Korean Job Discussion Forums

romano812 · Joined: 09 Dec 2008

I know this sounds trivial but I have just noticed my employer regularly pays me 7 days or more later than my contract states. Is this considered a breach of contract? I ask because I am presently battling with my employer over my contract and would like to get out of my contract and leave. My contract clearly states the date of pay and my bank book clearly shows the deposit date. Do you think this is enough for me to simply walk away from the contract without giving notice or without having problems with immigration, etc...?

Chambertin · Joined: 07 Jun 2009 Location: Gunsan

Anyone can just go home, but if you want to work again you need a letter of release. Well, work again before that visa you are on now expires.

It is a breach of contract, but I'm guessing late pay not the only thing wrong.

If you want to do it legal print out a letter of release, give it to them with a 30 day notice (or whatever day per contract) and take it from there. Maybe the threat of leaving properly will give you some leverage to fix the situation.

romano812 · Joined: 09 Dec 2008

I should have mentioned I have another post down lower titled "what would you do" that details all the stuff I am going through. In my contract it states 60 day notice for quitting, but I expect if I do the 60 day route there will be more shady issues to deal with. I've had 2 good years in Korea and now unfortunately on my third contract I'm getting the run around. At this point I just want out. No more dealings or arguements with my employer. So I'm really wondering if this late pay every month will do it without me actually breaking the contract. To me they have broken an item clearly stated in the contract, so why would I have to fulfill my contract obligations further? It's not that I really care about the late pay, it's just they are screwing me on many ssues and I want out.

Chambertin · Joined: 07 Jun 2009 Location: Gunsan

You probably know more about Korea than I, but an employment contract isnt broken and null just for late pay. The employer can come up with a myriad of conditions and problems which will make the late pay cleary not their fault.

Putting in the letter is a condition. That you must receive a letter of release is a fact. Until you get that letter you are bound by the visa to work for only that school and any other employment will be a violation of the labor laws.

The only real option you have is to put in the letter. If they decide its in their best interest to give you the letter of release earlier than 60 days then they will.

If they act strange after you turn in the release, then by all means act strange back. As you said they breached the contract so there is little incentive for you to follow it, so dont.
However you need that letter of release, so convince then to get it to you ASAP.

romano812 · Joined: 09 Dec 2008

I have no intenton of returning to Korea, at least not in the foreseeable future. I'm just wondering if I should tell them they broke the contract and I'm leaving or if I shoul say nothing and just leave. If I get detained upon leaving can I then mention they have broken the contract. I realize late pay is a small issue but it still breaks the contract, does it not? Especially if it has happened three times.

cruisemonkey · Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 7:47 pm Post subject:

In K-land, late pay is not considered breach of contract until it is 14 days in arrears.

romano812 · Joined: 09 Dec 2008

can you cite a source for that 14 days?
Everything I've read indicates being late one time by one day is a breach of contract unless otherwise stated in the contract or unforeseen circumstances arise. Three times by a week or more is habitual and would be the equivalent of an employee showing up for work late on a regular basis would it not? Typically if an employee shows up late once they are given a warning, by the third time they are let go.
14 days may sound right for payments to contractors and suppliers, but not pay to employees.
According to the Korean Labor Standards website the following is true:

"Deductions and savings from your pay. An employer cannot force you to save or deposit a part of your salary or wage. In the event of your resignation or death your employer should pay your due wages within 14 days to either you or your family."

and

"Payment dates. The employer must pay you your full salary or wages in cash or bank deposit, on a specified date every month. This money must be given to you directly, and must be the total amount owed (other than set legal taxes) unless of course you have signed a separate agreement to allow money to be deducted from this pay. An example of a legal contract deduction would be a 'utility or housing bond' that is to be refunded at the end of the contract. The majority of Korean workplaces pay wages monthly."

Seriously, if you know the source for that 14 days let me know, I would love to read it.

Thanks.

lifeinkorea · Joined: 24 Jan 2009 Location: somewhere in China

Don't let the school think being paid late bothers you. You can take them to court and get paid later. It shouldn't matter to you. It should matter to them, because then they will be paying more.

Of course they should be paying you on time, but unless you are going to stick with them for 6 or more months, you need to work with them and not against them. Time is on their side, and they will take advantage of it if they know you are affected by it.

