Frequently Asked Questions

The following is a list of frequently asked questions about FLA, divided into subject areas. We are continually updating this section so please check back or, if you have a question that is not on here, please send us an email.

If you have a specific question on FLA 3.0, please click here.

About the Fair Labor Association Fair Labor Association Stakeholder Obligations Fair Labor Association Code Implementation and Monitoring Program Fair Labor Association Licensee Program Fair Labor Association University Program

About the Fair Labor Association What is the mission of the Fair Labor Association?
The mission of the Fair Labor Association (FLA) is to combine the efforts of industry, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and colleges and universities to promote adherence to international labor standards and improve working conditions worldwide.

Since 1999, the FLA has served to engage in careful review and monitoring to assess whether companies are in compliance with FLA standards and requirements. In this process, special attention is given to whether they have policies and procedures in place to detect, and more importantly to remediate, instances of non-compliance.

The FLA reports the results of independent external monitoring of factories in inidividual reports called tracking charts and issues annual reports on Participating Companies and college and university licensees as part of its commitment to transparency. The FLA seeks to put even greater emphasis on sustainable compliance – identifying the root causes of non-compliance and creating approaches that address those root causes – and on collaboration among companies and with local civil society organizations, to increase the likelihood that compliance efforts will be effective and sustained.

The FLA continues to expand its capacity to increase its visibility and approach to code implementation and monitoring. The organization now has greater field presence with coordinators in SE Asia, South Asia and East Asia and an office in Geneva In 2004, the FLA Board of Directors approved its first accredited company compliance program and in May 2005, six additional programs were accredited. As a result of lessons learned from the first two years of monitoring, the FLA is taking monitoring to the next level. The process includes a more holistic approach beginning with a needs assessments, followed by capacity building and impact assessments to achieve greater sustainability in addition to the existing monitoring model.

How did the FLA begin?
The Fair Labor Association grew out of the Apparel Industry Partnership (AIP), which stemmed from a White House meeting in August 1996. The purpose of the meeting was to challenge companies in the apparel industry to take steps to improve working conditions around the world and to provide the public with information it could use to make informed purchasing decisions. The AIP, composed of apparel and footwear companies, human rights groups, labor rights and religious organizations, and consumer advocates. The AIP sought to form an organization that would recruit member companies to abide by a code of conduct and monitoring requirements (company obligations), develop a program to determine whether company obligations have been met (accreditation), and institute a mechanism to inform consumers about the participation and compliance of companies (public reporting).

What does it mean to be in "compliance with the Fair Labor Association standards?"
The company must adhere to the following standards as stated in the FLA Charter: (i) effective implementation of an internal compliance program and independent external monitoring consistent with the Monitoring Principles; (ii) timely remediation of non-compliance with the Workplace Code or Monitoring Principles found by internal or accredited independent external monitors; and (iii) in situations where monitors have found a significant and/or persistent pattern of non-compliance, or instances of serious non-compliance, with the Workplace Code or Monitoring Principles, taking adequate steps to prevent recurrence.

How is the FLA governed?
The Board of Directors consists of six company representatives, six NGO representatives, six university representatives, and an independent chair. Carol Bellamy, President and CEO of World Learning, currently serves as Board Chair.

How is the FLA funded?
Funding comes from the Participating Companies, colleges and universities and their licensees, and grants from the U.S. Department of State. The FLA is actively seeking additional support from foundations.

What is included in the FLA Code of Conduct?
The FLA addresses all of these areas and goes further. The FLA Workplace Code of Conduct is the centerpiece of the Fair Labor Association Charter. It addresses forced labor, child labor, harassment or abuse, discrimination, health and safety concerns, freedom of association and collective bargaining, wages and benefits, hours of work, and overtime compensation.

How does the FLA improve working conditions?
The FLA process subjects companies to a rigorous system of scrutiny as a means of verifying sustainable solutions in the workplace. This process entails holding companies accountable for their compliance programs and providing companies with technical assistance for their remediation of non-compliance and Third Party Complaints. While the FLA cannot directly monitor all of our companies' factories, we can go beyond work with individual companies to encourage collective efforts involving multiple companies, civil society organizations, workers, government officials and policy makers, and others to improve workplace conditions, encourage the adoption of higher standards, and ensure that labor standards are enforced.

