Comments made in this newspaper last week by former teachers at the Instituto Comunicacion lnternacional de Mexico (ICI) do not reflect the working practices at the established Guadalajara language school, school officials said this week.
The comments were made by disgruntled former employees and do not represent the views of the vast majority of staff members, they said.
Responding to criticism by former employee “Robert Hall” (real name Joseph Mcelroy), ICI legal representative Alejandro Flores said the school has always paid its employees at the stipulated times, complies with the law regarding social obligations and benefits, employs only teachers with TEFL qualifications and works with original literary materials in accordance with Mexican copyright laws (he showed receipts from local bookstores to the tune of more than 360,000 pesos). Students may often make their own copies of books, as permitted under an agreement with education authorities here, Flores added.
In addition, ICI General Director Oliver Schmidt explained that the ICI has an special agreement with local Immigration authorities permitting the school to have a higher than normal quota of foreign employees than required at most other businesses. This is because many of ICI’s corporate clients demand native-speaking teachers.
Another teacher quoted in the article, Linda Bura, had 11 “unjustified” absences in six months (plus an additional two weeks absence) before her six-month contract was terminated, Schmidt said.
ICI has been in business for 14 years and employs 189 people.
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