Korean Job Discussion Forums

[soulsurfer]

Hey, I'm talking with a recruiter and he gave me some sample contracts from 2 schools which he wants to set me up with. I was looking at some of the conditions and I was curious if they seem standard.

First of all, in one there is pension tax, while there isn't in the other. Is there a reason for that? This is the wording:
A.Except for the period of orientation and training, the Institute will pay the Teacher a total monthly basic salary of 2,000,000 Korean Won.
The monthly salary is calculated on the basis of the monthly days. The payment will be made on 15th day of the following the month. Korean income tax, National Pension and Medical Insurance will be withheld from the monthly salary.

Working hours:
I've read on these forums that anything more than 60 minute classes will drive you bonkers. Why is that. These are the class time amounts for that school. Is that unreasonable?
A.The Teacher will have at least 21(80 minute) classes per teaching week. Monday through Friday are teaching days except for scheduled public holidays and vacation days.

Housing: This is a long one. I'm sorry for making the post long. I'm trying to selectively post parts of interest or possible areas for warnings. I'm not sure what's common. For this school, the living space is about 15 pyung (which I hear is 3.3m? At first I was told 3.3m x 3.3m was correct, but that would be very very big. So I take it to mean 3.3 sq. meters)
3.Housing
A.The Institute will select and provide furnished living accommodation for the Teacher
i.Single housing with furnishings will be supplied by the Institute or,
ii.Shared housing with furnishings : In this case, each Teacher will be
provided his/her own private room
iii.Furnishings will include Air-conditioning, TV, refrigerator, wardrobe,
range, bed & Korean style bedding.
B.The Teacher is responsible for the monthly apartment utility charges (electricity, garbage removal, water charges etc.) and the monthly apartment management charge (guards, elevator use etc.)
C.Normal wear and tear maintenance needing to be accomplished on the apartment or furnishings will be paid for by the Institute. In the event the damage is due to the Teacher��s negligence, the Teacher will be charged for the accomplished maintenance.
D.The Teacher agrees to pay 600,000 Won during the first three months of employment as a housing management deposit. This deposit is to cover unpaid monthly services, utilities, telephone charges, etc. The Institute will deduct 200,000 Won per month for the first 3 months where the Teacher makes their total base salary (i.e. a full month��s work). This deposit will be paid back to the Teacher after all bills that he/she is responsible for have been paid.
E.If the Institute selects the Single housing, the Teacher has to share the housing with the former teacher(when the Teacher arrives) and the latter teacher(when the Teacher leaves) for at most 10 days, respectively.

Regarding termination/quitting: This school also has the stipulation for quitting (even with 45 day notice) or firing that: the Teacher shall reimburse the Institute as liquidated damages all expenses incurred in anticipation of the Employment of Teacher which include airfare, and the recruiting fee on a pro-rated basis.

Does that seem common? It makes me very uneasy, especially considering some of the horror stories about bad schools.
Overall, my feeling is to avoid this school. It looks nice and has nice looking living quarters, but I feel like there might be a tight grip to the family jewels in this contract.

[J.B. Clamence]

An academic hour is 50 minutes, so 21 80-minute classes a week works out to over 140 academic hours a month. That's kind of a lot.

If I were you, I would not want the institute to have the "option" of giving you shared housing.

It really sucks that they make you wait 15 days to get paid for the previous month, although I don't honestly know how common that is.

It is standard (not to mention the law, provided they have at least 5 employees) for them to provide you with a pension plan, which you pay half and they match your payments, and at the end you get it all. Unless you come from some certain countries like New Zealand, in which case you'll never see that money again, so you're actually better off without one (even though you're supposed to have one).

For me the magic number is teaching hours. I would imagine one should be able to do better than 140+ hours a month. That's a bit rough. But then again, I am pretty lazy.