Korean Job Discussion Forums

[plokiju]

The school is called
Win School (Winschool) English Academy,
93-67, Beom-Eo dong,
Su-seong gu
Dae-gu

I work at their location in Sinmae-dong, though my contract has the other address listed. The owner's name is Su Bok Lee and his wife who is the director of my school in Ran Ok Kang.

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I've come to realize just how much my boss is cheating me and the severance works out to less than nothing so here's the math.

My boss doesn't pay into the pension.
Money saved: 2.2M x 4.5% x 12 months = 1,188,000

My boss had me teach morning classes in the summer. I was told I'd be paid overtime for every class but was paid according to the overtime hours. I was working Saturdays (not in my contract) for less hours per week (4 classes under the overtime threshold) so they basically lied and then screwed me out of more money because I did them a favour my working Saturdays. Doesn't make sense to me either.

23 unpaid classes at 15,000 won = 345,000 won

I also realized yesterday that my overtime wage is actually less than what I make for contract hours.

2.2M /(34 classes a week x 4 weeks)= 16,176 won per class (OT 15,000 ??)
16,176 x 1.25 (amount overtime should be)= ~20,000

44 classes x 20,000 = 880,000
880,000 - 315,000 (overtime they did pay me) = 565,000

I complained about the Saturday classes after I finally got underpaid for the summer classes a month late and they agreed to pay me the piddly overtime wage for them after I threatened to quit working them since they weren't in my contract but they neglected to ever pay me for them.

12 Saturday classes total x 15,000 won = 180,000
or
12 x 20,000 won = 240,000

My boss is also skimming off wages through excess taxes (5%) v. what they tax offer told me (3.3% with residency tax).

2.2M x 5% - 2.2M x 3.3% = 37,400 won
37,400 x 13 (including severance) = 486,200

My school has 2 locations and all the teachers live in the same building so my boss can save money on rent. He refuses to compensate the ones at the farther school for the subway. So this is what I pay solely to get to work everyday.

2 trips a day x 5 days a week x 4 weeks a month x 12 months a year x 720 won per trip = 345,600

This doesn't include various other ways he and his wife have tried to take withhold money from me. Accidentally charging me for the last teacher's phone bills or forgetting to pay overtime, trying to get me to work Saturdays and holidays (I stopped working Saturdays)

So here's the tally:
2.2M - (1,188,000 + 565,000 + 240,000 + 486,2000 + 345,600) =-624,800

That's right so not only has my boss not paid me fairly by denying overtime wages, paying minimal overtime, not contributing to the pension, forcing me to take the subway twice daily to save money on rent, but he can actually pay the entire severance payment and still have saved over 600,000 won.

How's that for a Halloween scare.

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I've actually filed a complaint with the labour board. I've been teaching at the school for 5 months. I'm not finishing my contract so I don't know whether to bother with the pension issue. Even if I only get the 15,000 won for overtime, the school still saves 345,000 won after the severance not counting money he saves by having me live in a building he owns 6 subway stops away. Oh, I also forgot to mention that there would be morning classes in January also so more potential for saving money. Probably enough to cover the airfare as well. So basically I'd make less than 15,000 per class after taxes and after having to pay to get to and from work, and have no severance or airfare (I suppose I do get accommodation). Meanwhile, he takes in a hell of a lot more than 15,000 per class from the students. So even after I net 2,040,000 won per month after overdeducted taxes and all I'm still being screwed out of over 2M won by the end of the year.

[ChuckECheese]

That's pretty sad but funny.

You should have done your math long time ago.

Your boss is probably laughing out of his ass to the bank.

[plokiju]

Shocking twist:

I was fired today.
Actually, it's not so shocking. Since the first trip to the labour board, my school has been trying to document every mistake I make. After that visit, they told me I needed to teach perfectly before I was able to demand anything from the school, able to demand money they actually owe me that is. I was sure they would try to fire me. I told them they couldn't fire me for going to the labour board and the vice director told me I was mistaken. So, I filed a formal complaint with them on Thursday and received my notice today.

It was full of references to minor classroom events (all the kids around the board to play hangman), a note of how I didn't show up for work on Saturday after I told them I wouldn't since Saturdays weren't in my contract, vague references to many students leaving the school or changing classes solely on the basis of my teaching inability (which explains why they gave me extra classes or why I'm the only foreign teacher that teaches the director's own son or the adult class or why I was given 2 more classes a week with the class I 'can't control'(?)). Those classes were actually outside my teaching hours so I told them I wouldn't teach them. Today that class had no teacher from 325-405 (my working hours are 4-10) because they didn't do anything about it.

They also only gave me one week's notice. 15 days in the contract. 30 by law. All of this to avoid going to the labour board with me which I will have to visit again because of the illegal firing and the money they've withheld and the recruiting fee and airfare they will deduct from my last paycheque. Luckily, I asked the labour board all about this on my last visit who confirmed they couldn't fire me or deduct those things from my wages. Bring it on Winschool.

PS Don't work for Winschool.