Can someone complain directly to the FLA?
Yes. The FLA encourages third parties to actively hold companies accountable for the conditions under which their products are produced. The FLA Third Party Complaint system is designed to give a voice to workers' concerns that is confidential and independent of the factory's internal procedures. It also enables the FLA to investigate the problem and remediate the situation in an appropriate and timely manner. The FLA requires its Participating Companies and Category B licensees to have confidential channels for workers to report problems as well.

What sort of follow-up will the FLA do when it receives a third party complaint?
The Executive Director will review the complaint. If it is determined that there is credible evidence about the non-compliance of a company, the director reviews all internal and external monitoring reports relating to the facility in question and determines whether the problem has already been remedied.

If it has not, the Executive Director will contact the company for review. The company then has 45 days to report on the complaint. If there has been an incident of non-compliance, the company must remediate and develop an effective means to prevent and remedy such noncompliance in the future.

If the Executive Director is dissatisfied with the company's action, he can select an independent monitor to take up the case. The Executive Director is required to communicate the status and outcome of the complaint to the complainant. Universities can seek notification about complaints from their licensees or the FLA, or both.

Fair Labor Association Stakeholder Obligations

What are company obligations to participate in the Fair Labor Association?
When a company wants to participate in the FLA, it submits an application that includes a plan describing the internal and independent external monitoring that the company agrees to conduct. The application also includes an agreement by the company to:

• Adopt and communicate the Workplace Code of Conduct to workers and management at applicable facilities.
• Train internal compliance staff to monitor and remediate non-compliance issues.
• Conduct internal monitoring of applicable facilities.
• Submit to unannounced, independent external monitoring visits to factories throughout its supply chain.
• Remediate non-compliance issues in a timely manner.
• Act to prevent persistent patterns of non-compliance, or instances of serious non-compliance.
• Collect and manage compliance information effectively.
• Provide workers with confidential channels to report on non-compliance issues to the company.
• Consult with non-governmental organizations, unions and other local experts in its work.
• Pay FLA dues and meet other procedural and administrative requirements.

Do FLA-affiliated companies own their own factories?
Very few factories are owned by the companies. Most companies place orders with factories in their supply chain. Often Participating Companies account for only a small share of their contractors' business.

Why do companies decide to join the FLA?
By participating in the FLA, companies show they are committed to improving workplace conditions in factories that produce their goods. The FLA offers companies a system for credible independent assessment and monitoring, collaboration on special initiatives such as the Central America Project or the Joint Initiative on Corporate Accountability and Workers Rights, fair public reporting and regular contact among FLA stakeholders (companies, NGOs, and colleges and universities).

What is internal monitoring?
Internal monitoring is a process by which Participating Companies can evaluate or assess the workplace conditions of their owned and operated or contracted factories. Companies will use either their internal staff to conduct these audits or hire an external monitor (NGOs or commercial monitors). Companies most commonly use the FLA code of conduct, country labor law and international standards as benchmarks against which to monitor the factory. An internal audit will generally include interviews with factory management, workers, and trade union representatives; documentation review of factory policies payroll, benefits and hours of work; and a tour of the facility to assess conditions. Companies then work with factories to remediate non-compliances reported during the internal monitoring process and verify when remediation is completed.

Fair Labor Association Code Implementation and Monitoring Program

How does independent external monitoring work?
The FLA Code Implementation and Monitoring Group initiates the independent external monitoring (IEM) process by identifying 5% of a company's applicable facilities to be monitored. The group assigns the appropriate FLA accredited monitor to conduct the unannounced visits and schedules the visits. The visit, often one to two-days, comprise of interviews with factory management, workers, union representatives if applicable and local NGOs; documentation review of factory policies, and a tour of the facility to assess the conditions. The IEM monitors submit a written report of their findings to the FLA and the Participating Company. The company has 60 days to submit a corrective action plan detailing their remediation of any non-compliance issues found. The FLA will assist in the remediation effort and conduct a follow-up visit to the factory to verify the remediation.

