Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Dan]

I'd have to say teachers. Sure there are horror stories of schools firing someone into their 9th, 10th month. But there are MANY more stories of wackos that come to work so blind drunk they can't even talk straight. And guys who fall for some woman and leave the school one day to follow her to whereever.

i understand running if the conditions are bad, but there are so many cases where foreign teachers have not been reliable and thus they get treated like fodder by a lot of schools.

Other thread locked. Moved poll here. - CM

[Cthulhu]

I'm not sure which has the higher proportion, bad schools or bad teachers, but I've seen and heard both. I've seen a person skip out without any notice simply because she wanted to take a holiday, and I've heard about hagwon conditions that would frighten a rabid wombat.

Everything has to be taken with a grain of salt. Since teachers have little recourse within the Korean justice system, they tend to give a lot back to the hagwans (and sometimes unis) on this board and others. But the relatively anonymous nature of it means that nothing should be taken completely at its word. To be certain of the truth, digging deeper is always necessary.

But it usually comes down to personal experience anyway. Nothing beats one's own spidey-senses, and if they are 'a tingling, then you know something bad is up.

[J.B. Clamence]

[hojusaram]

Check out the Korean Labour Laws and you will easily find that most contracts are invalid and without legal basis.
1. A contract should be provided in both English and Korean - and they should say the same thing.
2. On any contract you have the right to provide 30 days notice without biase.
3. Any contract where the employee provides this notice has the right to a 'letter of release' document.
4. Holidays are to be provided at an accumulated 1 day per month + 10 days per year not as presently most contracts stipulating 10 days vacation per year. This means in general you should be entitled to approx. 20 working days holiday per year over and above Public holidaysand weekends.
5. The working week is 5 days per week only.
6. Hogwan proprietors must be registered with the Korean Education Department, if it is not it is not a recognised institute of the Education system of Korea,
Check out labour law in Korea and get the facts.
http://www.molab.go.kr/
Therefore my opinion is that most contract breakers are Hogwan owners.

[PootyTang]

What is a contract?

[hojusaram]

The defense rests.

[long-term-player]

I'm not sure who to believe,, hojusarum gives advice which is totally different to a few threads back- which is different again to advice back on page 1...- ,,,contracts are more complex than what has been said here,,, just work in a few places and read the differences,, forget what the law may or may not say,, that is irrelevant in 95% of jobs; this is Korea and have a read of the contract law for more from the following Japan linked site
http://www.efl-law.com

[Dan]

i meant serious breaches to a contract. A school firing a teacher who had not breached any contract terms for clearly incorrect reasons would be an example.

A teacher coming late 3 days out of the week because they are drunk every day, would be a serious breach of contract.

and the working week is not YET 5 days a week. This is going into effect this year i believe, for companies that have 500+ employees. Small businesses don't need to follow that law for at least a few more years.

And those laws have stipulations for a 44 hour work week or something to that effect. a 30 hour work week that includes no saturdays is a gray area to my understanding.

as for vacations, 10 days plus all national holidays is considered over 20 days a year.

[guerillera]

thanks to poster who gave contract breakdown. i would love 20 vacation days per year.