If you are going to stick with them for more than 6 months, go to the bank closest to your school on the next work day following pay day. Call them up from the bank and tell them you will stay at the bank until you are paid in full for last month's work.

After you get paid, go directly to school and teach as usual. Do your job.

If they want to fire you over it, then they have to give you a 30 day notice or pay you 2 months. They won't want to do that, so you should be seeing your money deposited within the hour.

I usually give a week (work week being 5 days), and then I talk to the school. I don't talk to them in their office. I don't ask them in between breaks. I make a bold demanding action to get what is rightfully mine.

If you just casually talk to these schools about issues, they will simply ignore you. If they see paying you will bring things back to normal, then it's in their best interest to do so. I have done this with 2 hagwons and 1 public school when they tried to underpay me or not pay me at all.

iggyb · Joined: 29 Oct 2003

If you are going to leave Korea for an extended time, perhaps forever, just go.

You seem to fear that they will do something to stop you at immigration or whatnot. I don't think that is likely at all. Just leave.

Even if you are stopped at immigration, what could they do?

I left a contract, with ample notice, to go back to the US to be with family after my grandfather died. I came back to Korea shortly before the visa for that school ran out. I got a release letter and new number for getting a new visa and left to go to Japan.

It was a few weeks or a month past the expiration date on my old visa.

At the check in for the airline, the agent asked a lot of questions about the visa. I explained to him I was going to Japan to do a visa run, but for some reason, he decided to take me to immigration.

They just said the same thing he had said to me --- if I tried to come back to Korea from Japan without a new visa, they wouldn't allow me in.

--- Since you are leaving Korea, you probably wouldn't have any trouble at immigration in the airport even if the school tried to make trouble. They'd probably just watch you get on the plane for home and say goodbye.

lifeinkorea · Joined: 24 Jan 2009 Location: somewhere in China

romano812 · Joined: 09 Dec 2008

So, at last conversation I had with the school I suggested I give my 60 day notice and leave at that time. That would put us at the end of September and that way I honor my contract. Now I see they have already posted my position and want a teacher to start for September 1st. So, basically they are just going to boot me when it suits their needs.

lifeinkorea · Joined: 24 Jan 2009 Location: somewhere in China

Then they have to formally give you 30 day notice. Have they done it?

romano812 · Joined: 09 Dec 2008

My contract states 15 days
So if this is the case, I assume they have to pay up until the end of those 15 days. I don't expect to see the money, but this is what they should do.
No, at this point they haven't given me a letter or indicated that they plan on firing me.
I have 5 days of work left before vacation. By the end of my vacation the 15 days will be over.

chris_J2 · Joined: 17 Apr 2006 Location: From Brisbane, Au.

If you quit before 6 months into the contract, you have to reimburse them the airfare over, plus the 300,000 won (public schools provide this when you start, but I'm not sure about hagwons?).

Do you have a job to go back to in the US? Would you consider working in Dubai or UAE, if not?

Now is not a good time to quit, with the global economy in a mess, & the job market in Korea being flooded with new, unemployed applicants. I'd have a new job lined up first, before you leave, or formally quit in writing.

The pay date for public schools is the 17th of each month. Contact your POE in Gepik / Epik, if requests to your school's admin to pay your salary on that date, are ignored.

iggyb · Joined: 29 Oct 2003

lifeinkorea,

This was back around 1998. Some things have changed in Visa regulations and procedures.

I left to go to the US. I returned using the Visa I had stamped in the passport that was still good for about another 2 months or less.

Then I got a release letter from my first school and went through the paperwork for a new Visa at my new school. When it was ready, I left for Japan with a return ticket for - actually - later that same day...

What the ticket agent for the airline saw was my passport and the old visa stamped in it which had expired some weeks earlier.

My best guess is that the guy at the counter was relatively new at the job, but that is just a guess - based on my previous experience in Korea and also how the people at the immigration office reacted when he approached them. They had an attitude like, "Why are you bothering me with this?" Not a negative attitude --- they just quickly decided there was no issue at hand worth considering... They just told me to make sure I got the new visa before coming back (that afternoon) or I would be blocked at immigration and not allowed in country.