How are monitors accredited and what are the expected requirements?
Eligible applicants, who include small businesses and non-governmental organizations, may submit an application for accreditation to the FLA Accredited monitors must meet specified standards regarding their capability and independence. These monitors must abide by clear evaluation guidelines and criteria; verify internal monitoring; have independent access to and conduct independent audits of employee records; conduct unannounced visits and audits; develop relationships with local labor, human rights or religious organizations; conduct confidential employee interviews; and submit an evaluation report to the company and the FLA. The official Monitoring Guidance and Compliance Benchmarks document is available on the Fair Labor Association website. This document provides detailed guidelines for accredited monitors as well as the benchmarks, or key principles, for understanding and interpreting the FLA Workplace Code of Conduct.

How do non-governmental organizations fit into the process of monitoring and to the broader work of the FLA?
Local NGOs, including religious organizations and human rights and labor rights groups, can serve as channels of communication for workers and can help identify areas of non-compliance in a factory. As part of the monitoring process, independent external monitors and Participating Companies must establish relationships with these local groups and view them as a reliable source for local experience and knowledge and trust of workers. In return, NGOs can play a vital role in developing, implementing, and verifying remediation plans.

Are inspections announced and who decides where the monitors will go?
All independent external monitoring inspections are unannounced and conducted by accredited independent external monitors. The FLA selects the accredited monitors and determines which factories will be monitored.

Are there any mechanisms, other than inspections, to find out about factory conditions?
The FLA requires monitors to consult regularly with local NGOs; to conduct periodic confidential interviews with employees in their own language; and to utilize local NGOs to facilitate communication with employees in the conduct of employee interviews and in the reporting of noncompliance. In addition, the Charter provides for a Third Party Complaint procedure.

What happens if independent external monitors (IEMs) find violations in a factory?
The IEM informs the Participating Company and the FLA; the FLA requires that the company work with factory management to remediate the non-compliance and verify the remediation.

Where can I find out about violations that have been found?
The FLA annual public report provides a comprehensive analysis of the previous year's monitoring findings recorded in the Tracking Charts. The report also draws upon information submitted in the companies' and licensees' annual reports and IEM reports. In addition, the FLA reports on the nature of violations and how they were resolved through our third party complaint system. The annual public report and the Tracking Charts can be accessed through our website.

Does the FLA certify companies?
The FLA firmly believes in focusing on a labor compliance program, rather than a company or brand, to assess sustainable implementation of the FLA Code of Conduct. Each Participating Company may opt for a two- or three-year implementation period during which they must adhere to FLA independent external monitoring, remediation and verification. Upon conclusion of the implementation phase, the Board of Directors will accredit the program if it has met the minimum FLA requirements. Accreditation does not mean that every factory in its supply chain, or even any single factory in its supply chain, is in full compliance with the FLA code. It does mean that the company has put mechanisms and procedures in place to increase code awareness, monitor and remediate non-compliance, and prevent persistent patterns of non-compliance. Its performance is assessed each year in the posted Tracking Charts and the FLA's annual report, and each company's accreditation must be reviewed every two years.

Fair Labor Association Licensee Program

Are the companies that are licensed to produce merchandise for schools in the FLA required to disclose the locations of the factories that produce that merchandise?
Under the terms of a resolution adopted by the University Advisory Council (UAC) in June 2000. All members of the UAC with licensing programs require public disclosure of factory locations by their licensees. The FLA is currently updating its Disclosure Factory Database which gives access to the list of factories producing goods for each college and university associated with us.

Fair Labor Association University Program

Why should colleges and univerities affiliate with the FLA?
Colleges and universities and their students are catalysts for positive social change – they help create greater awareness and spur action around the issue of unfair labor conditions in factories around the world. In a global market economy where products, including university-logoed goods, are manufactured in a number of developing countries, colleges and universities are concerned about the working conditions in which their products are made. Increasingly, they want evidence from their licensees that university-logoed goods are not manufactured in sweatshops.

