Notes on Contracts

Before signing a contract, be sure to check:

1. Pay: Make sure that you are getting paid what you are worth.

2. Housing: Make sure that you make your housing preference clearly noted in your contract.

3. Medical: It should read in your contract that medical should be borne half by the employer and half by the employee. You pay 20% of your salary. Check here for more details: www.efl-law.com

4. Pension: Like in many other countries, pension is a savings for retirement. In Korea, people from all countries must pay into pension. Pension is about 9% of your income. Since your employer should pay half, you must pay 4.5%. To avoid getting in trouble with the pension department, ask your owner to begin processing your pension immediately.

5. Sick Days: You are allowed 3 paid sick days per year. Make sure it is clearly stated in your contract.

6. Overtime: Calculate you overtime carefully. Make sure the amount is no lower than your normal pay. If you work 120 hours a month, divide your pay by 120 and that will tell you how much you are paid per hour normally.

7. Taxes: The tax rate changes every now and then. The current tax for English Teachers can vary dependining on the individual contract from, usually 3.3 – 5%.

8. Extra Work: Most contracts say that you cannot work elsewhere without your company’s permission. This is done to prevent you from working illegally, and to protect the owner from your deportation and fines because he is your sponsor. If your owner decides to offer you work outside the school, you must first get special permission from the immigration department. If this is not done, you will be working illegally. The pay for legal work outside the hogwan is 30,000 won per hour (on average); keep this in mind if the owner asks you to work outside the school.