Korean Job Discussion Forums

[D.D.]

Last year I was teaching one day a week at this one school. I did a after school class there and was paid 25 per student per month. It was a sweet deal. I worked between 3-5 classes per month depending on if there was holidays or 5 of that day in a month. I was always paid right after the month finished.

This year they said I would do the same thing but would have two classes a week and that that each class would come two days. So my classes went from 3-5 per month to between 16-20 depending on holidays or 5 weeks in the month. I am still only getting the same 25 per student.

There are a few more students this year so I am doing 4 times the work for just a litle more pay. On top of this they start excluding holidays and making all of the terms 5 weeks ( so 20 classes) rather then just sticking to month to month schedule.

Pay starts coming 9-10 days late and I have to keep asking when it will arrive.

Today I walk in and the co-teachers freaks and say that I am always being difficult.

Amazing how they keep manipulating the deal and then I am the bad guy for sticking up for myself.

After school classes are optional and I have opted out and I know the crap is going to hit the fan.

Amazing how we are not allowed to be strong without being called difficult.

[Otherside]

Ok, you are gonna have to give some more information in order to get a decent response, like... How many students per class? What contract are you on? How many classes are you required to teach a week, how many are you teaching, and what is the "forced overtime" clause (i.e. GEPIK contracts can force up to 6 hours of overtime at the going rate of W20,000/hour).

However, without this information I'm gonna throw a response out there.

I'm assuming 15 students in your class. At 25K a pop, that's 375K a month. With classes being cancelled, you say you are teaching 3-5 classes a month on average. That's 75K-125K/class!!?? Obviously, you've been doing really well, and someone in the accounting office realised that they are paying their waygook more than 3x the going rate for his classes, and now they are trying to get value.

Based my calculation above, if the 15 students were increased to 20, and you have to teach 16-20 classes a month, you are still getting 500K/month and that still works out to 25K-31K/class, which is on par (or marginally better) than the going rate.

So in conclusion, sure it sucks, you were on a great wicket, earning way more than you are worth (no offense intended), and now you've been cut down to size getting a more realistic deal. Do you have a legitimate complaint? NO. But you've got some nice material to bitch about at the bar.

Regarding the late pay, yes, it's unacceptable. No comment on the co-teacher freaking out (you didn't really give any information).

[lifeinkorea]

I don't understand the 25 per student. 25,000 won per student? Or did you mean you are getting paid for classes of up to 25 students?

[yingwenlaoshi]

Very difficult.

[jonbowman88]

For my extra classes my school made me sign a seperate contract. I however only get 4000w per student. Anyways everything should be in your contract (amount of money and number of classes) If it differs you have reason to complain.

[Morgen]

I'd say you're being a bit difficult, honestly -- not about the late pay, but about the classes. I know that once you get used to money for practically nothing it's pretty jarring to be given a normal workload, but that is much more than a fair rate for afterschool classes. Assuming you have at least 45 students total, that's slightly more than I make for the same schedule and I feel overpaid for how little work it is. As far as I know I'm the only person in my city who's even paid for them. Be flattered that they want you to teach more, I guess.

I also signed an extra contract, which makes things MUCH easier for everyone. I would tactfully suggest this so you can clarify the payment situation.