Affiliating with the FLA helps colleges and universities make the transition from a lack in knowledge about factory conditions to better informed decision-making about purchasing. The FLA offers a comprehensive program of internal and external monitoring as well as a third party complaint procedure in which colleges and universities can require their licensees to participate.

Currently, nearly 200 colleges, universities and secondary schools in both the United States and Canada are affiliated with the FLA. Collegiate licensees, by participating in the FLA, gain access to a monitoring methodology that allows them to take on compliance commitments and obligations, including adoption of the FLA Workplace Code of Conduct in all production of collegiate merchandise.

Why does the FLA have university representatives on its Board?
The University and Collegiate Licensee Programs are integral to the FLA's work. The FLA's long partnership with colleges and universities extends to its formal incorporation in 1999. The current six seats assigned to university representatives on the FLA's policy-making Board of Directors, the same number as companies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), in indicative of the FLA's commitment to full and equal participation and governance from the university constituency. The six university members on FLA's Board represent the University Advisory Council (UAC), a body that comprises a representative from each university affiliated with the FLA. The Board members help guide the UAC in its participation in the FLA's work.

We encourage student participation in the FLA. The student community's commitment to the issue of sweatshops is integral to the resolution of problems that plague so many factories around the world. We are open to engaging students in constructive dialogue and will continue in our efforts to reach out to students on campuses across the country.

Which universities are currently affiliated with the FLA?
Nearly 200 colleges, universities and secondary schools in both the United States and Canada are currently affiliated with the FLA. You can find a comprehensive list here.

How does the FLA monitor factories that manufacture goods for colleges and universities?
Colleges and universities affiliated with the FLA require their licensees to sign on with the FLA and ensure that the FLA Workplace Code of Conduct is implemented throughout their supply chains. Depending on their annual revenues, each licensee falls under one of the FLA's licensee categories, B, C, or D. When licensees sign up with the FLA, they are required to provide the FLA with a list of factories they use for manufacturing university products, and must set up a compliance program to meet FLA company obligations. The FLA has developed an independent monitoring, remediation and verification labor compliance system that it enforces with companies and university licensees in the FLA program.

In fall 2007, the FLA is introducing a pilot of the Enhanced Licensee Program. The Enhanced Program is a strong program of online and offline tools and systems to encourage greater compliance from smaller, Category C collegiate licensees.

Does the FLA monitor for its own Code of Conduct or the university code?
We require that companies and collegiate licensees adopt a code that meets or exceeds the FLA Workplace Code of Conduct. If university licensees are required to adopt their university's code of conduct, the FLA will monitor for that code as long if it meets or exceeds the FLA Code.

What is the University Advisory Council?
The University Advisory Council (UAC) is comprised of a representative from each college or university affiliated with the FLA. The UAC works closely with the FLA to implement the FLA University and Collegiate Licensee Programs. The UAC meets annually and actively participates throughout the year in the FLA's work. Affiliated colleges and universities are kept informed about FLA initiatives via the UAC listserve. The UAC chooses the six university members on the FLA Board of Directors .

How does the FLA's Enhanced Licensee Program affect universities?
The Enhanced Licensee Program that the FLA is introducing in summer 2007 is a strong complement of online and offline tools and systems to encourage greater compliance from smaller, Category C collegiate licensees. This program will provide universities and their licensees with training programs and enhanced tools to better monitor the working conditions in factories that produce their goods. Historically, smaller licensees have presented more of a challenge in labor compliance efforts because they are geographically more scattered, have fewer resources to manage labor compliance programs, and have generally displayed a relative lack of knowledge about factory conditions. The Enhanced Program is targeted at making both universities and their licensees more aware of conditions in factories, and provides them with opportunities to work together and with the FLA to correct any labor violations.

How frequently does the FLA monitor factories that produce collegiate goods and who monitors these factories?
Factories of FLA-affiliated companies at Participating Company and Category B level are subject to annual unannounced monitoring by independent FLA-accredited monitors. This is complemented by the internal monitoring that affiliated companies are required perform and report throughout the year for the factories from which they source. Most collegiate licensees fall into FLA's category C with revenues below $50 million. Through the Enhanced Program, the FLA hopes to achieve a greater level of labor compliance than we have seen in the past from these smaller licensees.


