Beware of the 8 hours leave clause!

[peasgoodnonsuch]

So, I just want to tell my tale as a little warning to others. I know we've all heard it before "read your contract!". And trust me, I have-multiple times. I write this not to complain and not for advice, but merely for others to take note for their own sake.

Many of you in GEPIK and possibly EPIK and SMOE may have been told that each month we have up to and not above 8 hours of time we can use for early leave such as going to the bank or leaving early after exams. At least, this is how it was in my first contract from 2010-2011. I was under the impression that the Korean teachers had the same amount of monthly leave time.

At the beginning of this year, my co-teacher told me that the policy had changed for Korean teachers, but not for me. Instead of 8 hours a month it's 8 hours per year. Anything at or above 8 hours will count as one of your vacation days or will be an unpaid leave day. BUT she told me it wouldn't matter for me. This was my big mistake. I listened to her and didn't think to double check my contract. So, all year long I took a few hours here and there just like all the other Korean teachers during exam time, etc. I thought nothing of it until today.

Today, my head teacher (a different co-teacher) came to me right before classes started to say the office lady needed to have my sign-in-sign-out sheet that showed all my early leave to calculate how much should be deducted from my pay!  I was not prepared for that in the least. As it is, they screwed me out of an entire week's pay earlier this year by promising me vacation time home, letting me book my flights, and then telling me ONE WEEK before hand that "oops!" we would have to break the rules to pay you for that time and we can't... But I digress.

My point is, there may be other NETs that were under the same impression as myself. Double check your contract and count how many early leave hours you've taken! In my case, it wasn't devastating- just 2 days. But it's still money! And I've given this school a crap load of free teaching hours by staying late for after-school classes during festival season, camp time, and funding all the materials for each camp every season. I just feel like it's all been rather unfair, even though it's really ultimately my fault. Of course, the current co-teacher just opened her eyes wide and said "I don't know anything about it" when I told her what my other co-teacher told me. Clearly, she wasn't interested in doing anything more than delivering the bad news to me with as little discussion as possible. That's why she did it 10 minutes before class...

For anyone interested, the section is Article 14 section 4 of the 2011-2012 contract and Article 15 section 4 in the 2012-2013 contract.

So, ye've be warned! Don't be foolish like me...read your contract!

[Jrong]

Thanks for posting this. This post caused me to look at "the book" and it turns out I've only taken 6hours leave total this year. I thought I took way more than that...crazy...

[Yu_Bumsuk]

This only applies if your school likes to make life difficult for you or is under a lot of pressure from a higher authority to do so. At most reasonable schools, if you have nothing to do and want to go to the bank, get a haircut, go to the dentist, etc., just do so.

[Tish39]

I think more will be taken from me, I've never signed anything when I go to do my banking or such like errands, but I know there's a black book that my CT is supposed to write on each time this occurs but I've never seen it or what's written in there and how many hrs I've taken and so on.  I've always thought my school and my CT are super cool and always said it's OK if I leave early during deskwarming time, but everyone gets tense and behavior changes during this time, I hope she still remains cool and sorts everything out before she leaves to a new school.  Fingers crossed!!!

[korr]

This only applies if your school likes to make life difficult for you or is under a lot of pressure from a higher authority to do so. At most reasonable schools, if you have nothing to do and want to go to the bank, get a haircut, go to the dentist, etc., just do so.

Yeah, this. It totally depends on your school and whether or not the MOE/POE is cracking down on things. I appreciate the heads up, though.

[JahRhythm]

Another example of NETs being treated like children and another reason why I'd never work in such an unprofessional environment.

[Yu_Bumsuk]

Another example of NETs being treated like children and another reason why I'd never work in such an unprofessional environment.

Yeah but it's probably also the product of a few NETs acting like children.

[JahRhythm]

Too True, Yu...

[peasgoodnonsuch]

Another example of NETs being treated like children and another reason why I'd never work in such an unprofessional environment.

Well, to be fair, the Korean teachers are technically supposed to do the same thing. Of course, I don't know if they do, but they're supposed to.

