Korean Job Discussion Forums

[zoeksk]

My director pulled me aside today (its my third day at work, second day teaching) and asked if I was free on saturday to go with her to the hospital to get my health check for the ARC (I had plans but I'll change them)

I thought this was good until she said that she had spoken to her accountant and he said until I have my ARC it costs too much for insurance, so when I get my ARC (which she says takes 3 months) THEN she will pay for the insurance. In the mean time she says she will pay 50% of any doctors fees I inccur.

She then said something about my tax is only 3.3% so this way I get to keep more money.

Please can someone confirm this is the right amount of tax to pay and whether waiting 3 months for an ARC and insurance is normal.

[ttompatz]

welcome to the "sub-contractor" scam.

You just got screwed.

.

[YTMND]

[ttompatz]

[zoeksk]

So what do I do, I like my school, and I don't want to leave Korea. My director seems really nice theres just a slight language barrier.

I dont mind waiting to get the ARC and I don't mind waiting to get the insurance until after the ARC (and to be honest as I'm English I cant collect the pension anyway) So do I go in guns blazing and demand a lower tax rate? Or just subtly mention "Oh by the way I need payslips that show all deductions for my insurance, pension the tax rate of 1.7 (?) when I get paid next month for my student loan company" (which I was going to do anyway)

I guess what I'm asking is, if I call her on the tax rate is she likely to back down? I really dont want to leave Korea and finding a new job etc seems like a lot of hassle if I can get her to do everything legally. Surely it will cost her less than having to hire someone new?

[Rutherford]

[Skippy]

Also do you not have to submit a health check in 30 days or less.

Really 76,000 won and less per month is too expensive. NOT including pension Unless she has been not been paying the insurance for many many months. No way is it expensive.

You are being BSed. Actually OP are you even legal? Have you got a visa? Or is the boss also waiting for a time when you can go to Japan.

Also ask the question of yourself. If you visit the doctor 2 times in a month and pay full price of about 40k won all together. Is the boss going to for over the 20k. Likely. What about if god forbid a taxi strike and you get a broken leg which can cost hundreds of thousands of won. Do you think the boss is going to pay. Not likely. All you will get is a pink slip with your cost and hospital bill.

[zoeksk]

yes I am legal, I have a visa stamp in my passport and everything, also I only got here a few days ago so no I haven't been running around with no insurance for months blithely unaware.

I will be confronting my director about this and I'm in contact with my recruiter still so I might ask him to speak to her for me. What I need to know now is does anyone know the how best to phrase it. If you have had this happen to you did you manage to solve it, or were you forced to leave the country? What's the best way to approach my director and get her to see that actually me being 100% legal in terms of insurance and pension is good for her too?

When I say I dont want to leave the country I mean it, I really enjoy it here and I've only been here since last thursday. But if I have to, I will look for another job. In this case what are my options? I didn't think I could get an L.O.R. or apply to have my visa changed to any thing until 3 months into it, so do I stick it out for 3 months and hope I don't have a horrendous accident or is it better to cut my (substantial) losses go back home, and reapply from scratch?

[CentralCali]

Talking to the recruiter is a colossal waste of time. The recruiter is no longer responsible to you. Actually, the recruiter was only responsible to the person paying his fee: the employer.

Also, merely having a stamp in your passport does not guarantee your status is legal. You are required to have your ARC by a certain date after your arrival in country. Once you pass that date and have not obtained the ARC, you are no longer legally in the Republic of Korea. Care to guess who gets the shaft on that, you or the boss?

Your school is not nice. Get that out of your mind. The longer you think this scum who is cheating you three ways from Sunday is nice, the longer you will likely wait to see if they really are nice. And that is an ill-advised move when it comes to immigration, pay, and benefits issues in this country.

My experience in dealing with a hagweon boss who cheated on insurance, health, pension, and tax payments was not fun. Luckily for me, I have legal independent income so I was not dependent on her deigning to honor her financial obligations to me. The other two foreigners (one Canadian, one Chinese) and I staggered our cases with the appropriate governmental agencies, starting with the Pension Office and the Labor Board. As she was obviously losing the cases filed by the Canadian, the bint finally saw the light and settled with all three of us.

By the way, from personal experience, I can tell you that hospitalization of approximately three weeks for a severely broken bone costs about three thousand dollars. That was in 1998. No doubt, the cost has risen since. I would not venture outside in Korea for even one minute without insurance coverage.

To paraphrase Clint Eastwood, "You gotta ask yourself. Do you feel like you have the money to fight this?"

[hogwonguy1979]

yup tom's right you got screwed by the independent contractor scheme, yeah as somebody will tell you its quasi legal (kimmig says its illegal but the tax office says its legal so nobody is really sure). its a way for employers to get out of paying into pension and nhic

tom can clear up the immig issues if you leave before 3 months regarding resubmitting docs et al.

if hes screwing you on this, the smart money is on him screwing you out of other things

[bbunce]

My ARC took about 3-4 weeks to arrive. They'll tell you how long it'll take at immigration when you go there next week. Until you get an ARC you can't get insurance unless you want something really expensive/ineffective. So you boss isn't really BSing you at all. ( Be careful who you listen to on this forum.) However, do insist on pay statements and check on your pension from time to time. That will take a few weeks after you get your ARC. I recommend showing patience since you've said your new boss seems really nice. Your boss does seem pretty cool since she is going to help you on Saturday.

