Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Leopold]

I saw a similar question on the forum the other day and now I can't find it. (I spent many hours looking for it.) If you know the thread..let me know because I found it to be very helpful, I wish I would have bookmarked it!

I am considering signing a contract, but I feel the language in the contract is somewhat vague.
The school is 2 years new, and part of a large franchise. It started 2 years with 30 students and has grown to 150 students. The foreign teacher I would be replacing has said nice things about the director/owner. (Never a missed payday, on-time, trouble free and dependable. (I would be the only foreign teacher.)

Note: The teacher has worked with the school since it has opened and knew the director/owner prior to the opening of the school.

So here is my contract the recruiting agency sent to me last week:
Thanks for helping!


Contract of Employment
Employer Name :
Address :

Employee Name :
Address :
Nationality :

This contract is made by and between the who has its principal office at , City, Korea (hereafter referred to as the Employer) and who holds a passport (Hereafter referred to as the Employer). The Employer hereby hires the Employee and both parties agree on the following terms and conditions.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. Job Description ;
The "employee" will work for the "employer" as an English Instructor. The duties of the "employee" will be as follows :
a. Curriculum design and implementation.
b. Development of educational programs and materials.
c. Grading and evaluation of students.
d. Attendance at teacher? meetings and workshops.
e. Other activities directly related to teaching.

2. Place of employment :
The "employee" will work for the "employer" at the following address :
Institute : City, Korea

The "employee" will not be permitted to work outside the place of employment except with a written approval form a Korean Immigration Official, and work outside the place of employment meets with the approval of the : "employee" as will as the "employer"

3. Period of Employment
Pending the issuance of an E2 visa from the Korean Immigration, the "employee" will work for the "employer" for a period of not exceeding one year in accordance with the E2 visa. The period of employment will begin on and end on .
4. Regular Hours of Employment ;
The "employee" will work 30 teaching hours per week. (One class 50 min?)

5. Overtime Hours of Employment ;
The employee shall upon request by the employer ; work beyond the normal hours and days set out in clause 4 provide that the employee shall be compensated for such extension of working hours by overtime payment of 18,000won per class. Working overtime is optional.

6. Salary ;
The base salary paid for regular hours employment will be 2,000,000won per month, for 30 hours per week. The pay period will begin on the first day of each month, and payable on the 00th of every month following. Any errors should be brought to the attention of the director within one week.

In the event that the "employee" does not work 30 hours per week due to no fault of their own, they will still be paid a base salary of 2 million Korean won pre month.

7. Income Tax
Income tax will be deducted form the base salary in accordance to the Korean tax laws. It is approximately 5%.

8. Health Insurance
The "employer" will provide adequate health insurance for the "employee" during the duration of this contract. The "employer" and "employee" will each share 50% of the total cost of the health insurance. Upon request the "employer" will provide the "employee" proof of health insurance coverage. The "employee" is also entitled to paid sick days per year.

9. Housing
The "employer" will provide the "employee" furnished living accommodation. The accommodation include, but not limited to, basic appliances. (TV, refrigerator, bad, linen, kitchen utensils. Telephone). The apartment will be provided at no cost to the "employee" with the exception of utilities, TV, and telephone bills. If the apartment is shared, then the bills incurred will be split between the persons sharing the apartment. The "employer" will ensure that the apartment is clean. In return for a furnished apartment, the "employee" agrees to respect and care for the apartment, with the exception of normal repairs. Any outstanding bill belonging to the "employee" will be the sole responsibility of the "employee". In the event that apartment is shared, the outstanding bill will be split evenly between all residents of the apartment.

10. Airfare
The "employee" will be reimbursed with round trip airfare to from the nearest International Airport to South Korea. The airfare will be provided to the "employee" prior to departure to South Korea. In the event that the "employee" decides to terminate this contract prior to six months of completion for reasons not in accordance with contract, they will be required to reimburse the "employer" the full amount of the airfare. After six months the "employee" will reimburse the "employer" half of the airfare.

