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| Do you get pension? |
| Yes |
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63% |
[ 14 ] |
| No, but I qualify |
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22% |
[ 5 ] |
| I don't qualify |
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13% |
[ 3 ] |
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| Total Votes : 22 |
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| Author |
Message |
jacl
Joined: 31 Oct 2005
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 Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 10:27 pm Post subject: |
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| denverdeath wrote: |
| Q, yes, when you leave the country, you should be getting what you and your employer pay into the plan. You and your place should've been paying into it last year. You and your current boss should be paying into it this year. As you just started a new contract, it's better to clear up any confusion sooner than later. It's more than a half-month's salary that you're entitled to receive from your boss' contributions along with your own half. It's your choice whether you want to address the issue or not. But, why not? You said your boss is a reasonable fellow; just talk to him about it first. Show him the pension web-site and tell him that you heard about it from there and see how he responds. My first year here, I didn't know about it either...I don't even know if it was req'd then('97). The following two contracts, I received it cash in hand before leaving. Three places ago, me and my American co-worker foolishly opted out thinking it was better to have the extra money at the end of each month. One place(hakwon)I worked for for three years and I got it for all of those years. Last year, I was at a middle school and received it for there as well. Yes, you should be receiving what you and your boss pay into it for hakwons, public schools, and public unis. However, you can't receive what hasn't been paid. If your current place doesn't even have pension mentioned in the contract you may need to access whether they're doing anything else that's shady. Could just be an oversight, I guess... |
It's funny about the countries that don't get anything back. Essentially, the employer loses 4.5% worth of the employee's money and the employee loses 4.5% of their salary. I know that certain people from certain countries can benefit from the pension back home if they are paying into it here, but I find it very strange.
As far as I know, the health insurance is mandatory now, but it confuses me as well. The amount is supposed to be 4.48% where the employer pays half. Is this absolutely mandatory or does the government just say that it is?
Last edited by jacl on Thu May 11, 2006 1:49 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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| Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 10:35 pm Post subject: |
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| denverdeath wrote: |
| Q, yes, when you leave the country, you should be getting what you and your employer pay into the plan. You and your place should've been paying into it last year. You and your current boss should be paying into it this year. As you just started a new contract, it's better to clear up any confusion sooner than later. It's more than a half-month's salary that you're entitled to receive from your boss' contributions along with your own half. It's your choice whether you want to address the issue or not. But, why not? You said your boss is a reasonable fellow; just talk to him about it first. Show him the pension web-site and tell him that you heard about it from there and see how he responds. My first year here, I didn't know about it either...I don't even know if it was req'd then('97). The following two contracts, I received it cash in hand before leaving. Three places ago, me and my American co-worker foolishly opted out thinking it was better to have the extra money at the end of each month. One place(hakwon)I worked for for three years and I got it for all of those years. Last year, I was at a middle school and received it for there as well. Yes, you should be receiving what you and your boss pay into it for hakwons, public schools, and public unis. However, you can't receive what hasn't been paid. If your current place doesn't even have pension mentioned in the contract you may need to access whether they're doing anything else that's shady. Could just be an oversight, I guess... |
Well, the owner made a disturbing comment to me when I brought it up to him: Right now, my teachers make more per month than I do.
He said the reason for that is he invests most of his money back into the business. And now I'm doing 30 classes a week, compared to the 19 a week that the previous teacher had and I thought I'd be doing. That crap pisses me off, because the schedule was a huge reason I took this job, and now he's got me at max capacity already. All those extra classes means one thing: more money. I should be seeing some of that.
And, I got paid yesterday and found out that I was taxed 3.3%, but I just checked the government website and I should be at half of that. And, he pays me an extra 400k a month for apartment fee, but that was taxed, too. I should be paying 33k on tax, but I had 82k taken out. That perturbs me, as well.
Yeah, I'm going to have a little chat tonight.
Thanks for the help denverdeath, jacl, I am wrong, BigBuds, and TheUrbanMyth.
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jacl
Joined: 31 Oct 2005
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| Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 1:54 am Post subject: |
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| Qinella wrote: |
| denverdeath wrote: |
| Q, yes, when you leave the country, you should be getting what you and your employer pay into the plan. You and your place should've been paying into it last year. You and your current boss should be paying into it this year. As you just started a new contract, it's better to clear up any confusion sooner than later. It's more than a half-month's salary that you're entitled to receive from your boss' contributions along with your own half. It's your choice whether you want to address the issue or not. But, why not? You said your boss is a reasonable fellow; just talk to him about it first. Show him the pension web-site and tell him that you heard about it from there and see how he responds. My first year here, I didn't know about it either...I don't even know if it was req'd then('97). The following two contracts, I received it cash in hand before leaving. Three places ago, me and my American co-worker foolishly opted out thinking it was better to have the extra money at the end of each month. One place(hakwon)I worked for for three years and I got it for all of those years. Last year, I was at a middle school and received it for there as well. Yes, you should be receiving what you and your boss pay into it for hakwons, public schools, and public unis. However, you can't receive what hasn't been paid. If your current place doesn't even have pension mentioned in the contract you may need to access whether they're doing anything else that's shady. Could just be an oversight, I guess... |
Well, the owner made a disturbing comment to me when I brought it up to him: Right now, my teachers make more per month than I do.