[nathanrutledge]

I'm going to play the devils advocate here... sort of.

One, there is a link on this forum to the labor standards act. You should read it and learn it. That will answer most questions you will have regarding your job. Also, check out the National Tax Service website. They have plenty of solid information, in English, that will help you out.

Second, how is the job? You've only been here a short while, so you may not see any signs, but maybe you do. Anything seem fishy? Something not feeling right? If you like the job and want to work it out, give it a try.

TALK WITH your boss - don't confront. Remember, East Asian culture, if you cause someone to lose face, then you are totally shafted. So get any thought of confrontation, arguing, fighting, proving yourself right, etc out of your head. If you try that, then you might as well pack your bags now.

You've got to get the point across that you know what's going on - you know that your tax rate should be under 2%, you know that you should be getting NHIC and pension (a note on this - people from the UK cannot take their pension with them now, but they can still claim it when they retire, so even if you're from the UK, it's not money being thrown away unless your boss doesn't pay it - it's just sitting away for some years) and you absolutely know that you need your ARC card ASAP.

Call the Pension service and ask some questions. Call the Tax service and ask some questions. Call immigration and ask some questions. Then point out to your boss, "I was just checking about my taxes here (which i need to know for my UK taxes) and they said..." "The UK govt. needs this information on my pension stuff, so I called the pension office, and THEY said...."

Long story short - as the others have said, you're getting screwed. The odds that it's a "miscommunication" are quite low. As I'm one to try and work with folks, I'd see if it's possible to smooth it out. Odds are, it's not, and you're in for a rough month or so. Worst case, you leave the job, turn in the card on your way to japan, come back on a tourist visa, find something different. Sucks, it's stressful, and it'll cost you money, but you don't have to fly back to the UK again. You WILL need to line up some docs again tho...

Good luck.

[zoeksk]

thanks bbunce I was starting to wonder if I should start packing :S

I'm going to go with her to sort my stuff out, get my ARC asap, speak to her regarding payslips and just drop hints about the tax letting her know it's not going to work. If at my first paycheck I don't have insurance, pension proper tax then I'll take steps to solve it. But until she actually does something wrong how can I be sure that with the language barrier I haven't just misunderstood?

As for talking to the recruiter being a waste of time, I can see why you would say that, but I was talking to him on skype yesterday (just chatting not actually about work) and he asked if I had sorted out my ARC application, when I said I would ask the director tomorrow he dropped the subject, but when I went into school the next morning the director said he had phoned and asked if she needed help sorting out how to apply for my ARC and if not why hadn't she started the process. So in fairness my recruiter is kind of awesome.

I have only been in the country a few days, I will have my medical check Saturday and apply for my ARC same day or after school the following week if they are not open at weekends, so again- I'm not working illegally.

Thanks for all the comments, if you have any more advice I would be really glad to hear it, but no more doom and gloom please only things that I can actually do something about

[zoeksk]

thanks nathanrutledge, thats really good advice. The school seems nice, the teacher before me was there for 5 years before she left, although this year all the teachers are new.

As far as I can tell I have a really good job, in that I only teach 18 hours a week, I get plenty of breaks, food provided, supportive co-workers, excellent resources and kids that are SO eager to learn.

This tax thing is THE ONLY issue I have, but hopefully I can sort it out and stay at this school. I like the area I'm in, my director bought me brand new things for my brand new flat so even though its small (not tiny but not large) its really comfortable, so all in all I thought I'd lucked out and was waiting for something to go wrong. At least I'm aware that something has gone wrong and I can take steps to solve it. I'm not a particularly confrontational person so I was dreading the thought of going in and fighting my corner but I can definitely go in there and act all confused about what the labour board and pension board are telling me and 'oh no I accidently registered myself as an employee and fixed my tax rate for you, isn't that great that the tax rate has gone down?'

Well obviously not quite like that, but I'll mention that my tax office needs something etc

[Skippy]

It should not take 3 months to get to immigration. I could understand if the school was in the boondocks and maybe having to miss some classes (if there is some morning classes) which can cause hassles. But if you manager can not be bothered to arrange a schedule to make a trip, think how much effort they will put into paying you. Going to the bank is so hard.... I will pay you the money next month when I get time to deposit the money. Ohh sorry I do not want to use the Internet it is so hard.

Also just to get you a piece of logic here. There is two times period in getting an ARC. First way in getting an ARC ... from the day you land in Korea on your Visa, you have 90 days in which to go to immigration and register for your ARC (getting aka applying).
Second getting Arc is ... once you have applied with immigration it takes about 3 to 4 weeks to get the card printed up and issued to you (mail or pick up) (getting = receiving).
Without the card you will have many difficulties getting a bank account, a cell phone, benefits, etc.

In the end it really amazes me schools do not do the proper thing. In the end if that extra 150,000 won (health, pension) is too much for the school, why not just lower to starting pay rate. It is complete crap, the school is trying to stall you either hope you will give up asking or you forget. The school is pinching pennies at your cost not to them. The school profits from your ignorance.

In the end it is what is in your contract. If they have you as an Independent contractor then you might be a bit screwed.

Leaving now would also be very very difficult. I would not expect a letter of release. Just start preparing new paperwork and looking for a new job. So come that 3 months aka 90 days you can say to the boss. Sorry I am not getting my ARC today. I am going to Japan and coming back to find a new job.

Good Luck


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