I don't think my school is trying to be mean as they've been really great in most other aspects for the past 2 years and none of the administration as changed. I think that we just happen to have sticklers for book keepers in the office and my head teacher is honest and very very much likes to stick to the Rules.

It's hard not to feel rather unwelcome by the system what with all the news articles, policy and contract changes and things like this. But, as I've one more year here, I'm trying to let it go and stay positive! Thinking of my savings account certainly helps!

[Jrong]

Another example of NETs being treated like children and another reason why I'd never work in such an unprofessional environment.

It feels good to have options, doesn't it?

[sejongthefabulous]

I agree with this policy. Native teachers leaving work for personal reasons and complaining/expressing surprise about it being counted as vacation when it gets excessive is as ridiculous as it sounds. Go to the bank once, set up online banking problem solved. Every other non-work related need is often open after school or before school hours including post offices and barber shops.

[Yu_Bumsuk]

I agree with this policy. Native teachers leaving work for personal reasons and complaining/expressing surprise about it being counted as vacation when it gets excessive is as ridiculous as it sounds. Go to the bank once, set up online banking problem solved. Every other non-work related need is often open after school or before school hours including post offices and barber shops.

So what do you think about Korean teachers leaving work for personal reasons? It adds up to a great deal more hours than NETs leaving work?

[sejongthefabulous]

Erase the word native teacher and replace it with employees. They are suppose to document their personal leaves too. I don't know what happens when it gets excessive. I imagine it doesn't benefit their careers and there are also limits. As for the people who cheat the system and get away with it....well what can I say?

[orangeman]

Another example of NETs being treated like children and another reason why I'd never work in such an unprofessional environment.

I'm curious what real world (entry level) job allows you to consistently leave early without docked pay.  I work in a friendly school that doesn't add up my errand time and I see how it could be frustrating, especially if you didn't know about the policy.  But every other job I've ever had in my entire life didn't afford me this freedom.  Same with my friends and family back home.  Even my dad who was upper management couldn't just leave whenever he wanted, and even when he did he was pretty much on-call and an afternoon at a kid's school play usually meant a Saturday at work.

Now, if you're able to do these errands on your lunch break then it shouldn't be docked from your pay, just like every other job. 

[Yu_Bumsuk]

Another example of NETs being treated like children and another reason why I'd never work in such an unprofessional environment.

I'm curious what real world (entry level) job allows you to consistently leave early without docked pay.

Canada Post. Armoured car guards. Many delivery route jobs. Security guards who get relieved by a replacement guard coming in early. Teachers in most countries if later lessons are cancelled. Teachers who have spare blocks and return to school in time to teach. Electronics repair people who finish their work. Supervisors who have nothing in particular to supervise.

Those are just a few based on my experience and people I know.

You also should consider that 'salary' can have different meaning from 'pay'. We're not clock-punchers.

[Yu_Bumsuk]

Erase the word native teacher and replace it with employees. They are suppose to document their personal leaves too. I don't know what happens when it gets excessive. I imagine it doesn't benefit their careers and there are also limits. As for the people who cheat the system and get away with it....well what can I say?

Well then you'd love what many "employees' at Korean schools do on business trips. When my CT and I have to take a business trip to immigration or the approved hospital far away we certainly take our time about it and enjoy an extra long lunch on the school's dime. (I average a 50-hour week during the regular term and he a 60-hour week. Yeah we're such lazy employees).

[i_am_a_toaster]

I agree with this policy. Native teachers leaving work for personal reasons and complaining/expressing surprise about it being counted as vacation when it gets excessive is as ridiculous as it sounds. Go to the bank once, set up online banking problem solved. Every other non-work related need is often open after school or before school hours including post offices and barber shops.

Not everyone is comfortable with online banking, especially in other language that most are unfamiliar with.   I for one would never use internet banking because of a lack of paper trail and I'm old fashioned.    There is aura of an lack of accountability surrounding it.   I wouldn't do it back in my home country and I'm not going to do it here and I am sure that I am not alone with my opinion.  I don't have to worry about someone hacking my account, a browser error repeating a financial transfer etc.

My local post office closes 5:30 p.m. and lets the last customers in at 5:15 p.m.  It is difficult to reach depending on the daily traffic conditions.  I'm sure many teachers who live in rural areas where public services are spread out over great distances agree with me.

I agree with you about the ridiculousness of NETs taking time off to get a haircut perm etc. because most barbers are opened till 8:00.   I even used to live near a barber in Suwon that closed at 11:00 P.M. every night .

 Leaving school early is a "it depends" issue and leave should be granted on a case-by-case basis.

[Davox]

Another example of NETs being treated like children and another reason why I'd never work in such an unprofessional environment.

I'm curious what real world (entry level) job allows you to consistently leave early without docked pay.

Canada Post. Armoured car guards. Many delivery route jobs. Security guards who get relieved by a replacement guard coming in early. Teachers in most countries if later lessons are cancelled. Teachers who have spare blocks and return to school in time to teach. Electronics repair people who finish their work. Supervisors who have nothing in particular to supervise.

Those are just a few based on my experience and people I know.

You also should consider that 'salary' can have different meaning from 'pay'. We're not clock-punchers.

None of those people, salaried or not, are supposed to leave early either.  It's not in their employment contract or job description  that they can "just leave early when they feel no more work needs to be done."  They just get away with it because they don't get caught (often because no one cares enough to catch them).    Much like the situation was in most public schools in Korea until some NETS (and some Korean teachers too, I'm sure) started abusing the situation.

I've worked quite a few jobs before I came to Korea.  I've worked salaried positions, and hourly paid positions.  I've also worked one memorable job where my presence or absence was timed to the minute, including bathroom breaks.  I've worked jobs with paid overtime and jobs with unpaid overtime.  And jobs where sometimes they'd approve your overtime and sometimes they wouldn't and you wouldn't know which it'd be until after you put in the hours.  In none of the jobs I've worked was it officially policy that a person could take off early, for any reason, without officially "signing out."  It happened, but it wasn't supposed to.

Taking off without getting permission or signing out is unprofessional.  It may not be serious if the boss intentionally turns a blind eye to it, and many do, but it's still unprofessional.  And it's NOT unprofessional of your workplace to ask you to be at your place of work during work hours unless you've gotten permission ahead of time.

And we're not being singled out here either.  If you have to sign out, it's because everyone at your school has to.  They may drive slowly to their official destination and burn a whole afternoon doing something that could have taken an hour, but if they do that, it's because they got permission to do so and signed out for the whole afternoon.    Which you can also totally do just like they do.  It's just that if it's personal and not job-related it's probably coming out of vacation. 

So if you're going to take off frequently, you might try to find a way to get it classified as health-related so they can mark the hours as "sick-day" hours instead.  Or "cultural experience;" that one counts too.  Either way, this is something you have to negotiate ahead of time, before you leave.

The only thing terrible about the policy is how no one seems to have explained its existence to many teachers.

[Yu_Bumsuk]

Another example of NETs being treated like children and another reason why I'd never work in such an unprofessional environment.

I'm curious what real world (entry level) job allows you to consistently leave early without docked pay.

Canada Post. Armoured car guards. Many delivery route jobs. Security guards who get relieved by a replacement guard coming in early. Teachers in most countries if later lessons are cancelled. Teachers who have spare blocks and return to school in time to teach. Electronics repair people who finish their work. Supervisors who have nothing in particular to supervise.

Those are just a few based on my experience and people I know.

You also should consider that 'salary' can have different meaning from 'pay'. We're not clock-punchers.

None of those people, salaried or not, are supposed to leave early either.  It's not in their employment contract or job description  that they can "just leave early when they feel no more work needs to be done."  They just get away with it because they don't get caught (often because no one cares enough to catch them).    Much like the situation was in most public schools in Korea until some NETS (and some Korean teachers too, I'm sure) started abusing the situation.

