Friday 29 October 2010

When teaching in Korea, check your payslip

Last week I received my contract completion bonus but the total was missing some 600,000won or so. Work let me know that it was a mistake and it would go onto my next payslip, so no big deal. Yesterday was pay day but still no bonus. I made a few enquiries and work got back to me and told me that again, it was a mistake and if I really needed it they could pay me now but would prefer to pay it in a months time at the end of November.

As a sweetner, the guy in charge of this - who has always been helpful and accommodating - said if they can pay me next month then they will throw in an extra day of holiday of my choosing (or the money for it if I don't use that day). Of course I chose the extra free day of holiday. I'm lucky that my work has never cheated me over money and has always been fair even if they have made a mistake but I also know not every academy works as fairly as mine does. Anybody teaching teaching in Korea reading this, make sure you check your monthly payslip as sometimes your work does make mistakes.

2 comments:

조안나 said...

This seems to happen everywere, even in the public sector... I'm never sure if I should belive them that it was an error... but most people I've talked to, plus my own personal experiences have taught me that, yes, you will get your money, but you may have to ask more than twice, and then it will probably be delayed at least a few weeks to a few months. It doesn't bother me too much as I'm not generally in a desperate need for money, but if I were a person with big debts it could be a problem if I were counting on getting that money at a certain time...

Talking to myself said...

In this case it was genuine human error and not someone trying to swindle me. And it wasn't my normal wage but a bonus but, always check the payslip!

My wife (who is a head teacher at an academy) is paid late regularly these days and I can tell you she get's pretty pissed off at it.

If you work at an academy and someone is going to be paid late you can bet it will be the Koreans paid AFTER us foreigners. Yet another unfair thing they have to deal with.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...