He said the reason for that is he invests most of his money back into the business. And now I'm doing 30 classes a week, compared to the 19 a week that the previous teacher had and I thought I'd be doing. That crap pisses me off, because the schedule was a huge reason I took this job, and now he's got me at max capacity already. All those extra classes means one thing: more money. I should be seeing some of that.
And, I got paid yesterday and found out that I was taxed 3.3%, but I just checked the government website and I should be at half of that. And, he pays me an extra 400k a month for apartment fee, but that was taxed, too. I should be paying 33k on tax, but I had 82k taken out. That perturbs me, as well.
Yeah, I'm going to have a little chat tonight.
Thanks for the help denverdeath, jacl, I am wrong, BigBuds, and TheUrbanMyth.
Q. |
I remember not too long back when you were looking for another job. I think it was you(?) Can't believe they're doing this to you.
Is he giving you money for the apartment or is it provided? I believe that if you get an apartment on your own (i.e. you rent it and he gives you an accomodation allowance) then that's taxable. Provided accomodation is not taxable (i.e. under your boss's/hagwon's name).
Yes, 3.3% is too much, but not too bad. Still though, it's the point of it all. He's no doubt pocketing it. You could use that to your advantage. I did and now I only pay less than 50,000 on a 2.3 salary and I negotiated some other monies. I'm not taxed on OT, so I actually make out on the plus side.
He's gotta do your pension. No ifs, ands or buts. Stand your ground. Sometimes compromises have to be made, but there's a line. |
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crystal
Joined: 04 May 2006
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| Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 2:30 am Post subject: |
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I'm paying into the pension and my boss is paying his share but I don't know whether it's of any benefit to me or if I'll get it back in any way, shape or form when I leave or after I leave, not sure whether or not Ireland has an agreement with Korea so it could just be money down the drain for me 
from reading things on here and posted links it seems that pension is mandatory though and if your boss isn't paying then everything might not be exactly legal and above board |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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| Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 3:00 am Post subject: |
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| jacl wrote: |
I remember not too long back when you were looking for another job. I think it was you(?) Can't believe they're doing this to you.
Is he giving you money for the apartment or is it provided? I believe that if you get an apartment on your own (i.e. you rent it and he gives you an accomodation allowance) then that's taxable. Provided accomodation is not taxable (i.e. under your boss's/hagwon's name).
Yes, 3.3% is too much, but not too bad. Still though, it's the point of it all. He's no doubt pocketing it. You could use that to your advantage. I did and now I only pay less than 50,000 on a 2.3 salary and I negotiated some other monies. I'm not taxed on OT, so I actually make out on the plus side.
He's gotta do your pension. No ifs, ands or buts. Stand your ground. Sometimes compromises have to be made, but there's a line. |
Yeah, I was looking for a new job a few months ago and made a post here regarding signing with a small, fairly new hagwon. That's the place I ended up signing with, for numerous reasons. For example, the director is very active (teaches many classes), he's fun to work with, he speaks great English, the curriculum here is fantastic, etc. There were a few negatives also, but I felt that the positives (a big one of which was the light teaching load) outweighed them.
Anyway, I asked him between classes today about the tax thing. I even showed him the tax calculator found here. He showed me the receipts of money he pays to the government, which indicates he really does pay that much. It seems like he doesn't understand the tax code. Either the official government web site is wrong, or he's wrong. But I did calculations for earnings between 2.0 and 2.7 million, and it appears there's a sliding scale of 1.44% to 3.7% for that range. My salary falls at 1.59%.
I've got one more class, then it's time for another depressing conversation with my boss. Sigh... I hate money issues. Why can't everything in life just be perfect? 
Q. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 3:14 am Post subject: |
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Just as an aside. If you are NOT from N. America you still do get your pension money back....when you RETIRE in your own country. The funds are paid into the system there...at least that's what I was told. N. Americans though can receive it in cash at the end of their contract.
Though technically you are not supposed to take it out until you leave Korea for good. |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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| Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 5:39 am Post subject: |
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In case anyone is still reading this thread...
I had the talk tonight, and here's some information you may find interesting.