11. Holidays
The "employee" will be paid for all Korean national holidays and not be expected to work during these days. The "employee" will only be provided with days off for Korean Holidays.

12. Vacation
The "employee" will receive 10 days paid vacations per year. The paid vacation will be divided into 3days plus Sat and Sun during the period of one year contract(365days) according to the Employer? annual schedule and 7days paid vacation at the end of one year contract so the Employee shall have the contract for 358 days except 3days paid vacation.

13. Severance Pay
Upon completion of this contract, the "employee" will receive one month? salary as severance in accordance with Korean Labor Laws. Under no circumstances will this severance pay be withheld form the "employee", with the exception of non-fulfillment of contract. If at anytime the "employee" terminates this contract for any reason prior to fulfillment, the contract is void and the severance pay will not be paid.

14. Rights and Responsibilities
Both the "employer" and the "employee" are to considered professionals and as such will treat each other with mutual respect and dignity. However, since the "employee" is working under contract for the "employer". The "employee" will make every reasonable effort to follow the direction, training, and supervision of the "employer" and those appointed by him/her. The "employee" will also carryout the teaching assignments given by the "employer" in a professional manner.

15. Dismissal
The "employer" may dismiss the "employee" form employment under the following conditions :
a) Violation of the laws of the Republic of South Korea.
b) Teaching classes while under the influence of drugs of alcohol.
c) Being late for class on a continuous basis.
d) Continuous failure to keep regularly scheduled class hours.
e) Repeated absences from classes without a valid reason.


With the exception of 15.a and 15.b above, the "employer" must first bring the problem to the attention of the "employee" in wring and make every effort to resolve the situation. The "employee" will then follow the direction of the "employer" also and make every attempt to correct the problem. However, circumstances beyond the control of the "employee" are exempt from Section 15.Circumstances may include, but are not limited to accident, death, and illness or unpredicted events.


My questions:
1. Overtime rate of 18,000 per class? Non-overtime pay is 16,666 per class.
Does that sound alright? It seems lower than I was expecting.
2. Approximately Tax 5%(I know that is on the higher end from reading all the other posts, could I try to negotiate it to be lower?
3. Paid sick days is blank, (I will have them insert the definite number, before signing. How many should I ask for????)
4. Vacation....I think I understand.


Thanks again for helping. Let me know if you see anything else that is "fishy".





[/b]

[justagirl]

7days paid vacation at the end of one year contract

This is the only major thing I see as a problem. It's not a vacation if it's at the end of the contract. There have been some instances where bad bosses have claimed the employee didn't complete 1 year and tried to withold the severance pay when they had a vacation at the end of the year.

In addition, who would want the vacation at the end of the year? That means you only have a 3 day vacation for 358 days! That's insane. I would ask for 10 days vacation, that you can divide into 2-3 sections, as you want to, provided you give the boss a month's notice.

Then you could have 2, 1-week vacations, or 3 shorter ones.

Just a thought!

[kermo]

It's good to have health insurance, but make sure it's National Health Insurance, and not some dodgy arrangement. If the school is small, you might not be entitled to pension, but if there are more than 15 full-time employees there, then you should ask about it.

I like the bit about grounds for dismissal. Seriously- it sounds like a very reasonable approach.

[harryh]

Pension?

I had a similar contract to that at Kids Club a couple of years ago.

[Grotto]

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. Job Description ;
The "employee" will work for the "employer" as an English Instructor. The duties of the "employee" will be as follows :
a. Curriculum design and implementation.
b. Development of educational programs and materials.
c. Grading and evaluation of students.
d. Attendance at teacher? meetings and workshops.
e. Other activities directly related to teaching.

I would want to know how often and when are these evaluations and meeting/workshops. They usually dont consider this time paid and if you spend X amount of hours grading papers and attending meetings...well it gets old pretty fast.

2. Place of employment :
The "employee" will work for the "employer" at the following address :
Institute : City, Korea

The "employee" will not be permitted to work outside the place of employment except with a written approval form a Korean Immigration Official, and work outside the place of employment meets with the approval of the : "employee" as will as the "employer"

3. Period of Employment
Pending the issuance of an E2 visa from the Korean Immigration, the "employee" will work for the "employer" for a period of not exceeding one year in accordance with the E2 visa. The period of employment will begin on and end on .
4. Regular Hours of Employment ;
The "employee" will work 30 teaching hours per week. (One class 50 min?)

