Korean Job Discussion Forums

[FloridaTEFL]

I am being presented with several contracts from different companies. As a newbie I'm just beginning to learn what to look for. From this contract they will need to delete the part about the Deposit for housing. No way am I paying that! Also, they'll have to give at least a few sick days. Also, I don't like that they pay on the 10th day of the month but I'm not sure if I can get that changed. I'm not sure that 18,000 won is good for overtime either.
I think I'm in a position to bargain with them since a teacher is finishing her contract there next week.
Any advice?
Here is the Contract:

EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT FOR TEACHER

FIRST YEAR CONTRACT

This EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT has been made this of
2006 between being represented by LEE YOUNG CHUL established under the laws of South Korea at 701, Daesung Building, 2275-2, Whamyeng-Dong, Buk-Gu, Busan City Republic of Korea (hereinafter referred to as the "Employer") and a citizen of _____ _ __ whose passport number is (hereinafter referred to as the "Teacher") under the terms and conditions set forth below.

Both parties agree on the following terms and conditions:

CLAUSE 1 (APPOINTMENT)

a. The employer agrees to employ the teacher during the period stipulated herein.
b. The teacher agrees to accept the employment and will work in his/her full capacity for the school.

CLAUSE 2 ( EQUAL IDENTITIES & WORKLOAD )

a. The employer and employee are individuals of equal value and respectability coming together respectfully to exchange their services.
b. The service of the employee is to offer certain agreed-upon 115 hours a session(one session is 20 teaching days) in the humane way he/she agreed upon here or hereafter. The employer will return the employee�s energy and efforts with material and service support such as proper housing, salary, etc. as mutually agreed upon here.
c. The said workload is equal to 138 or 173 or 197 teaching periods a session (one teaching period is equal to 35 or 40 or 50minutes).

CLAUSE 3 ( PERIOD OF EMPLOYMENT )

a. The total Agreement term is approximately one year, commencing from the date of arrival in Korea and to the last teaching day of the teacher's twelfth teaching session.
b. The term of this Agreement includes an orientation period, twelve consecutive teaching sessions, and all scheduled vacations and holidays that fall between or during teaching sessions.
c. The teacher agrees to discontinue his/her residence in Korea under the visa status arranged and sponsored by the employer and leave from the status within five days of termination of this contract.

CLAUSE 4 ( THE TEACHER�S DUTIES )

a. During the terms of this Agreement, the teacher must cooperate and comply with the instructions and disciplines of the school. Assisting the Supervisor he/she must carry out assignments as directed by the employer. The Supervisor will be responsible for establishing and communicating the Standards of Performance as related to the above mentioned duties.
b. The teacher must have adequately prepared for the class in advance and be in
school 30 minutes before the first class without payment .
c. At all times during the terms of this contract, the male teachers should wear ties and the female teachers will wear dresses or dressy pantsuits in the school unless otherwise instructed.
d. In case the teacher is absent from the class, and thus unable to teach the class, the fellow foreign teachers will cover the class and get paid 10,000 won per class from the teacher�s salary.

e. The teacher�s work will include the followings :

a) Teaching of English language (Target students� ages: 5 to 15)
b) Development of educational programs and materials
c) Curriculum design and implementation
d) Indoors and outdoors classroom activities for/with students
e) Grading and assessment of students
f) Student counseling or evaluation
g) Attending at teacher�s meetings, workshops and parents� meetings etc
h) Other related activities
i) Session telephone teaching to selected classes for 3 ~5minutes per call
(1 telephone teaching = 1,000 won), the school will provide dinner if the teacher works evenings while telephone teaching

CLAUSE 5 ( SALARY AND WAGE)

a. The employer agrees to pay the teacher a session salary of 2,100,000 won for 115 teaching hours a session.
b. The payment of the salary is to be made on 10th day of the month following session.
c. Each teaching hour exceeding the 110 working hours is considered as overtime. And the payment for the overtime will be 18,000 won per each working hour.
d. Attendance at scheduled staff meetings and workshops should be mandatory and are not accounted for the overtime.

CLAUSE 6 ( WORKING HOURS )

a. During the terms of this Agreement, the teacher should work in proper manner and under good cooperation with the Supervisor.
b. The teacher can be requested by the Supervisor to participate in the scheduled staff meeting and workshop.
c. The employer can not guarantee the teacher for such classes of specific times as requested by the teacher.

