Korean Job Discussion Forums

[re:cursive]

Hello,

After a number of months I've finally been offered a job which sounds fairly good at the Korea Herald Language School in Uijungbu City Kyunggi-Do.

I spoke to the current English teacher today and they seemed positive about the work conditions and their experience in the position. Im almost certain I will accept the offer but would appreciate a bit of advice in regard to the contract. If there is anything a bit sketchy I'd like to know about it so I can attempt to negotiate any changes with the school.

So here it is.

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Employment Contract

Schedule
The regular teaching time will be 120 hours a month (for example: 160 classes of 40 minutes class), Monday through Friday. It includes regular 5 minute break time after class but doesn�t include times that are for class preparation, meal, staff meeting and seminar for training. Classes and teaching schedules will be organized by employer and will be flexible in accordance with the special needs and situations of the school and students. There can be different teaching method like phone teaching besides teaching in the class.

Pay/ Overtime
The Employer agrees to pay the Employee a basic salary 2.0 Million won per month. The salary will be regularly paid every month to the Employee.

As for the overtime teaching beyond 120 hours a month, the Employee will be paid 20,000 Korean won per hour (60 minutes). Overtime work except emergency should be informed to employee at least 7 days in advance and employee is to be positive to take it.
Although the Employer taught less than the regular 120 hours per month, the Employee will still be paid a base salary of 2.0 Million won per month.

Severance Payment
The Employee will be given a bonus of one month salary, 2.0 Million won as bonus (this means severance payment) for completing one year contract period. This amount will be paid at the time of, and is dependent on, the completion of the full contract term.

Air Ticket
The economy class air ticket from the nearest international airport (Brisbane) to the employee�s home will be provided to ------------- before he leaves Australia. A returning air ticket will be provided to the Employee�s home upon completing of the full contract period. Regardless of the point of departure, the return ticket will be provided to the nearest international airport to the Employee�s home, and not to the point of departure, should they differ.
In the event that the Employee continues employment under a subsequent employment agreement with the Employer, the return air ticket will be provided at the time of completion of the subsequent contract period(s).
When the Employee resigns within 6 months from his/her arrival in Korea because of the Employee�s faults, the Employee shall reimburse the Employer the airfare paid.
When the Employee resigns after 6 months from the Employee�s arrival in Korea and not completed 1 year contract, the Employer shall not give the Employee a returning ticket to his/ her home country.

Housing
The Employer will provide the furnished housing for the employee with the rental at the Employer�s cost as agreed upon by both parties and stated below.

* A private furnished single apartment.
Running cost of the accommodation (including electricity, gas, water bills, telephone and other utility charges) other than the rental of the housing will be paid by the Employee. In the event that teachers are sharing accommodation, the running costs will be divided between the teachers equally. The Employee is not responsible for the previous occupant�s unpaid bills.

The Employer will deduct 200,000 Korean Won from the Employee�s monthly payment for first three months to make 600,000 Korean Won in total as housing management deposit. This deposit is to cover unpaid monthly service, utility, and telephone charges which will be billed at following or next following month after the Employee�s contract period. Dependent on a written guarantee from a guarantor acceptable to the Employer, the Employer agrees to return the deposit in full to the Employee at the time of completion of the Employee�s period of Contract including any period of employment beyond that covered by this agreement. In the absence of such written guarantee, the Employer will hold the full amount of the deposit until all outstanding monthly service, utility, and telephone charges have been paid.

Medical Insurance
The Employer agrees to join employee Korean national medical insurance scheme in compliance with Korean labor law. It doesn�t include dental insurance.

Accident Compensation
In the event that the Employee sustains injuries from an accident or mishap which occurs outside the course of normal work duties, the Employee understands and agrees that the Employer will have no responsibility for, nor obligation to pay, medical and hospital costs which are in excess of those covered by medical insurance.

Teaching Materials
The Employee will be given materials to teach to the class. And very little reparation time may be given. The Employee may be expected to work alone without a Korean English teacher�s assistance.

