Korean Job Discussion Forums

[likemercury]

Hi, I'm considering an offer from Like School in Daegu. Does anyone know anything about this place? Doing a search for "like school" obviously isn't going to get me anywhere. Thanks.

[Michelle]

Hi,

Like is quite a big school with many braches in the city of Daegu. Is this your first run? Usually LIKE will want you to work Saturdays, possibly you may get one Saturday a month off. LIKE is pretty relaxed I guess. The Textbooks are terrible. I enjoyed it because a lot of foriegn teachers work there. Also I was coming from a hellish job. Not that many other teachers seem to like working at LIKE very much. Some think it's OK. It's a bit of a McDonalds Hagwon.
Maybe you could do better.

I don't want to disappoint you. I think you may be able to get a job for better money and no Saturdays. Like is well established (ie old) and knows how to deal with the foriegn teachers. They don't do stupid things like not pay you. At times they pack too many kids into the classes. The buildings are a little old.

They were always reasonable to me - I got a three day weekend once a month to make up for the Saturdays. To be fair to them they helped me out when I needed it and my mouth nearly fell open when they handed me the severence pay without a fight.

You may have a chance to move around and not be limited to one school since they have a few branches, if this appeals to you. Sometimes new schools are nicer to work at.

Good Luck, any questions just post back.


Michelle

[likemercury]

Hi. Thanks for the info on LIKE. I changed the contract and told them I'd accept the job if they OK'ed some changes. My boyfriend has just successfully negoitiated his contract with another school and is ready to start, so I didn't think it'd be a big problem for LIKE to do the same. Instead they got really insulted and said that they won't change anything. The manager for foreign teachers implied that contract amendments and negotiations are for the small, unestablished schools who will promise anything to get you and then don't come through. He went on at length about the glut of little fly-by-night hagwons compared to LIKE, then he said something like, �They change the contract, but so what? It doesn't mean anything. They just do what they want and then what will you do? Take them to the labor board? And just what do you think the labor board will do? Nothing!� I know that in many cases, he's right and the labor board will do nothing, but if he's so sure about this himself, why is he so resistant to changing his own school's contract? I just get the impression that he believes that negotiation is something done between equal parties, and that I, as a lowly (albeit prospective) employee, have no right to be questioning or refusing anything from him. The facts that I'm female and younger than he is probably do not help, either.

As you can see from the contract that I pasted below, their original is pretty bad. It doesn't have a word about housing or medical insurance, and they have a clause threatening to charge you with �fees� (my guess is airfare, recruiter's fees, future utility bills, cost of getting a new teacher, and whatever else they'd like to throw in) if you quit. And that's if you quit with six weeks' notice! A clause like that is just begging teachers to do midnight runs instead of quitting with notice, but that's their problem, not mine. Also, the teachers who already work there don't have to help the publishing dept. with the textbooks, and if they do, they get overtime. The contract they sent me states that I get overtime only if my combined class and publishing hours exceed 30 per week. The facts that 1) most teachers there have fewer than 30 class hours per week and 2) they have my resume which clearly states that I am a published writer and editor, mean that I'll probably be putting in some extra unpaid hours in the publishing department.

Anyway, they won't change anything, but on the other hand (and to their credit), they have around 30 western teachers and they've been open a long time, and their reputation is pretty decent. I've talked to some of the teachers and done some other investigating, and they seem legitimate. Not great, but you probably won't run into any nasty surprises, either. They verbally promised housing and medical insurance, and I believe them. Also, I have no idea how they can enforce payment of the penalty fines if I quit on payday. Though if they fire me, they can enforce payment (in this case airfare to Korea) by firing me before they pay me and taking the fees out of my last check. But many schools have a clause like this, and they don't fire people often. What's even better is that I have an F4 visa, so if they break their verbal agreement of single housing, no mandatory overtime, and 50% medical insurance, I can just go work for another school and I wouldn't need to beg for a release letter or get new visa sponsorship. They'd have my signed contract stating that I'd pay whatever fines they want to throw at me, but what can they do other than go to the good-for-nothing labor board? All my money is going to loans payment, so they can hardly extort enormous fees from me when I have 10,000 won to my name. As far as I'm concerned, that clause just screams blatant intimidation and blackmail, and I won't be intimidated. I'll take the weekend to think things over (and maybe get some advice from you guys), and give them an answer Monday. Here's the contract:
EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT


LIKE Language Institute (Employer) and (Employee) agree to the following terms for the employment of Employee as an English teacher on , 200_.