CLAUSE 7 ( TAX )

Income tax and retirement taxes will be deducted off the salary according to the Korean tax law (approximately 3.3%).

CLAUSE 8 ( TRANSPORTATION )

a. The one year contract come with a round trip airfare
b. The employer is to provide the teacher with an economy class ticket and transportation from the teacher�s convenient airport to the teacher�s residence in Korea. After completion of the one-year contract, the teacher will be provided with a return ticket.
c. In case the teacher leaves the school before his/her contract period ends, the school will not pay for his/her return ticket.
d. If the teacher leaves the school before six (6) sessions have been completed of this contract for his/her own sake, the teacher must reimburse the school the cost of the ticket the school has paid for his/her trip to Korea or the school may deduct the same off the teacher�s last session payment.

CLAUSE 9 ( ORIENTATION PERIOD/ALLOWANCE )

a. Upon arrival in Korea, the teacher may be allowed a few days� lead time for adjustment and preparation for school prior to beginning of his/her regular teaching work.
b. The teacher will be listed on a payroll from the date of his/her arrival except for weekends and national holidays in Korea.
c. During the orientation period the teacher should be insides the school making lesson plans and learning about the school systems. The rate of payment for the orientation period will be 30,000 won per day and will be paid on the 10th day of the following month.

CLAUSE 10 ( MEDICAL INSURANCE AND PENSION )

a. The teacher will be covered by medical insurance under the private health organization.
b. Medical insurance fare is around USD 20 per month or 1.5 ~1.8% of a monthly income
c. The teacher will have the Korean pension program refundable. Half of the premium shall be paid by the teacher with the other half paid by the school.

CLAUSE 11 ( VACATION & HOLIDAYS )

The teacher will be allowed for vacation and holidays as specified by the Wonderland, which are indicated in a yearly academic calendar being accompanied with this contract.

CLAUSE 12 ( ACCOMMODATIONS )

a. The school will provide the teacher with furnished accommodations which is one room for one person. Furnishings being provided by the employer include: television, refrigerator, washing machine, bed, kitchen table, chairs, two-burner gas hot plate, and telephone, etc..
b. Selection of the apartment will be determined by the employer.
c. The cost of monthly service, utilities, and telephone charges for the accommodations will be paid by the teacher. For the first three sessions, the Employer will collect the deposit of 200,000 won each session, in order for the employer to pay off the bills of utilities and telephone charges, which the employer is to receive during the two sessions after the teacher has left.
d. The deposited money will help pay off the bills and the balance thereof will be transferred to the teacher�s account back home

CLAUSE 13 (ANNUAL BONUS)

Upon completion of this one year contract, the teacher will receive one session salary of __2,100,000_won as a severance payment in accordance with Korean Labor Laws. This payment will be made at the time of completion of the contract period.

CLAUSE 14 ( DISMISSAL OR VOLUNTARY RESIGNATION )

a. The employer reserves the right to dismiss the teacher from employment for the following causes:
a) Neglect his/her duties stipulated in this agreement
b) Frequent absences from work
c) Has received two warning letters
d) The inability to perform the duties stipulated in this agreement
e) The teacher�s criminal or misconduct

b. The employer agrees to dismiss the teacher from employment giving 20 days� notice. However, in case of the teacher�s criminal or misconduct, he/she is to be dismissed from employment immediately with no warning or notice.
c. In such case as the teacher resigns from employment, he/she can do so giving one session notice to the employer.
d. In either case of dismissal or resignation before completing six (6) sessions of the contract term, the teacher must reimburse the employer the ticket cost paid for his/her trip to Korea.
e. The teacher is not allowed to teach a private class outside the school unless otherwise agreed by both parties. If the teacher teaches a private class outside the school without the employer�s permission, it would result in dismissal of the teacher, in which case the school has no obligation to pay the teacher a severance payment and the cost of his/her return ticket.

CLAUSE 15 ( GOVERNING LAW & JURISDICTION )

a. This Agreement is governed by the law of the Republic of Korea.
b. This Agreement is made final and firm unless any material modification or amendment to this Agreement is executed with the full knowledge and consent of the undersigned and incorporated into this Agreement.