Holidays/ Sick days/ Lateness/ Absence
During the school year, there are Korean national holidays. And besides these national holidays the employee can have leave for 2 weeks- 10 days ( 5 days in the first six months and 5 days in the second six months) subject to the arrangement by the employer and being requested by the employee more than four weeks in advance and approved subject to convenience of re-arranging the teaching schedules by the employer.
School holidays in the Summer and Winter will be included in above employee�s holidays.
The Employer will allow the teachers 3 sick days paid a year. In case of exceeding 3 days of illness, the Employer may deduct a day�s pay for every day the Employee is absent from work or deduct days from holidays. The Employee must notify the Employer at least five hours before class time of illness with the doctor�s diagnosis.

Lateness: If the Employee is late to the class 10 minutes without notification, one hour rate of payment may be deducted.

The Employee�s Obligation
1) The Employee shall observe the Employer�s work system and regulations concerning administration of foreign experts and shall accept the Employer�s arrangement, direction, supervision and evaluation in regard to his/ her work.

2) Without the Employer�s consent, the Employee shall not render service elsewhere or hold concurrently any post unrelated to the work agreed on with the Employer.

3) The Employee shall complete the tasks agreed on schedule and guarantee the quality of work.

4) Professional dress and grooming in the work are essential to maintain the desired reputation to the school. The Employer shall establish general guidelines for this.

5) The Employee shall be expected to prepare daily topics for the class beforehand.

6) The Employee can be required to attend all the staffs� meeting. If the Employee must be absent, he/she informs the Employer prior to the meeting.

7) The Employee must behave in professional manner during class or when socializing with students after class.

The Employee can be required to interview new students and evaluate their placement level.

9) The Employee shall not be absent without the Employer�s permission 2 days in advance notice.

10) The Employee shall respect the Korean people�s moral standards and customs.

11) The Employee shall not sexually harass students in his/ her charge.

12) Any form of physical punishment to students cannot be tolerated.

13) At all times during the term of this agreement, the Employee will directly adhere to and obey all the rules and regulations that have been or may hereafter be established, by the Employer for the conduct of the Employee or generally for the conduct of instructors at the place of employment.

Taxes
Taxes and deductions in compliance with Korean Law shall be withheld automatically from the Employee�s monthly salary. The deductions will be income tax, residence tax, medical insurance (50%) and so forth if any, from monthly and severance payment. Income tax rates will not exceed 4% of the monthly salary.

Relocation and Orientation Time
The Employee will be allowed several days from the date of arrival in Korea for adjustment and school orientation before beginning regular teaching duties. Computation of initial pay period of the Employee will commence from the first teaching day.

Termination
The Employer and the Employee may terminate the contract with the written notice 60 days in advance. The proper reasons and adequate grounds must be provided in order for the contract to be dissolved. In the event that this contract is canceled the employer must issue a letter of release, without delay or any undue fee being charged to the employee or potential employers.

Arbitration
The two parties shall consult with each other and mediate any disputes which may arise about the contract. If all attempts fail, the two parties can appeal to the organization of arbitration for foreign expert affairs in Korea according to the Korean Regulations and Codes. In the event that no solution is deemed proper to both parties and either party decides to terminate this contract, they must do so in accordance with Section 14 above. Additionally, the employee may seek annulment in case where the employer does not complete the terms of the contract as required of them according to the contract.

Sympathy
In the event of death of an immediate family member of the employee arrangements will be made to excuse the employee from work. These days missed will be unpaid days but will not be counted as sick or vacation days.

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As I said, any advice would be much appreciated.

[Dan The Chainsawman]

I am no expert, but it seems ok.

Hold out for Grotto he typically goes over these things with a fine tooth comb.

[just because]

Looks quite standard to me and you won't get much better if you are just flying over...it is quite well worded so it looks like the director has been with foreigners for a while....

Only one big red flag for me...

[TheUrbanMyth]

BAD contract

--Too many class hours

--phone teaching (which will be done on YOUR own time after classes)

--manatory overtime

--Need a guarantor..what is that nonsense?

--"flexible schedule"=code for split shifts or extra classes.

