Korean Job Discussion Forums

[niandralades]

Hi, I hope some of you will give me some opinions on how easy it would be for me to quit my job. I do want to stay in Korea, or at least come back sometime within the next few months, so I don't want to do a runner. This is the contract. It looks pretty simple and somewhat vague to me about whether any penalty will be levied at all for quitting early.



Employment Contract



This contract subjects the employer, , and the employee, , to the following conditions and terms:

Position: The employer agrees to hire the employee to fill the position of English Language Instructor and all duties therein for the duration of one year.

Period of employment: The employee will start August 10, 2006 and work until August 10, 2007.

Salary: A monthly salary of 2,200,000 Korean Won will be guaranteed for the basic 30 classes(40-55 minutes) per week.

Overtime: The employer agrees to pay overtime at a rate of 20,000 Korean Won per hour (60 minutes, not by class) for teaching in excess of the required 30 classes per week.

Pay Cycle: Salaries are paid once per month on the anniversary day of each month, beginning one month after arrival.

Completion Bonus: Upon completion of the 12th month contract, the employer will pay the equivalent of one month�s salary as a completion bonus. ?
Medical Insurance: 50% of medical insurance, as required by Korean law for all alien residents, is provided by ***************** School. Coverage includes emergency medical services for accidental injury and/or illness associated with, caused by, or due to working at **************** School. Preexisting conditions, dental, and cosmetic surgery (and similar non-vital medical services) are not included.

Korean Income Tax: The employee must pay 3.3% income tax as required by Korean law.

Teaching Hours: The employee shall be required to work Monday to Friday, 2:30pm-10:30pm with breaks.

Transit to and from Korea: The employer will provide round trip air tickets.

Housing: The employer will provide a private furnished living accommodation with a TV, bed, and kitchen set.?
Utilities: To be paid monthly by the employee for services such as electric fee, water fee, and gas fee. (approximately USD$30 - $40 total)

Paid Annual Leave: The employee shall receive a total 10 days vacation / sick leave according to the schedule of the school session break:
The employee may choose 5 days with administration approval
The employer shall provide 3 days during the summer break and 2 days during the winter break.

Duties of the Employee: The employee shall cooperate and comply with the instruction, training, and requests of the director and shall carry out such assignments as directed by the director:
Instruction in any and all phases of the institutes program to classes that range from elementary school to adult.
Curriculum design and implementation
Development of education program and materials
Out of the classroom activities for/with students when acting on behalf of Miltan
Students� evaluation
Attendance at teachers� meetings and workshops
Submitting daily reports?
Dinner: Dinner will be provided for free by the employer on work days. In addition, milk, juice, coffee, bread and other snacks will be made available to the employee at no charge.

Dress Code: At all times during the term of this contract, males are to wear semi-formal business dress. Females are to wear semi-formal business dresses, skirt-suits, or pant-suits and similar outfits accordingly.

Resignation Notice: The employee will agree to inform the employer at least two months in advance of any significant changes in plan which might have any bearing on the employee�s period of employment and his/her ability to complete the term of employment.

Termination: The employer and employee agree that this agreement is fully legal and binding under the laws of the Republic of Korea and may be terminated by the employer at any time should one of the following conditions arise:
The employee or any of his/her dependents act in violation of Korean law.
The employer discovers that any documents or information provided by the employee regarding his/her credentials or qualifications for employment have been falsified or deliberately fabricated.
The employee�s conduct seriously jeopardizes any student or staff member or reveals a damaging drug or substance addiction.


Sole Employment Provider: ************** School shall be the sole employer for the employee in South Korea. The employee shall not seek any forms of outside sources of income without written authorization from *************** School. Heavy penalty shall be applied if the employee violates this condition.

Alien Employment Laws: This agreement will be governed by the appropriate laws of the Republic of Korea.?
The following Employment Agreement is made between the parties of:?

[niandralades]

I apologize for the formatting. I was not sure how else to post the contract....please take a look and let mek now if two months notice will be enough. Thank you.

[ttompatz]

[niandralades]

Thank you for the response...I would like to avoid a midnight runner because I would like to come back and save a little more money in the future. Sounds like I have some more thinking to do..

[Grotto]

[antoniothegreat]

you could just make him fire you. like after a pay day, "get sick" for a long time and keep coming in late, all that bad stuff, until they eventually fire you. i dont know if you would need a letter of release at that point, but it is an idea...
a bad one...

[niandralades]

Grotto, you're the contract mastermind that I hoped would reply. I've read a lot of your posts about the tax and pension and confronted my boss about it last month. He told me something about being a freelance teacher and that I had to pay 3.3% and if I paid pension I would have to pay death insurance, life insurance, injury insurance......etc......

