Nico
- 2009-02-01
I am writing this in response to the posting stated above as I don't feel that it fairly represents LCI in Suji. I worked at LCI Suji for over 2 years and I did not come into the same problems that were stated above.
1. The contract hours are by monthly session at LCI. The monthly session is 19 or 20 days and the extra days that are left over are how LCI gets your holidays in the summer and winter. You may work an extra day or 2 in September (or whichever month) and that is why you will have 2 days off in December for vacation. The vacations are not so much time off while the school is still open, rather time that they allocate in between 2 sessions while the school closes for vacation.
2. I never had less than 5 days of holiday twice a year while I was working at LCI. In fact it was adjusted to 6 once (the 6th day still unpaid)
3. It's true that you aren't paid for national holidays. LCI (apparently as a franchise) has skirted around this by claiming that the teachers are hourly workers. This was still a bone of contention when I left.
4. I can't say weather age group concerns were ignored. I never had any age group stipulations upon being hired.
5. Saying that you need 24 hours for a sick day is ridiculous. I was sick several times while I was there and I would just call in to work and take the day (or couple days if needed) off. You are expected to work if you can even if you are a bit sick, but if you don't feel well enough to work, they won't force you to. Perhaps it has 24 hours for a sick day in your contract or something, but that is not a reality of working at the school.
6. Overtime is mandatory. Payment for overtime was never difficult to figure out.
7. Class observation is quite regular in the beginning. Once you gain the trust of the supervisors that you are capable, then you are mostly left alone. There are camera's and microphones in the classrooms, but that doesn't mean that they are always watching you.
8. The monthly bills are generally paid without issue. When the above poster was working at LCI, the person who was handling the bills was new and made mistakes. These things happen. By the time I left, issues were not common anymore. Anytime that you had a problem with how your bills were being handled, the person who took care of the bills was very willing to figure it out and usually apologized profusely if he made a mistake. I never, once, had an issue with my bills that wasn't sorted out quickly and honestly.
9. The requirement to pay the last teacher's bills was an old problem. It has been fixed now. What the previous poster failed to mention is that in the old days of paying the last teacher's bills, you would also have your last month of bills paid by the next teacher after you. Regardless, this issue has been resolved at the school and is no longer an issue.
10. There is a lot of extra work to be done. The new head supervisor has done a better job of trying to decrease needless workload, but workload is still a lot at LCI in Suji. The volume of work listed above is generally not as much as was listed, but there is still a lot to do. There is prep-time that is paid for(Generally 1-2 hours per week) but you are going to have to do work outside of that prep-time and you won't be paid for the extra work that you do.
I can't comment on the contract stipulations that the above poster had or how they were dealt with. I never once in my years there had a problem with getting the school to honour my contract. Yes, I had my disagreements with management, but they always ended up honouring what was in my contract.
Present teachers get a bonus for recruiting, yes. This bonus however is only if you have a friend who you introduce to the school and that friend is hired by the school. If you ask questions to a person via an e-mail address that you get from the school, that person isn't getting a dime for their opinion of the school. I gave out advice to people looking in LCI Suji several times and I didn't get any money. To suggest that the teachers are being paid for those kinds of things is ludicrous.
This school is not all roses. I am not sure that any school that you go to will be. I just wanted to make a more fair/balanced opinion of the school because I don't think the previous one was fair.
I feel obliged to place this warning for anyone considering working for the LCI Kids Club Branch in Suji Gu Yong in City. I do not give this warning lightly. This was the 4th school I worked at in Korea and the only one that offered serious problems. I am only stating issues that my fianc and I experienced personally and not other complaints from teacher working there or rumors about other teachers who felt it necessary to leave their contracts with this owner.
The original problems originated with the recruiters Jae Jung (Je Joung) and John Chang (ESL Info). They were very detailed during phone interviews and with their advertisement on ESL Caf. During the interview process I was specific about hours, pay, holidays, and age of students and they where able to confirm what we required and we came to an agreement. After speaking with the schools Academic coordinator Ellie (Chung Eun Chi) and the contracts wording reflected our concerns and we signed. Here were the problems we encountered:
1. The contract states 126 hours a teaching term. We were told a teaching term is one month. One month is actually 19 or 20 days based on the schools needs. An actual work month compared with other hagwons would actually work out to 134 to 142 hours a month before over time. You are in the classroom for the whole 126 hours.
2. The contract states one week holiday in summer and one week in winter. We confirmed this was 10 days. In reality it was 9 and subject to change based on the schools needs.
3. You are not paid for national holidays.
4. Age group concerns are ignored. A guaranteed 6 year old class became a 5 year old (3-4 year olds) class.
5. 24 hours notice to take a sick day is required. Sick days are not paid.
6. Mandatory over time where it is often difficult to be paid correctly.
7. Consistent in class observation as well as cameras and microphones in all the classrooms.
8. You are required to hand in your monthly bills (gas, electric ect.) to be taken off your pay. Bills are often not paid even though the amounts have been removed from your pay. You will be then double pay the next month along late charges.
9. You are required to pay bills left by other teachers.
10. The following are the required duties to be completed each month without pay: 40 1 page weekly evaluations, 40 monthly evaluation/report cards, proof reading and correcting of 120 journals, creating and preparing monthly and weekly tests, correcting/re-writing 30 monthly tests and 160 weekly tests, and proofreading Korean supervisors work as needed. As well you have to prepare your class for four festivals over the year.
When irregularities began to appear after starting the position I requested a meeting with the owner Melany (Chi Hyun Son) who informed me it was our fault in believing what the recruiters had said. They were not her employees and she was free to interpret our contract stipulations as she saw fit. We spoke with all levels of supervision to no avail before we felt we had no choice but to leave. Present teachers also get bonuses for recruitment so take this into account if your are contacted by email.