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Non payment of pension
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thelaststraw



Joined: 07 Nov 2006

PostPosted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 7:59 pm    Post subject: Non payment of pension Reply with quote

OK, i am about to come to the end of my 3rd contract (please dont ask why) and i have just found out that my boss is not paying into the pension plan. Not only that but apparently i have not been paying either, my fault for not nowing sooner but our bills are taken directly from our pay and the deductions are never broken down in detail.

Anyway i specifically asked him over 6 months ago and he assured me that the were being paid and it would be no problem to get them back. Over the years (at the same hagwon the whole time) i have had a rather good relationship with him but i have also witnessed what it can be like for those who rock the boat. When i confronted the director the other day it was explained that although its the law its still new and most schools dont pay into any pension fund so theres really nothing i can do. Also it was mentioned that if i were to bring it up again to the boss or the pension office my remaining time would likely made to be hell on earth.

All comments are welcome, especially anyone with specific cases or suggestions.........its just too much money to let it slide, and really, ive been here for 3 years i think im used to hell on earth........

thanks
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ttompatz



Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea

PostPosted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 10:02 pm    Post subject: Re: Non payment of pension Reply with quote

thelaststraw wrote:
OK, i am about to come to the end of my 3rd contract (please dont ask why) and i have just found out that my boss is not paying into the pension plan. Not only that but apparently i have not been paying either, my fault for not nowing sooner but our bills are taken directly from our pay and the deductions are never broken down in detail.

Anyway i specifically asked him over 6 months ago and he assured me that the were being paid and it would be no problem to get them back. Over the years (at the same hagwon the whole time) i have had a rather good relationship with him but i have also witnessed what it can be like for those who rock the boat. When i confronted the director the other day it was explained that although its the law its still new and most schools dont pay into any pension fund so theres really nothing i can do. Also it was mentioned that if i were to bring it up again to the boss or the pension office my remaining time would likely made to be hell on earth.

All comments are welcome, especially anyone with specific cases or suggestions.........its just too much money to let it slide, and really, ive been here for 3 years i think im used to hell on earth........

thanks


He is right. It is a very new thing. It was put into law back in 1995 for employers with more than 10 employees and 1999 for everyone else. He has only had 7 years to get current.

Unless your boss paid out your contracts each year you are also risking 3 years of severance (6+ mil won) + your air ticket + your last months salary (10 million won maybe?) by pissing him off unless you are prepared to stay here to fight it out.

Are you willing to risk 10 million for a net gain of about 3 million?

Alternatively you can go to the pension office and apply for your refund as soon as you have an air ticket. They will inform you that there is NO account in your name and you can file a complaint. They will deal with it from there.

There is no good news solution for you here. Either way you will face a potential financial loss as well as a potential bureaucratic battle.

side note here: if you boss wasn't paying into the pension plan he probably wasn't paying into medical either. You can't have one without the other so your potential net gain may be substancially reduced by the back payments for 3 years of medical premuims.
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thelaststraw



Joined: 07 Nov 2006

PostPosted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 3:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks alot,

Its always nice to know that your getting properly screwed after three loyal years of service.

I really do appreciate the comments.
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thelaststraw



Joined: 07 Nov 2006

PostPosted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 5:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What do you think about holding on until a couple weeks before i leave, then going to the pension office, ready to pay all my back payments. Any thoughts on if this would work or not.......This is really chappin my ass as he told me flat out that i was paying as was he and of course i would get all my money back......I am here with my wife and we were expecting about 18 000 000 won in returns........now apparently down the drain......

thanks again.
Crying or Very sad Crying or Very sad Twisted Evil
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ttompatz



Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea

PostPosted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 5:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

thelaststraw wrote:
What do you think about holding on until a couple weeks before i leave, then going to the pension office, ready to pay all my back payments. Any thoughts on if this would work or not.......This is really chappin my ass as he told me flat out that i was paying as was he and of course i would get all my money back......I am here with my wife and we were expecting about 18 000 000 won in returns........now apparently down the drain......

thanks again.
Crying or Very sad Crying or Very sad Twisted Evil


OK... you can't apply until you have your departing tickets in hand. With most hakwons, this means only a few DAYS before your departure (if you are lucky and the day of departure if you are unlucky).

You can enquire before hand but they probably won't get anything done before you leave so your case will get dropped.

If you were staying here you could file a complaint and fight it out while you were working at a new job.

Like I said before, you have NO good options.

They are either NOT easy to accomplish or you risk substancial financial losses (your boss holding out on your severance/pay etc) or both.

You can't win if you are not here to fight. Your boss knows it. He has you by the short hairs and he knows that too.

You should have picked this fight 3 years ago.

Good luck to you.
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Novernae



Joined: 02 Mar 2005

PostPosted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 7:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

thelaststraw wrote:
we were expecting about 18 000 000 won in returns........now apparently down the drain......

I don't know your salary, but that seems a bit high of an estimate.

On 2mil you pay in about 180,000 per month (90/90). You haven't been paying into it, so you can't really count that as a loss. Which means you will be making 90,000 from your employer per month. Then you take out the back payments for health coverage that you would have to pay: about 45,000/month, so you are really only making 45,000 a month from your employer. 45,000*36=1.62 million * 2 = 3.24 million. You net gain for all of this (you and your wife together) would be about that (adjust for salary)... You decide if it's worth it.
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thelaststraw



Joined: 07 Nov 2006

PostPosted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 3:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks all,
I guess i will just resign myself to the fact that ive been screwed, however i am at the same school as another angry poster so i will be sure to get together with said person and plan to expose the school for what it really is once we are free and clear with our money in hand.......
Thanks again....
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yesman



Joined: 15 Sep 2006

PostPosted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 4:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

let's do this.
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Young FRANKenstein



Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Location: Castle Frankenstein (that's FRONKensteen)

PostPosted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 7:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

thelaststraw wrote:
What do you think about holding on until a couple weeks before i leave, then going to the pension office, ready to pay all my back payments.

Such a strategy would work IF you were staying in Korea to fight for it. It would take about 4-6 weeks from beggining to end.

ttompatz wrote:
you can't apply until you have your departing tickets in hand. With most hakwons, this means only a few DAYS before your departure (if you are lucky and the day of departure if you are unlucky).

Unless he did a visa run and came back as a tourist, to give him more time.

1) If you plan on staying in Korea, wait to fight for the pension money until you have a new work visa and a new job. Then you'll have all the time in the world to get the money from him.

2)If you are not staying, I would do the visa run to Japan, and stay on in Korea until it was resolved.

In either case, file the complaint with the main pension office in Jamsil (there posts about this office on www.efl-law.com). Once the complaint is filed, the pension people will require you to pay your 4.5% backpayments to the school and then they will get the full 9% directly from the school. You cannot pay the pension office directly (red tape Rolling Eyes ). Once the school pays the pension office, if you are leaving Korea, you can then apply to have the entire amount deposited into a bank account back home.

I did this myself not long ago. I took about 5 weeks.
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frozenpeas



Joined: 23 Nov 2005