I couldn't get him to budge so I agreed to take a small cash bonus every month. Now, just one month later, he is trying to tax it all as income earned at the 3.3%. I tried to be negotiable but he was set in his ways and continued to tell me that because of Korean custom I am paying what every hagwon teacher is paying. I couldn't win. The last thing I want to do is to seal my fate in Korea by not getting a release letter. Does he have to give me a release letter if I quit legally? If I get fired?

[Grotto]

your boss is lying to you...no big surprise there.

If you give your boss written notice and get him to sign it showing that you have given him notice you can give him a letter of release as well. If he refuses to sign it then you can take it all to the labour board and they MAY waive the letter of release. He cannot withhold a letter of release if you acted in good faith.

Another option is to get in touch with the labour board first. Tell them that you are quitting/giving notice and ask what their advice is. As long as you have some proof that you gave notice then you should be okay!

[alabamaman]

Employment Contract



This contract subjects the employer, , and the employee, , to the following conditions and terms:

Position: The employer agrees to hire the employee to fill the position of English Language Instructor and all duties therein for the duration of one year.

Period of employment: The employee will start August 10, 2006 and work until August 10, 2007.

The contract term is from August 10, 2006 until August 10, 2007. In addtition, the employee will begin working as well as participating in any work related activities for the employer when Korean Immigration Officials have issued the employee an E2 Visa.

Employers omit "employee will begin working as well as participating in any work related activities for the employer when Korean Immigration Officials have issued the employee an E2 Visa" from labor contracts because employees are expected to start ASAP! If Korean Immigration Officials catch you without an E2 Visa at your workplace, then they will deport you!



Salary: A monthly salary of 2,200,000 Korean Won will be guaranteed for the basic 30 classes(40-55 minutes) per week.



Overtime: The employer agrees to pay overtime at a rate of 20,000 Korean Won per hour (60 minutes, not by class) for teaching in excess of the required 30 classes per week.

Overtime is usually the same as regular classes. This ought to be changed! The overtime pay is low anyway, and should be increased to 25,000 Won per overtime hour!

Pay Cycle: Salaries are paid once per month on the anniversary day of each month, beginning one month after arrival.

The date of pay should be specified in every labor contract! You should settle for no later than the 5th of the following month throughout the contract period.

Completion Bonus: Upon completion of the 12th month contract, the employer will pay the equivalent of one month�s salary as a completion bonus.

Medical Insurance: 50% of medical insurance, as required by Korean law for all alien residents, is provided by ***************** School. Coverage includes emergency medical services for accidental injury and/or illness associated with, caused by, or due to working at **************** School. Preexisting conditions, dental, and cosmetic surgery (and similar non-vital medical services) are not included.

This is another poorly written clause. A medical insurance clause as well as income tax clause should be detailed in any labor contract!

Well written medical insurance clause:

The employer will deduct 2.24% from the employee's monthly salary in the amount of _________________ Korean Won throughout contract period, and pay deductions to the National Health Insurance Corporation.


Furthermore, The sum of 3 month contributions in the amount of ____________ of Korean Won shall be prepaid every month by the employer to be paid to the National Health Insurance Corporation.

The employer agrees to enroll the employee in the Korean National Healthcare Plan 3 working days after Korean Immigration Officials have issued the employee an E2 Visa.



Korean Income Tax: The employee must pay 3.3% income tax as required by Korean law.

This is a poorly written income tax clause, and the income taxes aren't 3.3%.

Well written tax clause:

The employer will deduct __________ Korean Won from the employee's monthly salary throughout the contract period, and pay deductions to the District Tax Office concerned.

No Korean Pension Fund? This seems a little shady.

Teaching Hours: The employee shall be required to work Monday to Friday, 2:30pm-10:30pm with breaks.

You're entitled to a one "recess period" since you work 8 hours per day according to Article 53 of the Labor Standards Act. You should get this written in your labor contract.

You may ask if you need to do preparation work throughout the contract that you should get paid for!

Transit to and from Korea: The employer will provide round trip air tickets.

Airfare

Employers should purchase roundtrip airfare from and to the nearest international airport to your home. Employers may ask you to reimburse them for the total cost of the airfare for dismissal, or resignation any time throughout the contract period. Ask that airfare reimbursements are waived after completing 6 months of employment. Furthermore, there should be contractual language stating how much the airfare cost.

There should also be contractual language regarding the Visa Run. Your employer should pay for the E2 Visa processing fee, roundtrip ferry faire (Busan to Fukoka), and lodging fees.

