Korean Job Discussion Forums

[VC]

My contract very clearly states that I will have 15 days of vacation and 14 holidays each year. My boss says that weekends can count as vacation time even though I only work from Monday to Friday. I have Thursday and Friday off next week. My boss says that will actually count as four days of vacation because I'll have four days in a row off- Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Furthermore, my boss says that holidays also count as vacation time.

So I have a lot less days off than I thought I had when I signed the contract. My boss says that a lot of other hakwons in Korea do it this way. Is it common in Korea to count vacation time this way or am I being ripped off?

[camel96]

They count weekends as vacation time. That's BS. I've never heard of such a thing. I've seen some pretty novel ways of trying to screw teachers out of vacation days but this is a new one.
I always make sure I have included in my contract (not that that means so much) that "vacation days are in addition to public holidays and other days of school closure". Maybe next time I'll have to add weekends as well.
Just curious - What's the wording in your contract about vacations???

[Tancred]

i just requested that i have my hours of work written into my contract and the number of vacation days...and explicitly stated that i don't work saturdays and sundays. By corollary, this means that the vacations are not part of the weekends. If you have them write in the hours of your work into the contract, you have quite a bit of leverage actually, especially if you include that overtime will be worked at your discretion. It puts the ball in your court if your boss tries to pull a stunt like what s/he's doing.

T.

[Harvard Material]

If you don't work Saturday and/or Sunday those days can not be included/deducted as vacation days. It's called a "weekend" if you don't work on those days, although that seems to be a very strange concept here. "Weekend? What's that?"

So does "lunch-time". My wanjangnim's husband simply didn't understand what I meant by 'lunch-time', and why I was 'being so difficult' about the subject (I was having difficulty understanding why the director's husband was addressing me, at my workplace, with this subject! He doesn't work there). I was expected to stay at the institue 10 hours per day, but get paid for 6?? I explained 'lunch-time' is the span of time I don't have to teach for several hours, mid-day, and therefore I leave the institute. Hit a pc bang, go to the apartment, go for a walk...for whatever reason(s) I/you like. Then I asked him why he was interfering with my schedule in the first place? "Lunch-time? What do you mean 'lunch-time?" I mean see you back here in about 3 hours...after lunch.
I could have wasted a few more minutes of my time and shared my 'Western knowledge' about the concept(s) of "brunch" just to confuse him a bit more , but it was, after all, during my 'lunch-time' that this discussion was taking place. "Thanks again for your interference. Appreciate it. Bye now."

Breaks are yours to be used as you see fit, and so are your allotted company holiday days - not national holidays.

My director tried the same 'weekend' vacation deduction stunt on me. If you are being deducted vacation days on regular days off, such as Saturdays and Sundays, does that mean that you are owed all the previous Saturdays and Sundays you didn't work with pay? Yeah, I know...it's a one way street.

Of course wanjangnim will attempt it, but you are permitted what your contract states, and weekends are excluded from the amount of days provided for company holidays, unless it is a regularly scheduled work day. Too bad so many national holidays landed on weekends this year, but it happens. That you can't argue. Your 10 or 15 company vacation days stated in the contract you can argue.

Furthermore, you are allowed to use said holidays when you want. Not two days here and four days there.

The choice is clear; do what you want, or do what the director wants - unless there is an agreable resolve for both parties. The path of least resistance is the best path, of course.
There is always the risk of dismissal if both parties refuse to budge on the issue (any issue), so be prepared to file Labor Board complaints if/when a dismissal takes place. Doing the right thing doesn't mean much to many institute directors, regardless of previous agreements. Your refusal to accept deducting 4 days from your total vacation time will put you in a volatile situation, but I was also in that position. "Let's go to the Labor Board and resolve this." That's all it took.

How badly do you want want to exclude Saturday and Sunday (X 2?), from your vacation time?

[VC]

I told www.efl-law.com about this problem. They offer free legal advice to ESL teachers in Korea. This was their response:


August 11th,

Dear ________,

Thank you for your email.

The Labor Standards Act clearly says that an employer must give the
employee 10 days holiday - these are working days - not weekends.. in
addition you should also receive public holidays off. It seems the
contract is very badly worded, and thus the employers who word these
contracts try to get away with cheating the employees out of their
entitlements.

If you don't receive your 10 working days off, and public holidays, you
should inform the Labor Office nearest to you - and ask that they
inform
the employer to start following the law.