--Doesn't include the time for class prep. And with 160 classes per month you WILL be doing a lot of prep. The average is 120 classes a month for 2 million. You can do much better.

--You must guarantee the quality of your work--what does that mean?


Too many red flags in my opinion. Look at all the unpaid duties and it seems the director just wants a foreign workhorse.

I'd keep looking.

[just because]

[Pak Yu Man]

120 hours.

Not including breaks....like the others said....that's nuts.

20,000 won overtime. Wow. Considering your making almost 17k an hour already....what a joke.

They say furnished housing..wtf is that?

Make sure they write what you are getting.
Make sure they also include curtains, pots/pans, dishes eating utensils (that means more that a pair of chopsticks), and all the other stuff you need to eat/cook.

You'll be surprised how much of your own money you will spend on your first place if you do not force your boss to get you all this stuff.

[Homer]

I'm with the myth here.

That's a lot of hours/classes per month for 2 million won.

The deposit would not be a big deal if it was the only element that rings bells in the contract.

Phone teaching is to be avoided if you can (did it once and hated it).

Flexible hours can be a problem or no big deal at all depending on what they mean.

The quality of work garantee is a bit odd and needs to be better defined lest it becomes a stuff it all excuse clause to can you.

What you need to do is: TALK TO THE OTHER WESTERNERS ON STAFF. They are your only real source of relevant information.

[coulter]

This is the standard contract from Orange Education. I signed almost exactly the same contract for a different school (the only difference being the sallary - mine was slightly higher). It is not the employer's contract, it is Stephen's contract. Some of the things in there may not apply to your school. Ask the other foreign teachers. After I signed, I expected my employer to deduct the 200,000 won from my first 3 paycheques but they never did and I never heard of it happening at my school. I have read on this board that it is illegal to do so, anyway. The only way to know what it is like is to ask the other teachers, especially those who have been there the longest.

[Grotto]

Schedule
The regular teaching time will be 120 hours a month (for example: 160 classes of 40 minutes class), Monday through Friday. It includes regular 5 minute break time after class but doesn�t include times that are for class preparation, meal, staff meeting and seminar for training. Classes and teaching schedules will be organized by employer and will be flexible in accordance with the special needs and situations of the school and students. There can be different teaching method like phone teaching besides teaching in the class.


No way! Right off the bat you should never agree to anything over 120 classes a month. A whole 5 minutes in between classes? You would obviously be looking at splits. Just say no to phone teaching. Figure about 4-5 minutes to look up the number, call the number, get through to whoever answers the phone that you want to talk to your student, talk to your student for about 30 seconds and repeat. If you have 100 students thats 400=500 minutes of your time being wasted/unpaid.

Pay/ Overtime
The Employer agrees to pay the Employee a basic salary 2.0 Million won per month. The salary will be regularly paid every month to the Employee.

When? Your payday should always be listed clearly in your contract. 10'th or whatever

As for the overtime teaching beyond 120 hours a month, the Employee will be paid 20,000 Korean won per hour (60 minutes). Overtime work except emergency should be informed to employee at least 7 days in advance and employee is to be positive to take it.

LOL bad English! Definition of a teaching hour should be 40-50 minutes...not 60 minutes.

Although the Employer taught less than the regular 120 hours per month, the Employee will still be paid a base salary of 2.0 Million won per month.

Severance Payment
The Employee will be given a bonus of one month salary, 2.0 Million won as bonus (this means severance payment) for completing one year contract period. This amount will be paid at the time of, and is dependent on, the completion of the full contract term.

Air Ticket
The economy class air ticket from the nearest international airport (Brisbane) to the employee�s home will be provided to ------------- before he leaves Australia. A returning air ticket will be provided to the Employee�s home upon completing of the full contract period. Regardless of the point of departure, the return ticket will be provided to the nearest international airport to the Employee�s home, and not to the point of departure, should they differ.

You should be able to get a ticket to where you want, as long as its the same price or cheaper.

In the event that the Employee continues employment under a subsequent employment agreement with the Employer, the return air ticket will be provided at the time of completion of the subsequent contract period(s).

