Korean Job Discussion Forums

[giantyogurt]

The rules for mandatory severance pay in Korea are not complicated. Yet they tend to be a recurring source of confusion, among employers and employees alike.
Mandatory severance pay accrues time-wise: Under the Labor Standards Act (LSA), if an employee is terminated, or resigns, following at least one full year of employment, he is entitled to at least 30 days of "average" salary (or wages) per each year of continuous employment.

After the first year, any partial years are pro-rated: If you work two and a half years in a row, your minimum severance equals at least 75 days of average salary. (Average salary refers to the average compensation received by the employee - whether called salary or something else- over the three-month period preceding severance.)

That is the legal minimum, but of course an employer may agree to pay more.

It's common, for example, to grant a periodic step-up in severance pay such as two months -not 30 days- of salary per year of employment in later years.

Group-wide severance policies of foreign multinationals can apply to local employees, so long as they match or outdo the LSA.

The severance policy must be spelled out in the rules of employment (every employer of 10 or more people must draw up such rules).

A company's severance policy, including accrual and calculation, must be uniform for all its employees.

Employees cannot waive the right to receive severance pay. In a downsizing situation, there may be a negotiated workforce reduction, but accrued severance pay (whether the LSA minimum or more) cannot be waived-legally speaking, though the "IMF" era saw many deviations.

If the company is insolvent, employee salary and severance claims get some preference over other creditors.Severance pay is due and payable within 14 days after termination of employment - but the employee can consent to modify this deadline.

Late payment, unless consented to, is subject to serious penalties. An interim payout of accrued severance, for example, before termination of employment, is possible.

Severance pay is an important item in the M&A context. An acquirer of a business in Korea may be required to assume the seller's obligations to its employees, including severance pay liabilities.

In view of this, it is important for the deal documents to specify allocation of such costs between buyer and seller.

Normally employees are given the choice of getting paid their accrued severance by their old employer, or having it carry over to their new one.



Bae, Kim & Lee is one of Korea's leading law firms. This column is intended for general information only. Readers should always consult their legal counsel for any advice relating to specific circumstances. For further information, call at 02-3404-0000, or email to [email protected] - Ed.


By Bae, Kim & Lee





2003.06.04




http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2003/06/04/200306040067.asp

[Korea Newfie]

[Sliver]

Anyway who do they think you are??

You are three years in and have the capacity to really screw them.

You're not about to go away, you have friends that will help you and the brains to see this through to the end.

Just don't get to emotional. It is time to play the game in logical, professional manner to TOTALLY &*^*&%(&*$*$ THEM UP.

Really, who do they think you are? Some first timer living from paycheck to paycheck that will go running home to Mummy never to bother them again I think NOT

[Anda]

You could try contacting this crowd.


http://efl-law.com/about.html

[gang ah jee]

hey everyone, thanks so much the the replies and support. I really appreciate it. That everyone I know and even people I don't know have made such an effort to help me in this has been great.

I haven't talked to the school yet - I think they think I left on Wednesday - my phone account is still active! I have been finding out my exact rights are. My copy of the contract says that i finished my contract, though I'm concerned that there may be problems as it is different to the contract that was sent to immigration.

A friend of mine has a friend at immigration also. She will ask him for details of my status.

I've spent the afternoon writing my statement of complaint to post on the labor board website. The statement has been translated and submitted, and will be reviewed in the next 20 days. It's now the long weekend so I can take a break from worrying about this too much - it's been very stressful.

Regarding the name of the school: I've been advised by an independent source that placing the name of the school in permanent form (eg. this board) could cause legal problems for myself, and weaken my case. I feel very conflicted as naturally I feel that people should be warned of such practices. However, I hope that for the moment people will understand if I do not post the name on this forum. Also, if any that know me and the name of the school could refrain from identifying it - thanks. I'm very sorry if this seems selfish, but 5 million won is a lot of money.

[Stunted Wookie]

What are the legal problems for publishing a complaint? This like most boards are hosted on US based servers which respect the freedom of expression. Your opinion good or BAD is never in conflict with the law.

As long as you do not post any untruthful points you have nothing to worry about....

Its advertising dollars that could be at risk here, certainly not your rights!
*not trying to be an ass..just truthful*

[gang ah jee]

yeah... the thing is i'm not completely certain about the ins and outs of the k-laws on libel at this point. I've decided to follow the lawyer's advice for the moment.

i would love to post though. so would at least one past teacher there.

[crazylemongirl]

My hogwon had a similar situation when two teachers contracts ended at the same time and they got the line, accept 50% of your severance or I'm going to fire you. Well a few calls to the labour board and the teachers got their severance in full.

The fallout was pretty severe and another teacher got fired because they took the owner to task over it.. but as usual it was bought up with faults in his teaching rather than what really annoyed the boss, which was that they stuck their neck out to the two teachers who were leaving.