It turns out that, the way the contracts are written, and the reason why I'm being taxed 3.3%, I'm not classified as a "salary man". I'm privately employed. Now, my contract can be changed so that I'm a "salary man", but that would mean he'd be forced to pay into pension and give me government health insurance.
NOW. I know those last two words are gonna freak some of you out. Rest assured, I have been asking about health insurance for the past month. He keeps telling me he's working on it, and tries to put some of the blame on his secretary for not having taken care of it. He mentioned something about going through a non-government insurance program, which would supposedly cost less and cover more. Sounds too good to be true? I think so.
When he told me all of that tonight, I said to him that I was in shock. As I said before, he's been great to me thus far. When I had problems with my debit card and couldn't get money, he generously offered to help me out and literally emptied his wallet for me.
But I laid it out to him like this: I'm LOSING 40k a month in taxes, and then another 70ish a month in not getting pension, AND I have no health insurance, all so HE can SAVE money. That's a bs way to treat your employees, and I let him know. He said if he does all that for me, he'd have to do it for the Korean employees, too, or it wouldn't be fair. I said guess what? It's already not fair.
Anyway, we had a protracted discussion. It's a crap situation that is putting a major damper on the enjoyment of my job, which I otherwise love. I could play hardball with him, and I told him that, but I also said I expect him to get it taken care of so I don't have to do that. So, we'll see.
Q. |
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flotsam
Joined: 28 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 4:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Qinella wrote: |
In case anyone is still reading this thread...
I had the talk tonight, and here's some information you may find interesting.
It turns out that, the way the contracts are written, and the reason why I'm being taxed 3.3%, I'm not classified as a "salary man". I'm privately employed. Now, my contract can be changed so that I'm a "salary man", but that would mean he'd be forced to pay into pension and give me government health insurance.
NOW. I know those last two words are gonna freak some of you out. Rest assured, I have been asking about health insurance for the past month. He keeps telling me he's working on it, and tries to put some of the blame on his secretary for not having taken care of it. He mentioned something about going through a non-government insurance program, which would supposedly cost less and cover more. Sounds too good to be true? I think so.
When he told me all of that tonight, I said to him that I was in shock. As I said before, he's been great to me thus far. When I had problems with my debit card and couldn't get money, he generously offered to help me out and literally emptied his wallet for me.
But I laid it out to him like this: I'm LOSING 40k a month in taxes, and then another 70ish a month in not getting pension, AND I have no health insurance, all so HE can SAVE money. That's a bs way to treat your employees, and I let him know. He said if he does all that for me, he'd have to do it for the Korean employees, too, or it wouldn't be fair. I said guess what? It's already not fair.
Anyway, we had a protracted discussion. It's a crap situation that is putting a major damper on the enjoyment of my job, which I otherwise love. I could play hardball with him, and I told him that, but I also said I expect him to get it taken care of so I don't have to do that. So, we'll see.
Q. |
Q-Dude. It really sounds like you are working for super-adjusshi. He is more than happy to look the man and empty his wallet with a flourish of patriarchal benefaction, but he's still just a material girl in a material world running an under-the-table-adjusshi-business making as much off his workers as possible. I also hate to pummel the obvious, but if this is the way he handles basic matters such as taxes and pensions, you know he's cutting corners elsewhere as well.
Adjusshis suck.
And, sorry, I get pension. |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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| Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 5:37 pm Post subject: |
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| flotsam wrote: |
Q-Dude. It really sounds like you are working for super-adjusshi. He is more than happy to look the man and empty his wallet with a flourish of patriarchal benefaction, but he's still just a material girl in a material world running an under-the-table-adjusshi-business making as much off his workers as possible. I also hate to pummel the obvious, but if this is the way he handles basic matters such as taxes and pensions, you know he's cutting corners elsewhere as well.
Adjusshis suck.
And, sorry, I get pension. |
Yes, I feel I've been deceived by him in several ways. There have been other surprises, though irrelevant to the thread topic.
It just confirms my belief that you can't trust anyone. Every time I trust someone in my life, they *beep* me over. It never fails. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 7:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Qinella wrote: |
In case anyone is still reading this thread...
I had the talk tonight, and here's some information you may find interesting.
(1) It turns out that, the way the contracts are written, and the reason why I'm being taxed 3.3%, I'm not classified as a "salary man". I'm privately employed. Now, my contract can be changed so that I'm a "salary man", but that would mean he'd be forced to pay into pension and give me government health insurance.
(2) NOW. I know those last two words are gonna freak some of you out. Rest assured, I have been asking about health insurance for the past month. He keeps telling me he's working on it, and tries to put some of the blame on his secretary for not having taken care of it. He mentioned something about going through a non-government insurance program, which would supposedly cost less and cover more. Sounds too good to be true? I think so.