There should be some mention of a re-signing bonus if you dont take the airfare home.

When the Employee resigns within 6 months from his/her arrival in Korea because of the Employee�s faults, the Employee shall reimburse the Employer the airfare paid.
When the Employee resigns after 6 months from the Employee�s arrival in Korea and not completed 1 year contract, the Employer shall not give the Employee a returning ticket to his/ her home country.

Thats just funny...not if the employee but when are they telling you something here

Housing
The Employer will provide the furnished housing for the employee with the rental at the Employer�s cost as agreed upon by both parties and stated below.

* A private furnished single apartment.
Running cost of the accommodation (including electricity, gas, water bills, telephone and other utility charges) other than the rental of the housing will be paid by the Employee. In the event that teachers are sharing accommodation, the running costs will be divided between the teachers equally. The Employee is not responsible for the previous occupant�s unpaid bills.

Just say no to shared accomodations, delete it from any contract you get offered

The Employer will deduct 200,000 Korean Won from the Employee�s monthly payment for first three months to make 600,000 Korean Won in total as housing management deposit. This deposit is to cover unpaid monthly service, utility, and telephone charges which will be billed at following or next following month after the Employee�s contract period. Dependent on a written guarantee from a guarantor acceptable to the Employer, the Employer agrees to return the deposit in full to the Employee at the time of completion of the Employee�s period of Contract including any period of employment beyond that covered by this agreement. In the absence of such written guarantee, the Employer will hold the full amount of the deposit until all outstanding monthly service, utility, and telephone charges have been paid.

Just say no to deposits. If you supply reciepts for your utilities every month there is absolutely no reason for them to have to hold a deposit!

Medical Insurance
The Employer agrees to join employee Korean national medical insurance scheme in compliance with Korean labor law. It doesn�t include dental insurance.

Accident Compensation
In the event that the Employee sustains injuries from an accident or mishap which occurs outside the course of normal work duties, the Employee understands and agrees that the Employer will have no responsibility for, nor obligation to pay, medical and hospital costs which are in excess of those covered by medical insurance.

Teaching Materials
The Employee will be given materials to teach to the class. And very little reparation time may be given. The Employee may be expected to work alone without a Korean English teacher�s assistance.

Holidays/ Sick days/ Lateness/ Absence
During the school year, there are Korean national holidays. And besides these national holidays the employee can have leave for 2 weeks- 10 days ( 5 days in the first six months and 5 days in the second six months) subject to the arrangement by the employer and being requested by the employee more than four weeks in advance and approved subject to convenience of re-arranging the teaching schedules by the employer.
School holidays in the Summer and Winter will be included in above employee�s holidays.
The Employer will allow the teachers 3 sick days paid a year. In case of exceeding 3 days of illness, the Employer may deduct a day�s pay for every day the Employee is absent from work or deduct days from holidays. The Employee must notify the Employer at least five hours before class time of illness with the doctor�s diagnosis.

What a load of crap! 5 hours notice


Lateness: If the Employee is late to the class 10 minutes without notification, one hour rate of payment may be deducted.

Totally illegal....they cannot withhold your pay for lateness!

The Employee�s Obligation
1) The Employee shall observe the Employer�s work system and regulations concerning administration of foreign experts and shall accept the Employer�s arrangement, direction, supervision and evaluation in regard to his/ her work.

2) Without the Employer�s consent, the Employee shall not render service elsewhere or hold concurrently any post unrelated to the work agreed on with the Employer.

3) The Employee shall complete the tasks agreed on schedule and guarantee the quality of work.

4) Professional dress and grooming in the work are essential to maintain the desired reputation to the school. The Employer shall establish general guidelines for this.

5) The Employee shall be expected to prepare daily topics for the class beforehand.

6) The Employee can be required to attend all the staffs� meeting. If the Employee must be absent, he/she informs the Employer prior to the meeting.

7) The Employee must behave in professional manner during class or when socializing with students after class.

The Employee can be required to interview new students and evaluate their placement level.