Thus I have very good records, of all meetings/converstations from now on so that I have paper tray come end of contract time for the labour board.

Agree with the others post the name of the school, but if you want to wait for outcome of your case that's up to you.

CLG

[maryk]

don't know much about hakwons here, but from a strictly legal standpoint, you'd be better off not calling out the forum attack dogs until after your case is concluded and you're safely out of the country or secure at another school. having multiple people call and harrass the director won't help your situation one bit, and will likely only make it worse.

get it squared away and get yourself in the clear, then if you think it's necessary to post, do it then.

[Juggertha]

Yes.. EVEN IF they pay you out.. plz post so we can know.. and possibly givee em a hard time.

name and number

[mack the knife]

IDEA

send me (or whoever) a private message. we will make a new identity and post the name of the school on this and other boards. we will not mention you or your case. we will simply "blacklist" the school.

VOILA!!

legal problem solved!!

[Zyzyfer]

Damn, you fools be impatient.

[rich_a]

Hi.

I have had similar payment problems with my employer.

I wish I'd had the advice above here - but I did have a little success by simply stating my intentions to them - in a non-threatening manner.

To cut a rather long, long story short - myself and my partner have been here for only 4 months - NOTHING that my job involved was anything like the recruiter and parent company (in another country) said it would be. Hours, salary, class size and much more... (I'll post another thread with details if you're interested).

Anyway - the attitude was like it or lump it and sign a new contract for less cash and more hours - this was 2 months ago after we tried to work something reasonable out.

So we compiled a list of our intentions and discussed each of them in turn.

We stated that if we did not get that which we believed we were entitled to we would:

1. Go directly to the relevant authorities in our country of departure - detailing in full the false job offer and the actual working conditions here.
2. Go directly to the Labour Board in this country.
3. Take our carefully documented story to every website for teachers working or looking to work in Korea.
4. Go to every other English Academy in the local area to inform the teachers (foreign and Korean) there of our situation - our only power is to make the injustice known.
5. Hand out (in Korean) flyers to children/parents/houses in the area explaining our good intention and mistreatment by a local employer.
6. Research the past teachers, recruitment agents used, company history and compile a detailed analysis of the situation we found and take it to anyone who will listen.

Maybe I had too much time on my hands...

The whole idea was that if they thought we were going to take this quietly, they were very wrong - we weren't threatening or angry in any way. We assured them we were very serious, stated things as we saw them and allowed them to make an informed choice about the situation - their main fear was clearly bad publicity and we ended up with just about everything we asked for.

Although we had the power to leave them in the lurch - it may be of some use to you.

Please post their name - even if it's after you get your money. As there is no Union here, I along with others above would be happy to support a fellow teacher - we shouldn't be so vulnerable to be ripped off like that.

Hope this is some use,

Rich.

[humanuspneumos]

and came up with this:

I have seen the Labor Board in Korea come through for a teacher or two. So, I know that can work. However, the Blacklist thing is real- whether or not you do something that deserves to be on it- it's a possibility that your name will be put on it. So, how are you going to avoid it and time your chess moves so one move doesn't topple the other?

Have a lawyer either go with you or send a legal letter/make a phone-call to confirm that you have visible opportunity to pay any outstanding bills. The lawyer will be your witness that you made an attempt. Why? The only legitimate reason I can see anyone getting blacklisted is if they:

A. Didn't pay bills
B. Damaged the school/seriously breached a contract
C. Overstayed a visa/caught without one

Other than that- I seriously doubt that anyone gets blacklisted just because someone said, "They were a bad teacher."

Who knows how many people have been falsely accused to immigration on the "A" and "B"- still "A" and "B," in my mind, would matter to immigration. So, if you want to be teaching in Korea legally in the future- consider sending a lawyer, lawyer's phone call, or lawyers registered letter that offers you the opportunity to clear "A" by paying phone bills... Perhaps this will make them think twice about blacklisting you on shakey ground.

Also, in the case of future blacklisting- immigration doesn't always tell the teacher why they were blacklisted- so, it seems next to impossible to be cleared after the fact- immigration may not communicate with you. It becomes exceedingly tempting to revenge the illegitimate black-listers and whoever partners-up with them. However, that could lead to even more hot-water for your future and revenge has no limit to its depth in conflict- a pinch for a pinch contest only leaves bruises on both parties.

Do your best to get justice and protect the big picture- it's not this job!

[gang ah jee]

ok, update for anyone who's interested

again many thanks for all the advice. You've all been a great help.

I received my last month's pay the day after I submitted my complaint to the labor board. Revised that yesterday.

Talked to my embassy who were much more sympathetic than I expected and were very encouraging.

Everyone - even immigration - has said that blacklist threats are so much hot air.

humanuspneumos said I have to be careful about claims that I: