Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tfunk]

Have you ever used a contract, either in the staffroom or in the courts to resolve a dispute? Was it useful/binding?

[Whistleblower]

The funniest reply I had, when negotiating my 2nd year contract was this:

Me - "I would like 15 days vacation per year. It is in the Labor Standards Act and you only provide 10 days. Why?"

Company - "The Labor Standards Act does not represent foreigners as they are E2."

Me - "I am F2-1."

Company - "But our company has a different labor standards."

Me - "I see. I shall phone up Labor and let you know."

They never ammended the contract and would even put 15 days in even after confirming that this is illegal with the Labor. Nutters. I love the job but it could be worst, it could be St Andrews Hagwon.

[nomad-ish]

i had to use it with my co-teacher (PS) for a few reasons (i know, i know, but there was no other way). it resolved all the issues (including saturday work, vacation days), but didn't help my extra class pay problem

[Kimchieluver]

[gojulie]

I used it once during a meeting when they were trying to raise my teaching hours an extra 5 per week. I simply said that they would breach my contract and offered to show them the section if they wanted. That ended the matter more effectively than I thought it would.

[Mr. Pink]

Yup I have with my current job. They have violated the contract on small things at least once a month since I started there.

The biggest thing that they don't get is the contract says paid vacation/holidays...yet it is not on a monthly salary but on an hourly salary. When I tried to explain to them that this meant I should get paid extra for vacation days since they are outside my paid hours and my contract states I get paid vacations...they just refuse to accept that concept.

Good thing today is my last day

[jackson7]

I went to my first (and last) hagwon director with a contract issue once, and he simply laughed at me.

"You don't know Korea." He said.

I then produced an English copy of the labor law I was trying to have enforced. He laughed again.

"You really don't know Korea. English has no power here." He replied.

No power, huh? Sounds like we've had the little country handcuffed to English for the last couple decades, paying more than any other country in the world for English education. I then handed him the Korean version of the labor law I just produced.

"I'll see what I can do..." He trailed off.

Things got changed. I slept with his mistress (that's another story you can search for). At least things got better for the poor suckers still working there.

[majolica]

ugh, i wish i could have for some things, but by and large the things i wanted to point out were pretty small (like how they should have bought me a dining room table and AC) and i really really didn't want to play that game because i was getting some really awesome things that were against my contract (like extra days of vacation, going home after class instead of at 5, oh, and a 3 bedroom apartment). i mentioned it a few times when i thought they were getting sketchy, but i didn't want to have to get to the point where we were flipping through the document.

[Michelle]

Hi,

My school is all fun and games....by now words are about as meaningless as anything.

The last time I wanted to sign my contract I was pressured at my school beforehand to agree to holidays all vacation. So I agreed then I changed my mind. I had not yet seen the principal about it.

It seemed to be all the teachers blindsiding the principal to get the class to continue. I complained to them all that I did not know her mind.

She blamed me for not coming to her directly and I should have. In the end I had to go through the education department to get word across. The education department is getting sick of it. But the meeting was for th renewal of my contract which meant they fixed it up straight away. But the principal was embarrassed.

My co teachers lied but I covered my co-teacher's asses, god knows why, in future I will go to her directly, not her sub principal who is weird and communicate in poor Korean/ Konglish, only about the vacation I want and other crucial stuff.

If I hadn't done all this I would have been blamed for missing classes. It was easy to tell.

Why me?

I don't care about blame. They can blame me. I am concerned about fixing the problem.

[Fishead soup]

I used to use it. Particulary when it came to vacation and all that confusion about 14 working days vs holidays and weekends. I'm glad the new gepik contract is less ambigious.

I find a contract is useless when you have a bad working relationship with your employer. Although you can sue. But who does that?

Koreans view a contract as a rough guide. I've found that sometimes you can nagotiate things that go above and beyond the contract but that usually involves having a good working relationship.

In short if you have a poor working relationship with your employee
(sometimes refered to as Jung). Your screwed with or without a contract.

This info is useless in a hogwon

[timetotravel]

i used mine this week when arguing about when i could go on a home visit and whether or not it should be paid.
i got my way but it took some fighting and me not backing down. i just kept saying, its in the contract and its what we agreed to.
my principal tried to say he didnt make the contract so its not his but it ended up working out.
stay strong and stick to your guns!

[12begonesoon]

Several things missing from the contract:

Me: There seems to be a problem. I am missing some things in my contract.

Manager: Not now...Im late for class.

Me: Class starts in 15 minutes. Here...you see where it says I should have received a table?

Manager: Um....um....*speaks Korean* (I don't understand)

Me: Huh? Also...it says here that I should also have a chair.

Manager: Why do you need a chair...you have no table? *she smiles*

Me: *blank stare*

Never got either one. My first introduction to being bent over with Korean logic.