Does 50 minutes = 1 hour? If it does then its not too bad. If it doesnt then 30x60=1800/50=36.....6 more classes a week and that sucks!

There is no mention of scheduling. Is it Mon-Fri? 2-8? Never sign a contract this general...demand a schedule that clearly defines your working hours...with this setup they could split shift you back to the stoneage!

5. Overtime Hours of Employment ;
The employee shall upon request by the employer ; work beyond the normal hours and days set out in clause 4 provide that the employee shall be compensated for such extension of working hours by overtime payment of 18,000won per class. Working overtime is optional.

Contradictory.....

Quote:

employee shall

vs

Quote:

overtime is optional.

sounds like to me they can ask you to work more than you might like to.

6. Salary ;
The base salary paid for regular hours employment will be 2,000,000won per month, for 30 hours per week. The pay period will begin on the first day of each month, and payable on the 00th of every month following. Any errors should be brought to the attention of the director within one week.

In the event that the "employee" does not work 30 hours per week due to no fault of their own, they will still be paid a base salary of 2 million Korean won pre month.

So if you are sick they will deduct? Hmmm iffy clause.

7. Income Tax
Income tax will be deducted form the base salary in accordance to the Korean tax laws. It is approximately 5%.

No its not.....it is much less....on 2,2 its approximately 30,000 won which works out to 2%!

8. Health Insurance
The "employer" will provide adequate health insurance for the "employee" during the duration of this contract. The "employer" and "employee" will each share 50% of the total cost of the health insurance. Upon request the "employer" will provide the "employee" proof of health insurance coverage. The "employee" is also entitled to paid sick days per year.

How many paid sick days per year>? Make sure you request your "proof" right away!

9. Housing
The "employer" will provide the "employee" furnished living accommodation. The accommodation include, but not limited to, basic appliances. (TV, refrigerator, bad, linen, kitchen utensils. Telephone). The apartment will be provided at no cost to the "employee" with the exception of utilities, TV, and telephone bills. If the apartment is shared, then the bills incurred will be split between the persons sharing the apartment. The "employer" will ensure that the apartment is clean. In return for a furnished apartment, the "employee" agrees to respect and care for the apartment, with the exception of normal repairs. Any outstanding bill belonging to the "employee" will be the sole responsibility of the "employee". In the event that apartment is shared, the outstanding bill will be split evenly between all residents of the apartment.

Demand Single NON SHARED HOUSING!

10. Airfare
The "employee" will be reimbursed with round trip airfare to from the nearest International Airport to South Korea. The airfare will be provided to the "employee" prior to departure to South Korea. In the event that the "employee" decides to terminate this contract prior to six months of completion for reasons not in accordance with contract, they will be required to reimburse the "employer" the full amount of the airfare. After six months the "employee" will reimburse the "employer" half of the airfare.

Contradictory again...reimbursed vs provided...which is it?
11. Holidays
The "employee" will be paid for all Korean national holidays and not be expected to work during these days. The "employee" will only be provided with days off for Korean Holidays.

12. Vacation
The "employee" will receive 10 days paid vacations per year. The paid vacation will be divided into 3days plus Sat and Sun during the period of one year contract(365days) according to the Employer? annual schedule and 7days paid vacation at the end of one year contract so the Employee shall have the contract for 358 days except 3days paid vacation.

Iffy...is this a clause that might let them dodge out on your severance pay...its not a full year...I would call this a major red flag!

13. Severance Pay
Upon completion of this contract, the "employee" will receive one month? salary as severance in accordance with Korean Labor Laws. Under no circumstances will this severance pay be withheld form the "employee", with the exception of non-fulfillment of contract. If at anytime the "employee" terminates this contract for any reason prior to fulfillment, the contract is void and the severance pay will not be paid.