9) The Employee shall not be absent without the Employer�s permission 2 days in advance notice.

10) The Employee shall respect the Korean people�s moral standards and customs.

11) The Employee shall not sexually harass students in his/ her charge.

12) Any form of physical punishment to students cannot be tolerated.

13) At all times during the term of this agreement, the Employee will directly adhere to and obey all the rules and regulations that have been or may hereafter be established, by the Employer for the conduct of the Employee or generally for the conduct of instructors at the place of employment.

Taxes
Taxes and deductions in compliance with Korean Law shall be withheld automatically from the Employee�s monthly salary. The deductions will be income tax, residence tax, medical insurance (50%) and so forth if any, from monthly and severance payment. Income tax rates will not exceed 4% of the monthly salary.

Income tax on 2 mil is about 30,000 not anywhere near 4% check out the tax rate under FAQ monthly withholding tax.
Relocation and Orientation Time
The Employee will be allowed several days from the date of arrival in Korea for adjustment and school orientation before beginning regular teaching duties. Computation of initial pay period of the Employee will commence from the first teaching day.

No thanks...they use you for a week for free please!

Termination
The Employer and the Employee may terminate the contract with the written notice 60 days in advance. The proper reasons and adequate grounds must be provided in order for the contract to be dissolved. In the event that this contract is canceled the employer must issue a letter of release, without delay or any undue fee being charged to the employee or potential employers.

Arbitration
The two parties shall consult with each other and mediate any disputes which may arise about the contract. If all attempts fail, the two parties can appeal to the organization of arbitration for foreign expert affairs in Korea according to the Korean Regulations and Codes. In the event that no solution is deemed proper to both parties and either party decides to terminate this contract, they must do so in accordance with Section 14 above. Additionally, the employee may seek annulment in case where the employer does not complete the terms of the contract as required of them according to the contract.

Sympathy
In the event of death of an immediate family member of the employee arrangements will be made to excuse the employee from work. These days missed will be unpaid days but will not be counted as sick or vacation days.

I dont like it. I wouldnt sign it

[re:cursive]

I spoke to the current teacher over there and it seems like the job is a bit different to what the contract portrays.

Apparently there are three 40 minute classes a day with kindergarten kids and three to four a day with elementary kids. It works on a rotating system so one day I'll have 6 classes in total and the next I'll have 7. By my calculations that works out somewhere in the range of 120 to 130 hours a month.

The classes are done one after another so there are no split shifts.

The phone teaching bit is paid for and is only done once a month.

The accomodation is single, not shared and has all the bits and pieces like fridge, stove, linen, pots, pans. etc.

From what the teacher told me it sounds like its an ok job. He seemed positive about his time there. I think I'm going to take the offer.

[Grotto]

My advice is to change the bad things in the contract.

Its good that the teacher there is saying good things about it....but...you just never know!

Put in block shifts...get rid of

[bellum99]

Sometimes you just have to try. You can't protect yourself from everything. I hope everything works okay.

[Homer]

Bellum,

I could not agree more. At one point you have to take the plunge. It is never going to be perfect.

[Qinella]

Six or seven classes a day? I have five a day and barely have enough time to plan properly. Also, back to back with no break? You will be very tired and hungry, if that's the case.

Also, Korea Herald. I work for one now, and will never do so again. They will make you go to ridiculous seminars in Seoul where a crazy woman talks down to you and treats you like a know-nothing idiot. And now they've designed their own text books which are mandatory, so you have no flexibility as a teacher.

Before you sign, I'd definitely request the phone talking to be removed. Phone talking is absolute misery. After seven classes, you will want to go home, not sit around for an hour making uncomfortable phone calls where you ask a kid what he ate for dinner and other strange questions, most of which will not be understood.

Anyway, good luck.

[some waygug-in]

That chain seems to be one of the most complained about on the various blacklists I've seen.

I don't know about that particular branch, but did you make sure the current teacher is being paid..........in full.........on time?

I wouldn't sign a contract like that either, but it's up to you.

Whatever you decide, good luck to you.