Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Picotrain]

Hello,

Just a quick question: Does Korea have a law regarding how much people get paid for overtime? At my school we get paid 15,000 won, I think, but this actually works out to be slightly less than if you divided the amount of classes you work by how much you get paid (eg. I get paid 2,150,000 per month and I work about 34 classes per week, so I get paid about 15,800 won per class). In some countries overtime is 1.5 times the normal salary.

Any help would be appreciated.

[ajgeddes]

34 hours a week is a LOT of work. Anyways, 20,000 seems to be the average pay for OT. In most countries...... not in Korea. Last year and this year, my OT salary was actually less than what I was really making an hour. My OT salary is also 20,000 as are most jobs in public schools and many that are at hagwons. I have seen some offering only 18,000 or 19,000 for OT.

[jacl]

OT is a strange thing. The only law I'm aware of is working over six hours in one day. It goes by day, not by week o month.

With the type of contracts we sign, the situation is a daily schedule from said hour to said hour. Within those hours, usually we sign for 120 hours/month which is really just a four week estimate. The contracts are for 30 hrs/wk. The 120 hr thing is just BS. Contracts should state that each day has no more than six teaching hours and the hours should be defined (like 50 minutes). Anything outside of six teaching hours is OT and anything time required to be at the hagwon outside your daily schedule is also OT. That's it.

OT is more beneficial to hagwon teachers then it would be for regular workers in Korea (if these workers only get OT after 40 or 44 hours/week). Usually teachers get 20,000/hr for OT. 15,000 is quite low since it's teaching 6 hours is a little much in the first place. Especially if there's any waiting time to teach the OT. That's where it gets a little tricky. Say your schedule is 2-9 and you teach your 6 hours withing this time. Then your boss wants you to teach an hour from 10-11 after your shift or 12-1 before your shift. In such cases, your boss isn't obligated to pay you for the time you spend in limbo.

Also, if your boss needs you to work OT, by law you're required to for up to a certain amount, but there are probably some discrepencies there such as it outside of your scheduled hours. For example, let's just say your contracted schedule is 2-9. That's 35 hours/wk. If the boss requires you to be there for 44 (or 40 - not sure what the figure is by law), you could be required to work that if it's all in one block. Your boss has to compensate you for all that time though. I believe that if it's not hours in succession then you would be off the hook if you didn't want to do it.

If you don't want to work OT, you could always just refuse to. Law or no law.

[Picotrain]

Just to clarify, I'm contracted for 36 classes per week, with each class being 40 minutes in length. Comparatively the workload is quite high, I gather, since many people here teach only 20 - 30 classes per week. Some may teach even less.

[jacl]

The pay doesn't seem too bad to me. The OT is low. If you're teaching 34 classes on a 36 hour contract, you're not doing any OT. Usually contracts are for 120 hrs/month which really translates into 30 hours/wk. They usually go by number of hrs/wk, not classes/wk.

What does your contract say? What's your contracted schedule?

[Grotto]

What your contract says about overtime is the rate.

Yet another reason to 'nitpick' your contract before you arrive!

Overtime rates on a salary of 2 mil should be 25,000 won an hour IMHO

I feel for the OP though...anyone who teaches more than 6 classes a week is getting screwed(unless they are paid accordingly, 2.8+)

[jacl]

[Picotrain]

[laogaiguk]

No advice, just my sympathies

[jacl]

[TheUrbanMyth]

[Picotrain]

[Grotto]

[jacl]

[Pak Yu Man]

15k an hour...that really sucks.
I'm not bragging (actually I am), but I make 32k an hour overtime. You can do better than 15.