Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jacl]

Say you're re-signing a contract for another year. Seems to me to be stupid to wait until the last minute to sign the new contract. My boss and I verbally came to an agreement for my re-signing, but I haven't signed a contract yet. My current contract ends March 1st. I now that things should normally be set and done 2 months before your current contract is up, but it might not work out that way most of the time.

I'm just always suspicious of these people. I say "these people" and I don't care. I think it is always good to exercise doubt. My boss owes me my severence, and agreed upon amount for me not taking a flight and my first five months of uncovered pension, OT, my final paycheck, and money for vacation not taken. Plus there's another million due to me on Friday for a job I did last month. Adds up to near 7 million. I just wonder if he could be stringing me along until the end and then just saying at the last minute, "I'm sorry", blah, blah, blah. He could be thwarting me from going to the pension office, the tax office, etc.

I mean, what's from stopping him getting the contract over and done with and getting the process underway for my new card? Why wait until tomorrow? Immigration is right down the street pretty much.

Guess I'll have to get him off his ass tomorrow and get it done.

[ontheway]

Jacl,

Since you're re-signing with the same hogwan, you can sign a simple extension agreement - probably only one page. It should note all the changes you have agreed to and it should include all the unpaid items with payment dates for those items.

You should write up an agreement yourself and take it to him. Tell him you really need to get this signed and get your extension at Immigration. Otherwise you'll need to start making other plans for the future.

[jacl]

[bellum99]

If it isn't in writing then it isn't true. You must always have it in writing or they will screw you over (sometimes). Only you know if the guy can be trusted and people change when its time to pay money.

[poet13]

jacl
I am in exactly the same situation. Tomorrow I will be sitting down with my bos for the part two of the contract negotiation. She also asked me last week, "dont you trust me?". I said trust has nothing to do with it. It's just business. I will be typing up my own new stipulations for the contract extension. I'll let you know how it went....

[poet13]

Hey jacl
well, i had my sit dpwn with the boss yesterday. Went well....I thought. She started out by telling me that sooo many people were calling her asking to work for her.... whatever. We made nice-nice for a little while and i got down to it. Yes, I wanted to extend, but in order to do so, we needed to clear up a few things. One, was my tax receipt for the past year. She told me her tax year was from May to May...?huh?. So i suggested that perhaps she should have given me a tax receipt for last year march and april. I also told her that I could not work at three different locations legally without immigrations blessing. No problem she says. Been doing it for many years. Well, then as far as i know, its been illegal for many years. No problem, she says, shes a good business lady (whatever that means). I said then she wouldnt mind if i checked with immigration myself. I dont think she understood that, and i really dont know how to go about it without nailing myself for previous work.... However, I dont want to simply refuse if there is the slightest chance that somehow the E-2 was processed from the beginning with multiple locations and therefore not a subsequent endoresement...
anyways. so I told her that our contract was fine except that i wanted to clear up the ambiguous language. ie; put in writing that my apartment fee is 100k a month, and not just "responsible for maintenance and phone" as it now states. We talked about many things, all of which she agreed to, including giving me 800,000 for my airfare instead of a ticket if i chose. at the end, i said that we could proceed only if a couple of conditions were met. One, tax receipt from last contract. She REALLY doesnt want to give it to me. Told me that everybodies tax is different, some 8%, some 10 or 11%. Uh huh... We could also not proceed unless all monies leftover from current contract were paid. No problem she says.
So on this contract I have typed in all the new stipulations, we have agreed to them, and when i thought we were done, SHAZZAM!, she whips out another contract and says, i want to use this contract. She said she spent an entire day working on it. I looked at it. It was the old contract with the formatting changed. It even had the same three spelling mistakes and bad grammar. So, we had spent what I thought was a productive hour...for absolutely nothing. We will sit down again next week and i will try to get these things written into the contract. She agreed to insert them in english, but when i said and then she needs to translate them to korean (or the contract is not valid) she said no. she was willing to make all kinds of verbal agreements with me, but she wants nothing in writing.
long and short. I think i will start job hunting....

[Yu_Bum_suk]

They sure hate putting things in writing and providing proper documentation, don't they? The last-minute delays are just par for the course here.

[J.B. Clamence]

Poet, this woman is obviously a dishonest wretch who wouldn't think twice about screwing you. As soon as she gave you the unaltered contract should have been enough evidence that you need to stay away from her.