(3) When he told me all of that tonight, I said to him that I was in shock. As I said before, he's been great to me thus far. When I had problems with my debit card and couldn't get money, he generously offered to help me out and literally emptied his wallet for me.
(4) But I laid it out to him like this: I'm LOSING 40k a month in taxes, and then another 70ish a month in not getting pension, AND I have no health insurance, all so HE can SAVE money. That's a bs way to treat your employees, and I let him know. He said if he does all that for me, he'd have to do it for the Korean employees, too, or it wouldn't be fair. I said guess what? It's already not fair.
(5) Anyway, we had a protracted discussion. It's a crap situation that is putting a major damper on the enjoyment of my job, which I otherwise love. I could play hardball with him, and I told him that, but I also said I expect him to get it taken care of so I don't have to do that. So, we'll see.
Q. |
(numbers are mine)
1. That's pure BS. Are you on a E-2 visa? Are you sponsored by him and is the location of your school on your card. Then you are NOT privately employed. And if you are paid a fixed rate, then you are on salary. What he told you is completely untrue.
2. Some hakwon owners have deals with certain private clinics where they try to get their employees to sign up. Others just BS about it. Anyway it is mandatory that you have health insurance. What happens if you are hit by a car or worse?
3. That was nice of him...but even if he helped you out once or twice, he is still screwing you the rest of the time. Don't let him pull this guilt trip on you. You are entitled to what is in your contract.
4. Tell him something like this " Why don't we let the Korean employees deal with their own contract problems? I'm not responsible for them or for whatever bad deals they made with you. That's between them and you and has NOTHING to do with me. Besides they're not entitled to know what my salary and benefits are. They have a support system here (their family, citizenship) that I'm not entitled to.
5. It's good that you had a discussion, but try and remember to be polite. I understand that you are angry and you certainly have a right to be...BUT if you make him "lose face", he's liable to dig in his heels. And that won't be good for either party. Polite but firm. Play "the Korean employees have a support system, so it's fair" card for all it's worth.
Bottom line, . I really don't see you getting everything you asked for. Sure it's possible but unlikely because the way he will see it, you are taking everything and giving nothing. IF you wish to keep the job and maintain a good relationship you could say something like: "Tell you what. I know the money situtation isn't good. So I'll make you a deal. If I get pension, I'll waive the health insurance" Or vice versa. It depends on what's most important to you. You could go for broke of course, but that could be risky.
Anyway I hope things work out for you. Hang on in there. |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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| Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 11:41 pm Post subject: |
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| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
(numbers are mine)
1. That's pure BS. Are you on a E-2 visa? Are you sponsored by him and is the location of your school on your card. Then you are NOT privately employed. And if you are paid a fixed rate, then you are on salary. What he told you is completely untrue.
2. Some hakwon owners have deals with certain private clinics where they try to get their employees to sign up. Others just BS about it. Anyway it is mandatory that you have health insurance. What happens if you are hit by a car or worse?
3. That was nice of him...but even if he helped you out once or twice, he is still screwing you the rest of the time. Don't let him pull this guilt trip on you. You are entitled to what is in your contract.
4. Tell him something like this " Why don't we let the Korean employees deal with their own contract problems? I'm not responsible for them or for whatever bad deals they made with you. That's between them and you and has NOTHING to do with me. Besides they're not entitled to know what my salary and benefits are. They have a support system here (their family, citizenship) that I'm not entitled to.
5. It's good that you had a discussion, but try and remember to be polite. I understand that you are angry and you certainly have a right to be...BUT if you make him "lose face", he's liable to dig in his heels. And that won't be good for either party. Polite but firm. Play "the Korean employees have a support system, so it's fair" card for all it's worth.
Bottom line, . I really don't see you getting everything you asked for. Sure it's possible but unlikely because the way he will see it, you are taking everything and giving nothing. IF you wish to keep the job and maintain a good relationship you could say something like: "Tell you what. I know the money situtation isn't good. So I'll make you a deal. If I get pension, I'll waive the health insurance" Or vice versa. It depends on what's most important to you. You could go for broke of course, but that could be risky.
Anyway I hope things work out for you. Hang on in there. |
Yeah that's all good advice. During our conversation, I was definitely polite. The way I look at it, and explained it to him, is that it's just business. Money talk is money talk, and as I used to work in a bank, talking about it is no big deal.
You mentioned striking a deal. Actually, the deal I proposed and asked him to think about was letting me do privates with his good graces, and then I'll waive the rest of the stuff. He was worried about the risk of me getting caught and he losing a teacher, so he's going to look into doing privates for our current students whose parents want it, that way it's still kosher. That'll be cool if it happens.
Today, though, I got word that it's all good. New tax rate, pension, insurance, starting asap. Apparently, he talked to some other hagwon owners and they urged him to make the necessary changes.
So, that's great news, I think.
Q. |
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