa,

the school was not looking fro prey. It was looking for reasonable security when it came to its invested money (invested in bringing a teacher over).

Like Grotto said, you can negociate this deposit to be taken in monthly installements (2-3). It will all come back to you at the end of the contract.

How can a school asking for a secutiry deposit be unreasonable?

Do you realize that they hire teachers from overseas, fly them over and provide housing for them. Where do you think this housing comes from? Do you think the school got it for free?

Nope, they paid for it and hence it is an asset for them. Assets need to be safeguarded, hence the deposit.

[some waygug-in]

While security deposits sound OK in theory, too often they become just another convenient way of ripping off teachers. How many stories have I seen about teachers who paid a deposit, and never got 1 dime of it back afterwards. There were no damages, no problems really, except that the school just kept the money and the teachers were S.O.L.

I wouldn't do it, but it depends on your perspective I guess.

The school is already able to withold your final pay and bonus, so why on Earth should they need a "damage deposit?"

My 2 cents.

By the way, I thought I had read this somewhere, and now I've found it.

It is ILLEGAL for them to deduct a security deposit from your pay.

http://www.efl-law.com/quest_cont_1.html

scroll down to the section in red about security deposit, then scroll back up to the top and read what "sections in red" indicate.

Good Luck

[Flossie]

While I totally agree with the others about the logic of security for their investment, I suggest you don't rely on getting that money back if you are leaving the country at the end of your contract.

At my previous company (I worked there two years) they also asked for a 'deposit' but in a different way. They deducted it out of your final pay, waited 6 weeks then sent it back to you (but only in some cases)

My advice is be very very careful about how you leave at the end of your contract. In my school only four teachers in two years (out of a franchise of about 6 branches) left at the end of their contract. The rest (lost count after forty) got fired or did runners. If you are going home at the end of your contract you have next to no way of getting back what they owe you if they decide not to pay. One of our teachers did a great job, had the best performance appraisals, gave lots of notice for not renewing his contract, etc..... but because they were firing two other teachers at the same time, they got the pip and didn't pay his 600,000 back. Took ex teachers going to students of the school who were lawyers and asking them to intervene.