Korean Job Discussion Forums

[happiness]

Ok, so I wanted the position, everything is laid out in the contract, and Im not a newbie.
One thing is for the 1st paycheck, there was no insurance, and when I asked about it, they said the long time teacher they had before (its an after school program) didnt want it (he wanted to take as much as of his paycheck home), so they thought I was the same. I told them I wanted insurance.

So, they went to the office and said my previous job didnt pay for the first and last months I was there, so I had to pay for that, 160 or so. I let it go, because my last place was very generous with me, so thats no biggie. Then I was asked to pay for the 3 months I was working (incl this month), but I had to pay the 1st month all by myself. (thats an extra 42).
So thats odd, but its not unreasonable. I want to have insurance. Even though Korea is cheap, insurance is still a good deal here.

Now, today I asked about the pension, and they said that was also optional. Ive payed into this system for about 10 years, and all of a sudden its optional? Im coming up to my 3rd paycheck, and Im coming off a LOR from my last job. So I will sign a new contract in March. Should I wait until then to start the pension, or do it right now?

Im wondering if I do it in March, theyll tell me I have to pay up for the 5 months I worked (from when I transferred from my old job, now 3 months in), and that will not be a nice chunk out....

It seems very unorthdox, but I think theyre rather decent people. Sure they may want to screw their people, but theyve been rather upfront with me about everything, showing me every deduction, etc and getting me to approve it.

Ideas? Thanks

[Troglodyte]

Before replying to the rest of your post let me point something out that you might not have known. (If you do already know about it... oh well. Better safe than sorry.)

You mention that you've been paying into pension for 10 year. If that's 10 years continually and you have never collected pension when you left Korea, then consider doing so NOW! When you collect pension when leaving the country, you can only collect contributions made in the last 10 years. Anything older than that is only useful to you if you actually retire here or if your home country has an agreement where it can be transferred to your home country's pension system. Otherwise, it's gone.

If you've been here that long, then I would guess that you probably already knew this but I just thought I'd put it out there in case you didn't.

[YTMND]

[happiness]

[Troglodyte]

[dairyairy]

[Troglodyte]

Regarding the insurance from you last job, that's up to you. For the current one, if your contract says 50-50, then that's what it is. Your boss should be paying his share. Same with pension. If not, go to the labor board to report him. The LB won't be able to do much about pension because the employer can make his contribution up until you finish the job. Still, you'll want to keep your pay slips to clearly show your contributions. If deductions are being made (i.e. you aren't being paid in full) then you can go to the LB. Then the employer will be asked why you weren't paid in full and have to show what those deductions were for. e.g. insurance, pension, tax. If the legit deductions don't add up to the actual deductions, then he'll be told to pay up and he'll go on record for it. If one of the deductions is for pension but it hasn't been paid to the pension office, then you go to the pension office to report it. They don't like to be cheated any more than you or I do and they have the power to enforce the rules (i.e. they can have the money taken directly from the school's bank account). You should also have pension taken care of so that it doesn't come back to haunt you at the next job. Businesses can also close up. If that happens, then you'll either have a very difficult time forcing your former employer to make his contributions or you might end up having to make the full contribution yourself.

[Troglodyte]

[happiness]

Im an American citizen, but not a mainlander, but I get the same deal as the US citizens.

thanks! anymore?

[Troglodyte]