Compliance Advisor Ombudsman

Complaint
Harmon Hall is a large English language school chain in Mexico, with a network of 110 English schools in 63 cities and over 40,000 students in the entire system. Harmon Hall also has two K-12 schools and plans to grow this business line. IFC provided Harmon Hall with an $7.9 million equity investment.

In December 2011, the CAO received a complaint raising concerns regarding employment rights, healthcare, compensation, and fair treatment for workers employed by Harmon Hall. Specifically, the complainants contend that poor working conditions, inadequate wages, and extensive working hours are contrary to Mexican legal regulations and employment law. The complainants requested confidentiality. 

CAO Action
The CAO accepted the complaint in January 2012, and initiated an assessment to explore options for addressing the issues raised with the parties.  During the assessment, both parties agreed to a collaborative problem-solving process facilitated by the CAO to develop corrective actions in response to concerns raised in the complaint. CAO will assume a monitoring role for a period of six months after the agreed actions have been developed and fully implemented.  The case will be closed thereafter.

Status.
A problem solving process is underway with the parties. The CAO's Assessment Report is available at the link below, along with IFC's response. 

Updated: Aug 23, 2012