Korean Job Discussion Forums

[DallasTexas]

I was offered a job today and the contract included these two paragraphs:

Tuition Bank Account

The employee consents that the employee will open a 'tuition bank account', which the school deposits tuition fees to and the employer withdraws them from, for the purpose of paying the teachers' salaries, running English classes, managing its programs, training the teachers and developing present curriculums under the employee's name with his/her stamp. The employer will maintain it and take all responsiblities related to this bank account by the time the employer withdraws the last tuition fee. (My translation: you get paid by the public school; we get a kickback, after you pay all the taxes, of course!)

Ownership of the bank account

The employee is not allowed to withdraw money, change the password and cancel the account for the English class (not employee's own account) under the agreement with the employer even after finishing the contract. After the employer withdraws all the money from the "tuition bank account" after the last payment of the contract, the account can be closed by the employer. Although the "tuition bank account" is under the employee's name, the money in the account does not belong to the employee. Therefore, if any issue occurs regarding to taxation and pension, the employer is responsible for it.
(My translation: if you buy into any of that nonsense, I've got some land for sale in Arizona you might also be interested in).

Anyway are these things legal? Is it just a scam? Anybody else run into this lately?

[kprrok]

It's illegal and you'll be the one holding the bag when the Tax Man comes for you. Report that one to the labor board and maybe they can crack down on these scams.

KPRROK

[denverdeath]

Ask them(whoever they are) why they can't open their own acct and pay you out of it and see what kind of yarn they try to spin you.

Actually, this issue has been all over this board for at least a year now and various people have been postulating all kinds of things. I would say that it shouldn't take much sense to realize that it's most likely some kind of tax scam. I wouldn't sign anything with any place that's using this crap and I would also look into trying to report them to a few agencies of some sort.

One quick question. What name is given as the 'employer' on the contract? Is it the recruiter or the school(s)? I'm assuming it's some kind of after-school program, right? It may not be a scam in that you probably get your pay of 2 or 2.2mil monthly, but I would wonder about the legality of it all...especially whether the appropriate taxes are being paid...and, if they're not, who's liable?

[Clinteastwood]

You must of got a job with WIN EDUCATION , watch your back they are a bunch of thugs , the chairman is from North Korea

[jinju]

Tell them you wont do it. If they insist, tell them to fly a kite. Its a scam, its illegal.

[iluv2fly1]

I've seen similar issues with many different after school programs with 3 different hagwons. I don't really like it, but has anyone experienced any problems with them?

[paperbag princess]

it's 100% illegal.
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=52855

i've been talking to the tax people about this. don't do it. you should report them to both the labour and tax board. you can annonymously report them here: www.nts.go.kr

[Clinteastwood]

TUTION FEE
How it normally works is you have 2 bank accounts
1 is yours
2 is the companies
a public school must pay the teacher not the company because the school sponsors your visa .
The school does not put any money into this program .
The money comes from the children with their registration money and book fee depending on how many children you have .
WHO DO YOU WORK FOR ?

[TJ]

Would you trust me to operate your bank account ???

Would I trust you to operate my bank account ???

The answer to both questions is NO !

So why trust your employer with your hard earned money ! You would be crazy if you agreed to that.

[DallasTexas]

I want to thank everyone for their answers, and for watching my back.

These scummy recruiters are disgusting, they scam the teacher, the school, the government, the taxpayers, and cheat the school kids. The real wage is heavy reduced which means less motivated, qualified, or whatever you want to call it, teachers. At some point, you would hope that the Korean government and Korean people would care enough to stop it.

Is there anything we, as a group, can do? How about an editorial in the newspaper? How about involving Sean Hayes? How about a real Korean news reporter?

Denverdeath:
One quick question. What name is given as the 'employer' on the contract? Is it the recruiter or the school(s)? I'm assuming it's some kind of after-school program, right? No
The name on the contract is Win Education Corp. The actual employer is for a public school.

Clause 2 of this bogus contract reads:
The contract made between the employee and the school is only for obtaining E-2 visa under the laws of the Republic of Korea. The contract made between the employer and the employee is the actual contract which comes to an effect to the employee. Therefore, the employee takes all the responsibilities and rights under the contract made between the employer and the employee.
(okay, the English is a mess, but the bottom line is: Forget the legitimate school contract, we own you)


Clinteastwood:
You hit the nail on the head; it��s Win Education. I��ll take your advice and avoid them.
The good news is I don��t work for anybody. They offered me a job, but I didn��t give them an answer. I talked some little guy in the office into letting me take a contract home to read.
��The money comes from the children with their registration money and book fee depending on how many children you have.�� Is this true with a public school too?

Paperbag Princess:
I��ll report them; wonder if it will do any good?

[BigBuds]

This is an old scam that has been around a while. They pay all monies into a bank account under your name and then take your salary out of it and transfer it to another account in your name.

By doing this you have to pay tax on all the money that is paid into both accounts and get hit twice tax wise and then some.

Say they put 5,000,000 won into the first account then transfer 2,000,000 won (salary) to your other account, you then have to pay tax on the 5,000,000 won and the 2,000,000 won as it looks like both of these amounts have been paid to you.

Basically, you pay tax on your salary and the tax for every penny they earn (or I should say rip off) as well.

I just sent you a PM so check your inbox.

[Clinteastwood]

Dear all
just to let you know with this recruiter WIN EDUCATION they do tax you 2 times as the school pays the tax on the full amount before the transfering of money even takes place and you get taxed on your wage or salary again .

WIN EDUCATION chairman pays the principle bribes (eg paint the school) as the chairman owns a construction business not money all the time .

Why dont parents know about this , is because the school says it is their program.

The chairman has no respect for any of his teachers , korean teachers or the staff in the office . He only cares about making money not the education .

I know teachers who took their full wages and ended up taking about 10-15-16 million at once so be careful to those other teachers wanting to do their programm there are better recruiters out there for the same programm

[DallasTexas]

Someone else to watch out for is Heritage Language School, Mr Ju. I see he is posting an ad that appears to be directly from Kyunggi Elementary School. It isn't; it's the same scam involving the bank account kickback.

What I can't understand is why the best paying jobs, with the best hours, etc are from the recruiters getting a kickback (and giving a kickback to the principals). Apparently if one greases their palms, the hours are better and so is the pay.

For what it is worth.....I have an appointment to speak to one of Korea's best known newspaper editors this weekend. A man whose name and face are instantly recognized through out this country. Whether I can convince him of the value of a story is debatable, of course.

[paperbag princess]

if you report them, then maybe other teachers won't be in a bad situation in the future. they can't do anything to you as you haven't even signed a contract yet.

[dulouz]

You should sign the contract immediately, be cool for one month, steal all the money on deposit day and then laugh in their face.