14. Rights and Responsibilities
Both the "employer" and the "employee" are to considered professionals and as such will treat each other with mutual respect and dignity. However, since the "employee" is working under contract for the "employer". The "employee" will make every reasonable effort to follow the direction, training, and supervision of the "employer" and those appointed by him/her. The "employee" will also carryout the teaching assignments given by the "employer" in a professional manner.

15. Dismissal
The "employer" may dismiss the "employee" form employment under the following conditions :
a) Violation of the laws of the Republic of South Korea.
b) Teaching classes while under the influence of drugs of alcohol.
c) Being late for class on a continuous basis.
d) Continuous failure to keep regularly scheduled class hours.
e) Repeated absences from classes without a valid reason.


With the exception of 15.a and 15.b above, the "employer" must first bring the problem to the attention of the "employee" in wring and make every effort to resolve the situation. The "employee" will then follow the direction of the "employer" also and make every attempt to correct the problem. However, circumstances beyond the control of the "employee" are exempt from Section 15.Circumstances may include, but are not limited to accident, death, and illness or unpredicted events.


My questions:
1. Overtime rate of 18,000 per class? Non-overtime pay is 16,666 per class.
Does that sound alright? It seems lower than I was expecting.
2. Approximately Tax 5%(I know that is on the higher end from reading all the other posts, could I try to negotiate it to be lower?
3. Paid sick days is blank, (I will have them insert the definite number, before signing. How many should I ask for????)
4. Vacation....I think I understand

Go for 20,000 overtime
Get the tax fixed...have it deducted according to the monthly withholding tax.
Get a definate # for the sick days.

Vacation is kind of crappy....it basically means that you get a 5 day weekend somewhere during the year and the remaining days are used at the end of the contract......not liking it!

[jacl]

Don't forget the furniture. Saw nothing mentioned about a table or chairs and... a microwave and VCR should be mentioned.

There's no damn way on God's green earth you're going to get a contract with 2% tax. Even if this is what you are actually supposed to be paying. Between 3 and 4% is ok. 5% is way too high. Just make sure that you get pay slips or some kind of proof to show the tax department and negotiate for something like 3.5. Contracts not need mention pension, but you should look into it if it benefits you.

The 3 weekdays plus 2 weekend days in each of your one-week vacations is BS.

If you terminate the contract, you should give them one-month notice. If they terminate, they should give you the same. If not, you're entitled to one month's pay after 2 months, I believe. If not, definitely after six months. No matter what.

Other parts of the contrat seem generic-like. They just made changes. Like the vacation. That's stupid.

[jacl]

The vacation thing is weird. OT should be 20,000. Get sick days in there. If you can get them to do the actual tax thing then go for it. 5% is a red flag for me. There's no way in hell it's that much. Other people have tried to say otherwise, but it just cannot be. Like Grotto said, it's acutally way less. Either way, they're probably not paying it.

2 million. I'd say, "Run Forest, run."

[Leopold]

Re: Paid vacation time.

I like what justagirl said dividing it into 2-3 sections with one month's notice. I think that is fair.

Let's see if they negotiate, I have a feeling that they will.

Thanks again for all your help!

[jacl]

Of course the classes are 50 minutes.

And, I forgot, there's no mention of the hours. VERY important. Just like Grotto said.

Run Forest, run! Hours dictate OT. 2-9, 1-8, etc. Ok. If you have 6 teaching hours withing those daily hours. Any extra teaching hours within those hours is OT. Any teaching hours outside those hours is also OT. Very, very importan.

Run!

[jacl]

Run, run, run, run, run. The vacation sucks. You get 10 working days of vacation. Don't bother with this contract. Move on.

[Leopold]

I spoke to the teacher I would be replacing by phone, he said there are hardly any meetings and to not worry about the staff meeting clause.It's in there so they can train me on their teaching technique. That's fine it doesn't bother me.

Teaching hours...they included in the contract:

4. Regular Hours of Employment;
The "employee" will work 30 teaching hours per week. (One class 50 min?)
The working hrs are 2pm-9pm for 3 days and 2pm-10pm for 2 days.