I've worked quite a few jobs before I came to Korea.  I've worked salaried positions, and hourly paid positions.  I've also worked one memorable job where my presence or absence was timed to the minute, including bathroom breaks.  I've worked jobs with paid overtime and jobs with unpaid overtime.  And jobs where sometimes they'd approve your overtime and sometimes they wouldn't and you wouldn't know which it'd be until after you put in the hours.  In none of the jobs I've worked was it officially policy that a person could take off early, for any reason, without officially "signing out."  It happened, but it wasn't supposed to.

Taking off without getting permission or signing out is unprofessional.  It may not be serious if the boss intentionally turns a blind eye to it, and many do, but it's still unprofessional.  And it's NOT unprofessional of your workplace to ask you to be at your place of work during work hours unless you've gotten permission ahead of time.

And we're not being singled out here either.  If you have to sign out, it's because everyone at your school has to.  They may drive slowly to their official destination and burn a whole afternoon doing something that could have taken an hour, but if they do that, it's because they got permission to do so and signed out for the whole afternoon.    Which you can also totally do just like they do.  It's just that if it's personal and not job-related it's probably coming out of vacation. 

So if you're going to take off frequently, you might try to find a way to get it classified as health-related so they can mark the hours as "sick-day" hours instead.  Or "cultural experience;" that one counts too.  Either way, this is something you have to negotiate ahead of time, before you leave.

The only thing terrible about the policy is how no one seems to have explained its existence to many teachers.

It all comes down to contract flexibility, and in few places are contracts more flexible than in Korea. Yes, I could wave the contract and tell my school no, I'm not doing all those thing that fall outside contract hours and they could tell me, yes you have to deskwarm all winter and can't even leave to go to the bank if you have nothing to teach all morning. But why? What's the point? We're both much happier without that nonsense because nonsense is exactly what it is.

BTW, when I worked for an armoured car company the union had it in our contracts that we could leave when hour routes were finished even if it meant the company paid us 8 hours for being at work only 6 if it took us that long to do what was considered an 8-hour route. If the route took us 9 hours we still got overtime. And the union made sure that routes would rarely take the full 8 or 10 or 12 hours scheduled. Many guys routinely got paid 40 hours a week for being at work 30.

[sejongthefabulous]

Not everyone is comfortable with online banking, especially in other language that most are unfamiliar with.   I for one would never use internet banking because of a lack of paper trail and I'm old fashioned.    There is aura of an lack of accountability surrounding it.   I wouldn't do it back in my home country and I'm not going to do it here and I am sure that I am not alone with my opinion.  I don't have to worry about someone hacking my account, a browser error repeating a financial transfer etc.

My local post office closes 5:30 p.m. and lets the last customers in at 5:15 p.m.  It is difficult to reach depending on the daily traffic conditions.  I'm sure many teachers who live in rural areas where public services are spread out over great distances agree with me.

I agree with you about the ridiculousness of NETs taking time off to get a haircut perm etc. because most barbers are opened till 8:00.   I even used to live near a barber in Suwon that closed at 11:00 P.M. every night .

 Leaving school early is a "it depends" issue and leave should be granted on a case-by-case basis.

Do you use ATMs? Also there are at least two major banks in Korea with online services in English....How about telephone banking then?
If you want the convenience of going to the bank in person why not count it as vacation.
Post office I kind of understand in rural areas. There are places that will take care of that for you on off hours for a marginal fee (GS 25).
No one working at school wants the extra administrative duties of deciding which causes are legitimate....it seems sick or business is okay, anything else isn't.

Well then you'd love what many "employees' at Korean schools do on business trips. When my CT and I have to take a business trip to immigration or the approved hospital far away we certainly take our time about it and enjoy an extra long lunch on the school's dime. (I average a 50-hour week during the regular term and he a 60-hour week. Yeah we're such lazy employees).

Again wondering why people complain native teachers are treated like kids and then having their coworkers drive them to the doctor's office and immigration office.
50 Hours a week, at least you understand Korean efficiency. Or, you are just raking in overtime $$$. Kinda sweet if you can take a few hours off to go get a hair cut and then come back and work late and claim OT?

My point is there are complaints these days about the efficiency of native teachers. They get many more days off than the national average. Then some of them complain that every 8 hours of personal leave is considered a vacation day.