Korean Job Discussion Forums

[legalquestions]

I am working for a private university in south, South Korea, and the director says that since I am considered a "full professor" I don't have to pay into the national pension fund, but rather, into the private professors pension fund here at the university.

Won't I be getting screwed, since in the national pension fund, the employer must match the individual's contribution? (I don't know if the uni matches the contribution I make to the fund or not.)

Anybody run into this issue before?

[noguri]

At my university, I pay into the private university pension fund. Of course, the university has to match my payments but eventually I will get a refund of my payments and the university gets their money back, too.

Why? Because temporary professors are not "vested" in the pension system.

It was the same in the University of North Carolina system, where I was a visiting professor for two years. At the end of two years, my contract was not renewed and I was told that I could get a refund of my pension contributions. Why? Because you have to work for a minimum of 5 years there in order to become vested in the pension system.

As far as I can figure out, "vested" means that you are entitled to keep the employer's contribution to your pension. If you aren't vested, then the employer gets to reclaim the funds they had deposited into your pension account.

So, it will work the same way here in Korea, where again, my job title is "Visiting Assistant Professor." My private university has a 3 year rule on foreign professors. THey won't renew a foreigner's contract for more than the three year maximum. This entitles them to a full refund of the contributions they made to my pension account. If I stayed more than three years, I suppose they would be obligated by law to let me keep the money in my penison, so they must avoid this.

[gsxr750r]

It's the norm, and it's one of the things I really had to think about when comparing pay between the uni job, and the public school (private, actually) that I had. I was on the national pension system at the previous school (much, much better for foreingers, IMHO).

You have to really think about it... you don't get much of anything extra out of the school if you are here less than 5 years. Usually, we're let go within 3 or move on ourselves. If the next uni you go to is private, but not on the same company's plan, then you are starting all over again.

It sucks.

[Young FRANKenstein]

[Hollywoodaction]

No wonder my university made such a big fuss about us becoming 'full-time professors'.