Overtime...I requested 20,000 per class they did not give it to me.


Health insurance...Three options are offered to me.

1. Korean National Health plan = 80,000 won per month split 50/50 between the director and me.

2. Traveler's Insurance (200,000 per year split 50/50.It covers as any accident over 100,000won. it will get you reimbursed. It
doesn't cover minor sickness less than 100,000won.

The recruiter then went on to say, "Many schools, they get teachers traveller's insurance and if teacher gets sick like minor sickness like flu, stomache. eventhough it is different person's name on the medical card, they often use director's medical card for coverage. since korea people are pretty generous to foreingers and often your school's studetns paretns are doctor or soemthing so they can allow to use director's medical insurance card so that you get covered it and cheaper medical fee."

3. No medical insurance, a roll of the dice (which I have been rolling for quite some time.) I am NOT going that route.

Sick days... If I am really sick, get a doctors note. They will not include sick days in the contract.

Holidays...To the advice of my lawyer (dad) I asked for them to include the names and days of the Korean National holidays I would get paid for.

Recruitersaid, "You asked me to write all national holidays in the contract but, it is a little too much. do not worry about. You won't work at Korean National Holidays and weekends for sure. Okay. it is about 10-11 national
holidays( i didn't count weekends ) in Korea in 2006."

Overtime...I asked for 20,000 won a class. They didn't budge, instead I get 18,000.

Income Tax. They wanted to charge APPROXIMATELY 5%. I got them down to 3.3%.

Housing... They deleted the clauses about shared housing.

Airfare... They made it less contradictory.. Airfare will be provided from the nearest int'l airport (inserted my airport name) to S. Korea.

Vacation... Didn't budge. The clause reamins the same. I am not happy about that at all.

So, now I have to decide whether I am willing to settle with this contract

One thing that concerns me is that I am CELTA certified, Bachelors in Foregin Languages with Minor in Linguistics TESL, and I have experience...and they are paying me on the lower end of the spectrum. (BTW- I am shy of a masters in Linguistics TESL by about 3 classes.)
The recruiter doesn't even request my CELTA cert.

[antoniothegreat]

i think unless you specifically want this place,or the location, you can get better. not specifying the sick days is kind of scary, and that overtime wage is bad, atleast in my opinion. and really, anything they say but wont put in the contract, dont believe. who cares if the contract is one page longer , put it in there.
i wouldnt sign if they didnt change the vacation. but that is just me. the contract isnt special, you have good qualifications, so unless something else is special about this, like it is near your boy/girlfriend, you can get better.

[jacl]

2 million with your credentials (what experience do you have?) and 6 vacation days ('cause that's what it is) is crappy. Plus your hours are bad on two days of the week. 2 - 10 for two days should give you 2 hour of OT (9 - 10). No sick days? Hmm. Shoot for 2.2 somewhere else.

[Grotto]

with the hours you would be putting in(about 40 a week) the pay seems quite low. You might be better off looking at a public or uni job instead...there are many jobs opening up this Jan/Feb that will pay you more, give more holidays, and generally be better.

I notice there was still no mention of pension in the contract.....thats important too!

[justagirl]

I think the vacation issue is still rather big and important. A school that doesn't want to budge on that is a big red flag. Of course you get national holidays, but it's simply not a vacation if it's at the end of your contract, and it leaves a possibility to get screwed for "not completing."

If you do take the job, go for the National Health Insurance. That is a bunch of bull that you can use your director's card. My husband was also told that, and then told that he could use mine. First time we tried that, the doctor looked at us like we were crazy and said absolutely not. You definitely want you own insurance with YOUR name and YOUR ID number on it.

Finally, I do agree the pay seems rather low for the number of hours required and your experience. Unless it was a super-sweet job and you felt 100% great about taking it, I would look elsewhere. I know it all seems like a shot in the dark, but I would want a school that had a bit more understanding for my needs, and the combination of vacation, pay for experience you have, overtime rate, and no sick days would make me think of looking elsewhere.

justagirl