1. Period of Contract From to .

2. Working Days Six days per week (Sometimes five days)

3. Working Hours Four to six hours per day

4. Teaching Hours Within 30 hours per week (120 hours per month)

5. Obligation to Work
a)Any activities, which are related, or incidental to the foregoing obligations.
b)Not to be employed by any other agencies during the contract period.
c)To observe all the laws and regulations and to take personal responsibility for any illegal acts by the employee.
d)Must attend all LIKE teacher�s workshops.*
e)To notify employer six weeks in advance when the employee wants to resign. If the contract is broken for personal reasons, the employee must pay employer�s expenses incurred as a result of employment.

6. Copyright*
Employer who participates in making LIKE or Sunshine Publication�s teaching material will have no ownership of the copyright. In time of argument, this contract will serve as a proof that the employee has agreed to release his/her copyrights.

7. Payment
a) won will be paid per month on the 10th of every month.
b)Overtime hours will be paid at your regular hourly rate plus 20% of it.
c)Employer who participates in services, tutoring or projects such as recording, writing or proofreading of the LIKE teaching or Sunshine Publication materials will be paid only if their working hours has surpassed their contacted working hours.*
d)If the employee misses classes for reasons, which cannot be accepted by the employer, the same amount per class hour will be deducted from the payment.
e)If you have worked at least twelve months in accordance with the employment contract and have not been deliberately absent from classes more than 7 days in a year due to your own willful or irresponsible negligence, you will receive as severance pay, one month�s pay, called retirement pay, upon your departure. Severance pay will not be offered to the employee who does illegal acts in Korea.

1 of 2

8. Transportation
Employer will provide an air ticket to Korea from an international airport, which is mutually agreed by employer and employee (henceforth referred to as point of departure). On completion of the full contract period, employer will provide a return air ticket for passage from Korea to point of departure. The return ticket will be provided at the time of termination of employment. In the event that the employee continues employment under a subsequent employment agreement with employer, the return air ticket will be provided at the time of completion of the subsequent contract period (s). In the event the employee is dismissed, or in the event the employee voluntarily resigns prior to completion of this contract, employer will not pay the cost of return transportation to point of departure for employee. Further, the employee will reimburse the employer the cost of airfare to Korea, or the employer will be entitled to withhold an amount less than or equivalent to, but not exceeding, the cost of airfare to Korea.

9. Termination
Not withstanding the provisions of section 1, employer reserves the right to terminate this agreement or discontinue the salary to employee at any time upon the occurrence of the following events:
a)The death of the employee.
b)Disobedience of the obligations defined in section 5.
c)The determination by the employer that the employee has become unable to perform effectively duties hereunder because of any physical or mental condition.

10. Governing Law
This agreement shall be governed and constructed by the laws of the Republic of Korea. In WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned parties have executed the agreement as of the date first above written.





EMPLOYER EMPLOYEE



2 of 2

[chronicpride]

The clause that you're up in arms about (termination fees, which comprise of paying back airfare and recruitment fee) is a regulation set by the government. As a recruiter, I've seen many contracts that have this caveat written in various wordings, but it all amounts to the same. LIKE is not trying to hood-wink you.

The foreign teacher manager has his hands tied by ownership on contract flexibility (I know the school and staff personally, as I'm a former teacher and currently recruit for them sometimes).

They are not going to bend for the compensation structure of the contract. That's what they give everybody, regardless of age, sex, experience, education, whatever. They can go up to 1.9 in your 2nd year, and have gone up to 2.0 in the past for renewing teachers. But you'll have to settle for 1.8 for 120 hours/month or 1.9 for 130, in the first year contract.

The publishing/editing/proofreading thing is not a big deal. You usually will only ever hear about this when first discussing employment and then often you will never hear of it again. Although they do have a renewed interest in getting teachers more active in this, there's only a handful of them that they rely on to do this. With you having experience in this area, you might get asked more than others. And yes, you will get paid for everything extra that you do.

They're good people to work for and the foreign teacher manager is really nice and easy to get along with. Don't mistake his contract discussions with you as his regular modus operandi. He's loyal and fair to the teachers that he works with.

[likemercury]

Thanks for the info. I need as much as I can get.

[bjonothan]

Which part of Daegu is it??? If you keep looking you will find better money than what the recruiter guy is talking about....If that is all they are offering, keep looking......Remember that there is a small bit of tax taken out of that, plus insurance e.t.c....What are left with then???? If they aren't paying for your insurance and you have an accident you will be really stuffed when you have to pay your own hospital bills on that piddly wage.....