[babtangee]

Woh. Tell me you're gonna fight it. Did you say they weren't paying into pension? Which means you have no medical insurance? Don't you think you should inform the authorities? How many other teachers at your school? That could be a lot of pension funds you boss is skimming? Pension office won't like that.

[alffy]

[babtangee]

[alffy]

[alffy]

[plokiju]

Yeah, it isn't a bad thing at all. I was actually hoping they would fire me since I could prove to the labour board that I was fired illegally. (also avoid having to work another 2 months to quit penalty free). Their basis is either very recent (since my first trip to the labour board) or very vague and inconsistent or admitting to having me do things not in my contract. I wonder how the logic of firing me for not doing something I never agreed to do in the contract will go over at the labour board.

I'm going to go back to the labour board on Thursday since they will try to deduct the recruiting fee (which I know they paid 2 months late and told immigration there was no recruiter) and the airfare even though it specifically says it's only if the teacher breaks the contract that that stuff is owed. And I'm sure they are hoping that by firing me on my pay day, I'll forget about the 7 day holding period. I'm going to fight everything. I probably won't get a lot of it as far as overtime goes but I will make them fight to keep it and with the labour board's ruling I will go to small claims court. I don't know if I need a lawyer for that yet.

Pension office, tax office, labour office. I will do everything and go everywhere I can to force them to be honest.

[Grotto]

stick to your guns, make sure you have your pay statements, your contract and document everything they did as well.

Hogwans like to talk a good fight but when push comes to shove hogwans go down faster than Pamela Anderson at a Kid Rock concert!

[alffy]

Good to hear you're comfortable with the firing, plokiju. And I'm not surprised about the airfare and recruiter's fees beeing deducted. Once you are out call EVERYONE you can to report these guys.

BUT...do you really want to pursue this to the point of legal action? Once again, might not the expense and stress involved not mitigate the financial rewards of doing so? As for "forcing them to be honest," do you really think this will happen?

Think about it dude, is it just because you feel royally screwed? I can understand, but do you want to continue this entire debaucle simply to feel vindicated?

Screw it, report 'em, drop it, and move on- life is too short to "force them to be honest" at great expense, financially, emotionally, and temporally to you.

[alffy]

[plokiju]

Well, at this point I don't know if they will deduct those things from my last paycheque. I'm pretty sure they will at least try. I figure they need to give me 30 days anyway and I have up to 2 weeks to leave Korea after that point.

44 days in total. I could stay with a friend or something those 2 weeks. That's not a big problem. I don't know if my case is that strong. Nothing in writing about overtime for Saturday and what was in writing for the morning classes was taken away from me. My pay slips amount to little more than my bank book and my contract saying 5% tax and 50% of health insurance premium. The tax thing and the pension are pretty open and shut. It all depends on how the labour board rules. If they rule in favour of my boss than I'm a bit screwed but I filed the complaint on October 26th and I heard they close their cases in 30 days.

If they still refuse to pay me, depending on the amount, I will take them to small claims. At least, that's my plan at this point. I need to read up on that to see how long it would take. Also, I think this will be the end of my Korea days. I don't know how my contract went so awry. It was actually posted on here by some guy who was considering signing at the same time as me. I'd signed it the day before, I think.

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=54052

But really, if I don't fight at all, they've won and done exactly what they wanted me to do. If they think that I'm going to fight it, it might make them cave all the sooner. I admit there is some pride involved but it's my money and to just give up and let them keep it is unacceptable.

[alffy]

[plokiju]

No, you're right my plans do conflict a little. I need to get more information about small claims court and it depends on how the labour board decision goes as to whether it's worth fighting for. It may never even go that far. Also, I could just leave and come back on a tourist visa depending on how much money it was and how long it would take.

As for the tax thing, the labour board told me it doesn't matter what I agreed to in the contract. The law sets the tax rate not the contract. The overtime, I mean, they lied and I have no evidence since I trusted them at the time. I will try to get it but doubt I will win. The 15,000 v. 20,000 I don't care much about. I just wonder what the labour board will think about me making less for overtime than I do under the contract. I didn't plan on working much overtime before I came and so didn't care much about the rate. It will just show the labour board what kind of people my employers are and if all I get is a moral judgement in my favour, I'd be satisfied. I just hate the idea of them misleading people and there being no repercussions. The labour board will at least know about Winschool. They already seemed to have a bad reputation at the tax office.

My co-workers all know basically but none of them ever worked 6 days a week and weren't screwed out of as much money I was during the summer classes. If only they weren't so pre-occupied with keeping jobs with a lying employer. They all seem perfectly content to let me make a martyr out of myself though.

My boss, should I call her my former vice-director now (the director who is the owner's wife speaks next to no English), even said that there hasn't been another teacher like me there who has gone through so much trouble as far as the labour board and tax office are concerned. They usually just pull runners, I guess. I'm sure she meant it as me being the most unreasonable teacher ever, but I took it as a compliment.

Hwa-i-ting! ....all the way to the labour board at least.