Housing: The employer will provide a private furnished living accommodation with a TV, bed, and kitchen set.

In my opinion, this is an extremely vague housing clause.

Accommodation

The following items should be in working condition, and your apartment should be clean upon arrival.

Bed
Desk
Closet
Table
TV
Washing machine
Clothes rack
Pots
Pans
Dishes
Forks/Knives/Spoons
Phone
Refrigerator
Stove
Air conditionar
Heating system


Utilities: To be paid monthly by the employee for services such as electric fee, water fee, and gas fee. (approximately USD$30 - $40 total)

Paid Annual Leave: The employee shall receive a total 10 days vacation / sick leave according to the schedule of the school session break:
The employee may choose 5 days with administration approval
The employer shall provide 3 days during the summer break and 2 days during the winter break.

"Paid Sick Days:" 3... Get this written in any labor contract

Most teachers take 5 consecutive days of paid leave during the summer and 5 consecutive days of paid leave during the winter. That's the norm unless it has changed recently. I would see if you could work that deal out with this hagwon owner. There should also be contractual language stating you're entitled to all Korean National Holidays throughout the contract period, and that no deductions in pay shall occur on such days.

Emergency Leave: 5-7 days of unpaid leave in the event of an death of a family member.

Duties of the Employee: The employee shall cooperate and comply with the instruction, training, and requests of the director and shall carry out such assignments as directed by the director:

That's common contractual language for hagwon contracts.

Instruction in any and all phases of the institutes program to classes that range from elementary school to adult.

Curriculum design and implementation

Omit curriculum design because it should be set in stone upon arrival in Korea. I think you wouldn't get paid for curriculum design, and it would be subject to change to keep all the parents happy. If Korean parents are happy, then bossman keeps making money!

Development of education program and materials

This automatically tells one that they are extremely disorganized, and you will pick up their "loose ends" due to extremely poor planning. Omit development of educational program and materials.

Out of the classroom activities for/with students when acting on behalf of Miltan

Students� evaluation

Are these written evaluations? Are they verbal evaluations? Are these report cards? Who will you be responsible for evaluating? Who do you submit the evaluations to? This should be defined in this labor contract.

Attendance at teachers� meetings and workshops

1 workshop per month

Submitting daily reports

Omit this contractual language because this will add up to be way to much work! You probably will be working past your hours completing these daily reports. In my opinion, monthly reports would make sense.


Dinner: Dinner will be provided for free by the employer on work days. In addition, milk, juice, coffee, bread and other snacks will be made available to the employee at no charge.

This is good. However, your entitled to use your recess period freely according to Korean Labor Laws. You don't have to stay on property, and there should be contractual language stating, "the employee shall use his hour recess period freely."

Dress Code: At all times during the term of this contract, males are to wear semi-formal business dress. Females are to wear semi-formal business dresses, skirt-suits, or pant-suits and similar outfits accordingly.



Resignation Notice: The employee will agree to inform the employer at least two months in advance of any significant changes in plan which might have any bearing on the employee�s period of employment and his/her ability to complete the term of employment.

30 days is acceptable!

Termination: The employer and employee agree that this agreement is fully legal and binding under the laws of the Republic of Korea and may be terminated by the employer at any time should one of the following conditions arise:

The employee or any of his/her dependents act in violation of Korean law.

This does conform witih Korean Labor Laws as a justifiable reason for dismissal, but it would work in your favor if it was written as "The employee or any of his/her dependents act in violation of Korean Law."

The employer discovers that any documents or information provided by the employee regarding his/her credentials or qualifications for employment have been falsified or deliberately fabricated.
The employee�s conduct seriously jeopardizes any student or staff member or reveals a damaging drug or substance addiction.

There is no contractual language stating when the employee can terminate this labor contract. If the employer Violates the comditions of Employment, Articles 26 of the Labor Standards Act, the employee may terminate the labor contract entirely!


Sole Employment Provider: ************** School shall be the sole employer for the employee in South Korea. The employee shall not seek any forms of outside sources of income without written authorization from *************** School.

You also need authorization from Korean Immigration Officials, and you should get this written in any labor contract.

Heavy penalty shall be applied if the employee violates this condition.

Your employer cannot enter a penalty into a labor contract for preditermined nonobservance of a labor contract. Remove this penalty phrase!



Alien Employment Laws: This agreement will be governed by the appropriate laws of the Republic of Korea.?
The following Employment Agreement is made between the parties of

Documents: (Contractual language stating the following shall be attached to the employees labor contract when the employer issues the labor contract to the employee in South Korea)

Application for confirmation of Visa Issuance
Certificate of Employment

[Junior]