Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Wurmwood]

Hi, everyone. Maybe I'm a little behind, but I just found out that these slander laws existed and after doing a search about it I also learned about blacklists made by hagwon owners against bad teachers. Let me see if I understand this correctly. If it turns out my school is run by a thieving crook, I'm not allowed to tell anyone about it even if I have documentation to prove everything and if I raise the issue with the labor department, the owner of the school can see to it I never find work in Korea again; is that correct? It seems hyperbolic, but how much truth to it is there?

I ask because it turns out my employer is shorting me on my pension and I'm afraid to report him if he can hurt my ability to find a new job. My contract is up in two months; I'm already looking for another job. I don't wanna rock the boat if this guy can make things difficult for me.

Also, the school I work for is a privately owned franchise from a large corporate chain. I worked at one of the corporate branches and didn't have any problems. It was a good school. I'm thinking of contacting the head office and letting them know that this guy's soiling their reputation. Would this be a good idea or would that somehow make me look bad. Would that violate the slander laws? You'd think reporting a shady school for bad business would be okay, but this is Korea, after all.

Anyway, just wanted to get some input on slander laws and blacklists and my specific situation, too. Thanks in advance.

[OculisOrbis]

how exactly is your employer shorting you? not paying at all or paying a reduced rate?

be aware that there is currently a pension scam against foreigners that has been gaining in popularity and is being supported by the other korean government offices. its the 30% reduction scheme. there's been other recents posts about it so i wont elaborate now, but if you provide some numbers, it's easy to identify

a second method is to not declare the employee to pension at all, deduct 4.5% and pocket it. this is easy to catch because you will also have not received your health insurance card. the pension and health offices are linked somehow for declaring an employee and their income for benefits.

the other popular scam is for employers to under-report a teacher's income - usually by about half of the actual - and make the normal 4.5% deduction from their salary. many teachers dont even know whats happening because they haven't checked with the pension office and believe they are receiving the full 9% benefit when in fact your employer is not contributing any part of their share.

in the latter two cases, you can wait and file a complaint at the pension office after you leave your current job if you are worried about repercussions for challenging their fraud. i believe you can make a claim at the pension office for up to the previous 3 years, so you have plenty of time to consider your options. in any case, you do not have any worries about libel or slander for reporting your employer to proper authorities for committing fraud against you and their own government

[Wurmwood]

Okay, I think I've got the blacklist part of my question covered. I ran another search and I've learned that there is a lot of skepticism about whether or not they exist or how many are out there, but it sounds like there are few, if any. There's also some question as to how effective they are and I now know that they're illegal.

All I know is that I'm paying about 94k a month toward my pension and all of the payments that have been made toward my pension have been 135k, which means my boss isn't matching my contributions as required. I believe he's also under-reporting my income. I jst went to the pension office today and got a print out and I'm not positive I'm reading it correctly, but it looks like he's reporting me as receiving 1.5 million a month instead of the 2.2 I'm suppose to be getting.

[OculisOrbis]

looks like theyve got you enrolled at pension using the 30% reduction method - nothing you can do about that - but theyre still deductiing your contribution based on the full amount. that means theyre stealing about 30 000 a month from you.

you would prob have to make a labor claim for illegal deductions, since as i said before, what's going to pension is correct (in their eyes). people have fought the 30% reduction scam and lost so i wouldnt even bother. you already have half the documentation you need to win at labor, now you just need your pay statements that show the difference between their pension deductions and their pension contributions proving that they are stealing from you.

just curious, but what are they deducting for your tax withholding? i'm betting that theyre taking too much here, too

you can check what it should be here:

http://www.nts.go.kr/eng/help/help_52.asp?top_code=H001&sub_code=HS05&ssub_code=HSE2

make sure you enter your income as 1540000, since they are using the 30% reduction already to determine your pension contribution. BTW tax is the only time the 30% reduction should be applied - not pension or health contribution calculation.

i just did the calc for you and they should only be withholding 11 500 for income tax each month and an additional 1500 for resident tax, so 13 000 total for all taxes.

[big_fella1]

Sorry I can't help you but for future employees, I think I have found a way around this scam.

Tell your pay office that you want your tax calculated on the 17% flat rate method (when they ask tell them it's due to your foreign income). This shouldn't affect your withholding installments but they cannot claim that your income can be reduced by 30% when they declare your income to the pension office.

In May file your own tax return using the 30% deduction method and voila, you are getting your correct pension contributions.

I need to check with the Tax Office on Monday if this will work.

[Wurmwood]

What about reporting my boss to the head office of the corporation he bought the franchise from? Good idea? Bad idea? Again, I use to work at one of the corporate branches. I had drinks with a guy from the head office. I've got enough of a connection; I can report this guy. Should I?

[big_fella1]

You could try this but it is possible that the head office invented the scam. Scam is my subjective western view but the Koreans look at it as a legitimate way to reduce what they see as the great expense of native teachers.

[cruisemonkey]