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Forced Labor
WORKPLACE CODE PROVISION: "There will not be any use of forced labor, whether in the form of prison labor, indentured labor, bonded labor or otherwise."
Click here to access FLA Benchmarks for this provision.
FFLA Year Two IEM Findings - Forced Labor
* Please note that these findings represent the 1,595 incidences of separate noncompliance issues as found in 105 of the 110 factories subjected to IEMs in Year Two.
Click here for more about the way this data was collected.
Forced Labor made up 3 percent of all reported noncompliance issues in Year Two, totaling 46 individual cases. Almost half of all reported noncompliance with this provision took place in South Asia (49percent), followed by Southeast Asia (22 percent) and East Asia (21 percent). Click here to access a breakdown of Year Two reported noncompliance issues tallied according to the Forced Labor benchmarks.
It is important to note that the FLA Benchmarks for the Forced Labor Code Provision are not limited to "forced labor" or "bonded labor." (Click here to access the FLA Forced Labor Bechmarks.) In fact, none of the 110 factories that were independently monitored in Year Two showed evidence of forced or bonded labor. Instead, all of the noncompliance findings for this provision related to personnel or recordkeeping practices that did not comply with FLA standards. Almost half (46%) of these issues related to insufficient hiring and employment records. In other cases, workers were hired as daily workers, which enabled factories to avoid providing various benefits and protections that full-time workers are entitled to by law. There were also instances of factories holding workers' identification cards or other documentation, limiting workers' freedom of movement.
Various factories were also engaged in recruitment practices that did not comply with FLA standards. According to FLA benchmarks, contracts, recruitment arrangements, or any other mechanism may in no way allow for the confinement of workers or restrictions on their free movement. The benchmarks protect workers against some of the disciplinary tactics that are associated with recruitment arrangements, which have been known to give management the power to withhold wages already earned by workers in order to prevent them from leaving their jobs before the end of their contracts.
In instances where these issues arose, some companies required factories to institute improved recordkeeping practices relating to hiring and workers' status. Others required factories to obey legal limitations on day workers wherever relevant. In a case where workers' freedom of movement was restricted, a company worked to put policies in place that would ensure that workers had free access to their passports or identity cards, and that recruitment arrangements would not undermine workers' basic rights.
Please click here to visit the tracking charts to review how various companies have worked to remediate these and other issues.
Link to:
FLA BENCHMARKS: FORCED LABOR
A. WORKPLACE CODE PROVISION: There will not be any use of forced labor, whether
in the form of prison labor, indentured labor, bonded labor or otherwise.
B. Benchmarks
- Employers will not use prison labor.
- Employers will not bind workers to employment as a condition of fulfilling terms of a debt to a third party or to the employer. Advances will not exceed three months pay or legal limits, whichever is less.
- Workers will be compensated for their work directly through the provision of cash or its equivalent. -In-kind compensation is permissible, if local law permits, so long as legal limits are complied with and receipt of in-kind compensation is voluntary.
- Workers will not be engaged to work in a factory by a family member, associate or friend so that the family member, friend or associate receives continuing remuneration, consideration, or other return from the employer. (This will not refer to normal references, referral bonuses or standard employment recruitment practices.)
- Employers will maintain sufficient hiring and employment records to demonstrate and verify compliance with this Code provision.
- If factory entrances are locked or guarded to prevent non-employee access to the premises for security reasons, employees will have free egress at all times.
- Workers will not be required to live in employer-owned or controlled residences.
- The freedom of movement of workers who live in employer controlled residences will not be unreasonably restricted.
- All workers will have the right to enter into and to terminate their employment freely.
- Employment terms shall be those to which the worker has voluntarily agreed.
- Employers are prohibited from practices that restrict a worker's ability to terminate his or her employment or freedom of movement, including physical or mental coercion, deposits, unreasonable financial penalties or recruitment fees, and access to and renewal of identity papers and/or work permits or other legal identification documents.
- Workers will retain possession or control of their passports, identity papers, travel documents or any other personal legal documents. Employers will not retain them to restrict workers' access to their personal identification documents, or to ensure that workers will remain in employment in the factory. Employers may obtain copies of original documents for record-keeping purposes.
- Employers will provide, at employee request, secure storage for employee documents. Such storage will be freely accessible to workers.
- There can be no employment terms (including contracts, recruitment arrangements, or any other instruments) which specify that employees can be confined or be subjected to restrictions on freedom of movement; allow employers to hold wages already earned; provide for penalties resulting in paying back wages already earned; or, in any way punish workers for terminating employment. (It is acceptable to provide bonuses to workers who stay for a term of contract and meet reasonable conditions, such as regular attendance, punctuality, good quality, etc.)
- Deductions for repayment of any recruitment fees will not be made without the consent of the worker.
| Forced Labor Benchmarks |
Number of Noncompliance Issues |
Percent of Total |
| Forced Labor |
0 |
0% |
| Indebtedness |
1 |
2% |
| In-kind Compensation |
0 |
0% |
| Debt / Bondage labor |
0 |
0% |
| Employment Records |
21 |
46% |
| Freedom of Movement |
3 |
7% |
| Employer Controlled Residence |
2 |
4% |
| Freedom of Movement |
1 |
2% |
| Freedom In Employment |
3 |
7% |
| Employment terms |
2 |
4% |
| Freedom of Movement |
1 |
2% |
| Confiscated Original Documents |
2 |
4% |
| Accessible Records/ Documents |
3 |
7% |
| Recruitment Contracts |
6 |
13% |
| Recruitment Fees |
1 |
2% |
| Forced Labor Other |
0 |
0% |
| Total |
46 |
100 % |
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