Why does the FLA monitor for minimum wage and not living wage?
Experience shows that it is difficult, if not impossible, to arrive at a region-specific living wage. No one has been able to successfully determine a living wage that would be appropriate for the specific countries in which suppliers of collegiate goods are located. Indeed, attempting to arrive at an appropriate living wage for regions in this country has proved to be a great challenge, despite the relative wealth of economic data for the United States. In light of this, the FLA Workplace Code of Conduct, which is based on International Labor Organization standards, does not include a living wage element. Our Code recognizes that wages are essential to meeting an employee's needs. It specifies that employers shall pay employees at least the minimum wage required by local law or the prevailing industry wage, whichever is higher, and shall provide legally mandated benefits. Ensuring that workers are paid at least the legally-mandated wage goes a long way to improve the living standards of workers who are often intentionally underpaid by their employers.

The FLA continues to look into the possibility of developing a living wage, including working with multi-stakeholder initiatives that have a living wage requirement in their code of conduct. In addition, the FLA Board of Directors has mandated further examination of the issue, and we have done that in a number of different ways. For instance, the FLA held a living wage forum in 2003, the report from which you can read here. The FLA is involved in the Jo-In project, a collaborative effort of six organizations committed to improving labor standards in global supply chains, and is actively discussing how to include and monitor for living wage. We will continue to engage in further dialogue about possible ways to monitor for living wage in our efforts to protect workers' rights around the world.

What is the FLA's position on the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP)?
The FLA and the Worker Rights Consortium, the primary proponent of the DSP, share the goal of ensuring better conditions for workers in factories around the world. The FLA does not oppose the DSP per se; however, given our extensive on-the-ground experience with global labor issues, we have serious concerns about its practicability. For instance, determining a living wage for workers has proven to be an enormous challenge both domestically and globally. Similarly, long-term contracts, another DSP requirement, may not be practical in a world of changing needs, tastes and fashions. Finally, companies are often not willing to manufacture in the same factories as their competitors, as the DSP requires. For more information, you might want to view this archived material.

Can you tell me more about the controversy surrounding the BJ&B closure?
The FLA's involvement in the BJ&B factory in the Dominican Republic (DR) extends well beyond the impending closure of the factory. We were involved in correcting labor violations in the factory and in the formation of a union in 2002 to better and more fairly represent factory workers. The FLA was very concerned about the closure of the BJ&B factory, particularly relating to the owner's compliance with national labor law. As a result, we retained an expert in Dominican law and labor issues to examine legal compliance surrounding the closure. The FLA also participated in an international meeting to discuss the closure convened by the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation.
Following that meeting, the FLA and WRC issued a joint statement that included recommendations about severance for the workers. Since that meeting, the union and management have agreed upon a fair settlement, achieved through the collective bargaining process, as urged by the FLA and WRC.

On a broader level, the decision to close the factory is related to the current state of the apparel industry in the DR. The expiration of the Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA), which created quotas for countries without the inherent conditions to manufacture apparel, has led to increased competition from countries like China now that the restriction of quotas does not apply. The issue in the DR is much larger than the closure of BJ&B – what can the garment industry of the DR do to better compete in the global marketplace? The FLA appointed a team of experts to examine the competitiveness of the Dominican garment issue. The team will present its findings at the FLA Board meeting in the DR in June 2007.

What is the process for my university to become an FLA affiliate?
If your university would like to affiliate with the FLA, please fill out the University Registration Form and send it to Heeral Coleman, University Liaison.

Dues for university membership are based on a school's licensing revenues. For schools with licensing programs, dues are 1% of the previous year's gross licensing revenues. For schools with no licensing programs, the dues are currently $100 per year. The FLA keeps all revenue information confidential.

Who should I contact for more information about the university program?
For more information about the University Program, please contact Heeral Coleman, University Liaison and Communications Associate at hcoleman@fairlabor.org or on 202-898-1000 x2220.

Couldn't find the answer to your question? Please contact us at info@fairlabor.org.