[jacl]

[poet13]

yes, almost every conversation lately starts with something negative. examples include, "i have many people asking about working here", some children quit because of you", and the vague threat, "I dont have to pay severance if you dont complete your contract". for that i say, "try firing me now, with less than three weeks remaining.
this isnt really now about getting all i'm owed, its about not losing so darn much. Total all out should be about 5.5million. I think i will see somewhere around 3.8. Not fair to be sure. If it iwas just me getting ripped off, well, i can suck it up, and write it off as a learning experience. However, this is money for my wife and baby they are playing with. Pushing back to the last minutes is also a game I'm seeing. After our conversation yesterday, I asked when we could sit down and finish this up. She said she had a meeting somewhere else today, something else on friday, and something again on monday and tuesday and then a trip out of country for the rest of next week. thats fine. If we can get these stipulations inserted, I dont really care when it happens, though i am going to start finding something now. I dont want to burn up all my sealed transcripts doing so though. I only have five left.
It brings to mind a question though. In what ways is my position weaker if the cotnract has expired? are there certain claims lost after the expitation of a contract? If so, i will take a much nmore proactive role.
Also, my director says that a person cannot go to immigration to extend a visa more than two weeks before the end of the contract. Anybody know if this is true?
thanks all.
ps. jacl. i hope your talk went well today.

[poet13]

hey J.B. Clamence,
Yup, i should stay away, and the greater part of me is hoping that this doesnt work out. There are good reasons to stay, but she isnt one of them. (no, no local girlfriend). I belong to a coupe of writing clubs and i'm in the middle of the translation/interpretation for the next issue of their book. I do the interpretation... The network is oustanding, and should very well lead to a decent uni position as most of the members are retired or current educators, from university principals to lowly elemtary school english teachers. Aww, shoot. It sucks, it really does. Its a good position, but this rip off nonsense can make the finest filet taste like the stuff I had to scrape off my shoe this afternoon.

[jacl]

I've never really had anything harsh said to me like "Students quit because of you." That's pretty bad. I got my a contract today. We didn't really talk much. I've got it now and I will proofread it. I'll post it a little later on. It's not at all a harsh relationship where I work. I just don't like the tax discrepencies and other things that are pretty much minor in some cases, but major in cases like my 3.7% tax. I'm the type of person that doesn't let much slide by and if I didn't watch out for certain money-type things, it would be taken advantage of.

He changed the tax clause to "You will be taxed according to Korean law" and he included the money I will be paid for 5 months of unpaid pension and flight costs. He's going to pay me 100,000 a month extra for 10 months. There's that 60 days notice deal in it, but that's just a bunch of hogwash anyway, and I won't bother too much with that. I might change it to 30 days. Whatever.

[ontheway]

poet13,

I have extended my visa 4 weeks prior to expiration. I think this is the earliest possible, maybe 30 days is the max. Two weeks is another ruse, I think, although different Immigration offices do have different rules.

What she said about taxes, yes everybody's tax rates are different and can range from 0% to 36%, but if you're making the usual 2 million won or so, your taxes will range from 0% to 3.5% max. as far as I can tell. In your personal situation with 2 dependants, it could be close to zero. Check the NTS website. The big problem is that Korean accountants and NTS officials don't agree about who gets the 30% exclusion. That'll take your taxes way down from the 3% range to under 1%. At least one poster here claimed to get that exemption and pay under 1%.

However, I've read your other posts about re-signing at this school. It sounds pretty risky to me. Do you live with your wife and baby here in Korea? I think you should look for something else, PDQ.

Have you posted your resume anywhere?

[poet13]

ontheway,
no, i havent posted my resume. I havent because I have heard that recruiters use them for less than honorable purposes. This is my first contrract, and I did use Daves and target a couple of placement recruiters. Multiple responses in less than thirty six hours.
yes, i worked my taxes out to about 26,850 (approx) per month. Its an overpayment of about 840,000 this year, so that is a big deal, though I am completely confident that i will never see it back.
jacl. its nice that you actually get to proofread your contract. My boss wants me to sign on the spot. I wanted to take it to a friend to ensure that what was written in english was what was written in korean. SHe has this clause that says I may NOT discuss my contract, wages, hours, etc, with ANYONE. Shes adamant about that. Gee, I wonder why.....
So, i'm in a new situation. That is, going about the completing of a contract and moving on to a new one. Should she actually agree to my stipulations and include them in the new contract I will bo more than happy to stay. However, i believe theres a greater chance that the stars will rearrange themselves in the sky to say "Eat at Joes"....

[poet13]

family.
My family lives in the Philippines (as do i), but they visit here for three months at a time. In one year, they have been here for six months....