In witness thereof, we have affixed our signatures hereon.

[Hyeon Een]

There's nothing wrong with a housing deposit in my opinion. I've paid one in 2 of my 3 jobs (including this one) and have no problem with it. I always paid a housing deposit in places I lived back home.

18k isn't terrible for overtime, lots of contracts offer 15k. I would ask for 25k though. You should be able to get that.

There's no way you'd get me doing the telephone teaching though, that SUCKS. (Actually I've never done it, but every person I know who's done it says it's terrible)

[xtchr]

[spliff]

[tiger fancini]

It should be easy to find a job where you can

1. Wear casual clothes (eg no tie)

2. Not have to do stupid telephone teaching. (I too have never done it, but I've talked to Korean friends on the phone and find that very frustrating at times).

3. Not work for an employer that will take 10,000won out of your salary for a sick day and then pay it to another foriegn teacher as 'overtime'. 10,000 won for a class??! I don't think this director respects foreigners too much....

[alffy]

Ok, I'm a newbie at this as well, but here's some things I wouldn't like:

First of all, Ties and Pantsuits? From my understanding, in Japan, yes, Korea, maybe for the right job, but...

10,000 won (per class) out of your pocket to your "fellow" teacher if you are sick? That's like 13-14 classes a day (if the 35 minute classes), so one day off could cost you as much as $150US or so...

No phone teaching (heard the bad gouge on that here on the boards).

Do you get paid overtime for over 110 hours, or 115? Also a bit low compared to other ads...

No explicit working hours? I don't go for that "The employer can not guarantee the teacher for such classes of specific times as requested by the teacher" bit.

Tax is off (you can find the link on the boards here), I think 2.1 mil works out to something like 29,000 a month (~ 1.9% or so). Although they seem to be suggesting Pension costs as well- get them to explicitly state the divisions and costs.

Does the "private health organization" medical mean the National Health Insurance? I seem to remember there is a bit of a difference and it might end up being costly.

No explicit vacation? Trust "the Wonderland?"

The housing is shared? I think I'd go for the single accomodations myself.

The housing deposit is nonrefundable (or at least don't expect any "balance forwarded")? That makes your first 3 monthly salaries 1.9 mil (before taxes, pension, med, etc., on the original 2.1 mil- your net loss will be greater than 200,000 won for each of those 3 months as you pay all of the above prior to the deductions).

Interesting- illegal privates are okay if "both parties" agree? Sounds like they want to set you up for illegal privates and take a cut in the process- then maybe use that as the illegal misconduct if they want to jettison you quickly (maybe I'm just paranoid)?

Just my 2 cents, but I would probably just keep looking...and absolutely, no ties! Unless we're talking 3 mil or so...then, just maybe.

Am I reading too much Gord?

[poet13]

I think though that dress code is fine unless you're teaching little kds.
I would have been harsher on the OT rate. 18k is close to or less than straight rate.
Explicit working hours. I read that as, "if the employee asks for a specific schedule, we can't guarantee it."
Tax. Sure too high, but someone will probably chime in with the other kinds of taxes there are here. State tax? Gu tax? Dont know. I understand that it is almost negligible though.
Private health? National is the requirement. By going private, the employer gets to skip out on the pension money and save themselves +1 million per year.
Shared housing. No way.
Privates? Illegal unless you're doing them at the same place where you work. If not there, then you need an endorsement on yoru ARC that lists the other place of business.
Telephone teaching? Never done it either, but I have never heard any good from it.
article e g. Attending meetings and shops and parents meetings, and weddings, and picnics, and mountain climbing, and cultural events and church, and sauna and ...... They need to specify how many times this will happen. I have heard of people who attend on esuch function every week...crazy.
Clause 10 section c. Get them to put 4.5% and 4.5% in writing.
Clause 11...read. NO vacation.
Clause 12. article c. Housing deposit. No way. You will never ever see that money again.
Clause 14. article c (again). how do you get a warning letter? What offense has to occur? Yer in the 11th month. You forget to bow. Here's your warning letter....


Forget it. You can find a better job. Heck, we can all do better than Wonderland....

[Novernae]

[bnrockin]

"d. The deposited money will help pay off the bills and the balance thereof will be transferred to the teacher�s account back home"

Yeah...good luck getting that back.