Korean Job Discussion Forums

[alan]

I have been informed by my college very recently (10 months into my contract) that severence pay is included in my monthly salary and is not paid in a one-month lump sum at the end of the contract. Wow! What a pleasant surprise! I know this is Korea, but am I missing something?

No mention of severence pay was in my contract whether it be monthly or year-end. I chose to work at this college on recommendation from a colleague, so I believed that usual severence pay was a given and went without saying. I know, "welcome to Korea," right? But the payment of severence at a college is Korean law, is it not? Does it have to be stated in a written contract?

Has anyone heard of such a monthly system for paying severence? If such a system exists, perhaps the college's only wrong is not informing me about this a long time ago and I was stupid not to ask. Any information or links would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

P.S. I checked the EFL Law site, but it is not clear whether I can receive severence if it is not in my contract and there is no mention of a "hidden in monthly salary" system.

[whatthefunk]

Well, if its not in jour contract then you obviously cant recieve it. Should have read more carefully...
Dont know about whether its law or not, but I think that if it was, it would be in the contract.

[Bulsajo]

Sorry WhattheFunk, you are incorrect.
Severance pay is governed by Korean Labor law- it doesn't neccessarily have to be written into a contract for someone to receive it.
As for paying severance in monthly increments, I don't know.

There's already a thread going on about severance pay that you should check out:

Severance Pay

[kylehawkins2000]

I've never "paid" severence pay. I don't think it's usual to have any sort of deductions taken off your pay cheque.

The Labor Standards Act states that after 12 months your employer owes you severence equal to 10% of your pay. You are entitled to receive it regardless of it being included in your contract or not.

Has your employer given you extra pay each month that would work out to an extra months pay at over the course of the year?

[alan]

Thanks a lot for the info guys. I'll definately check out that thread Bulsajo. To answer your question Kyle, a salary increase for foreign profs. came into effect this year prior to the time I fully accepted the position and signed a contract.

At the time, I was told that in return for the higher 2003 salary the college pres. wanted me to work a summer program without compensation. Interesting, huh? Of course, I refused to do so without additional pay. As a result, I ended up working the summer program and did receive additional income.

Interestingly, on my pay stubs there is no sign of this invisible severence deduction or inclusion or whatever one might call it. It amazes me that I am the one paying the severence here out of what I was told was my monthly salary. Certainly sounds fishy. I just need some hard facts.

[kylehawkins2000]

If you work for 12 months you are entitled to one months severence pay. That is a fact.

[Guest]