[ulsanchris]

My last boss tried to do that to me and I didnt' stand for it. He should me the new contracts that all the new teachers had to sign and it said that weekend time is included in the holidays. I told him that that wasn't my contract so it didn't apply to me. I stuck to my guns and got what I wanted.
When I was searching for my current job one school offered 7 days holiday. I said give me ten working days. The recruiter said that I would actually get more than ten once you counted in the saturdays and sundays. I refused. They said they couldn't give me ten because none of the other teachers got that and it wouldn't be fair. I didn't take that job.
At my current job I made sure that I was getting 10 days holiday.

[The Den]

Since when has the ten days of holidays per year been in effect? Has it always been in effect here? Where I am from depending on what kind of job you have if you work full time they deduct a certain percentage of each check for vacation pay. Then when you take your two weeks off you still get a pay check. Is that how it works here?

[whatthefunk]

My contract says ten days. In April, I planned a trip to Thailand and asked for a full week...5 days...off. My boss told me that I only had four vacation days left because the hagwan vacation days count too. So, my hagwan summer vacation took three days, as did my winter vacation. My boss eventuall gave me an extra day off, but I still definatly got screwed. I want to take the two days before the Sept. holiday off, bt that may not happen...

[Blue Flower]

My contract states that I am the lucky recipient of 5 days off. Which cannot be taken consecutively. I am actually getting a little worried that it includes the Hagwan vacation. As that only leaves me with 2 days in the winter.

[bucheon bum]

I think you're getting ripped off VC, but on the other hand, most hogwons give you 10 days vacation, not 15. Nevertheless, weekends count as vacation days? Give me a break.

[kimcheeking]

Alot of the Koreans I know get weekends counted into their vacation days.

even so it is crap.

[Harvard Material]

Listen guys/girls - regardless what is in your contract, the workers rights, and Labor Laws designed to protect the rights of those workers, is what matters. The written laws according to workers rights take precedence over the written contract. You could sign a contract stating your director can shoot, and kill you after your term has been completed. Doesn't sound very realistic, does it? Because it isn't. Nor is agreeing to 10 days vacation but subtracting 6 days from that figure.

If the director of any company wishes to conduct their business in an inappropriate/illegal fashion, then that is the director's choice to make. If you accept the contract terms being breached, that is your choice.
I could care less what my contract states. I research what is acceptable, and what isn't acceptable in the line of business we are all currently involved in.

When I signed my last contract it stated I would receive 7 days for my own vacation purposes, plus national holidays. My recruiter said the minimum allotted holiday time is 10 days - not 7. It also stated that I had to take my holidays (same as whatthefunk), when the school closed during winter and summer. Very nice. So no holidays. No trip. No break.
I explained to the recruiter that I would deal with it when the time came. The contract could have said I will only receive 1 day, 7 hours and 2 minutes for my vacation time - doesn't make it legal, or acceptable. It simply means that that director exploits workers, or attempts to.

The message VC posted from efl-law.com says it all - contact the Labor Board and get them to deal with the person(s) who aren't willing to deal with you, or deal with the written rights of workers. Plain and simple.
I received the same message from efl-law (basically), when I contacted them with the same situation. "You don't work Saturday/Sunday? No - it can't be included as vacation time." Period.

Again, you risk dismissal when pushing for such rights, but what other way is there? Roll over, expose your belly and tuck your tail in over your genitals I suppose.
The director was furious when I explained it to the staff and demanded that we be given our full vacation time - not Wed/Thurs/Fri/Sat/Sun equals 5 days. 1+2=3 when I went to school/where I went to school. Same as Fibinnachi, same as Einstein and the same as Kim-Kee-Do for that matter.
I learned, from the Korean staff two days later, that the director told them that that was it! No more holidays for anybody!! Right-on! That's the ticket BOSS!! Smart thinkin'.

I do realise that 'demanding' anything during your contract period risks dismissal, but that must be challenged as well. Or get used to living on the floor on your back...

[ulsanchris]

Den that is not how it works here. By law you get ten days of paid vacation.

Not sure if this applies to efl teachers (it probably does) but employees are supposed to get 1 day of paid leave per month. This leave can be taken singlely or in blocks. Its up to the employee. this is in addition to the ten days for vacation.
Women also get one day per month for menstration leave.