The Ethical Fashion Programme and Fair Labour
About the FLA
The mission of the Fair Labor Association is to combine the efforts of industry, civil society organizations, and colleges/universities to protect workers’ rights and improve working conditions worldwide by promoting adherence to international labour standards.
| Incorporated in 1999, the FLA is a collaborative effort of socially responsible companies to improve working conditions in factories around the world.The FLA has developed a Workplace Code of Conduct, based on ILO standards and created a practical monitoring, remediation and verification process to achieve those standards. The FLA is a brand accountability system that places the responsibility on companies to voluntarily achieve the FLA’s labour standards in the factories manufacturing their products. |
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| As part of our mandate for producing ethical goods, we have joined the Fair Labor Association and created a special department that ensures all our project are in full compliance with FLA obligations and standards. By joining the FLA, we have committed to establishing internal systems for monitoring workplace conditions and maintaining Code standards, being part of a rigorous system of Independent External Monitoring (IEM), and public reporting on the conditions in our supplier’s workplaces. |
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The FLA Code of Conduct[i]:
With the FLA’s guidance, our team ensures all community groups and partners involved in the programmefollow the FLA Code of Conduct:
Code element
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Description
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Forced Labour
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There shall be no use of forced labor, including prison labor, indentured labor, bonded labor or other forms of forced labor.
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Child Labour
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No person shall be employed under the age of 15 or under the age for completion of compulsory education, whichever is higher.
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Harassment or Abuse
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Every employee shall be treated with respect and dignity. No employee shall be subject to any physical, sexual, psychological or verbal harassment or abuse.
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Non-discrimination
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No person shall be subject to any discrimination in employment, including hiring, compensation, advancement, discipline, termination or retirement, on the basis of gender, race, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, nationality, political opinion, social group or ethnic origin.
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Health and Safety
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Employers shall provide a safe and healthy workplace setting to prevent accidents and injury to health arising out of, linked with, or occurring in the course of work or as a result of the operation of employers’ facilities. Employers shall adopt responsible measures to mitigate negative impacts that the workplace has on the environment.
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Hours of Work
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Employers shall not require workers to work more than the regular and overtime hours allowed by the law of the country where the workers are employed. The regular work week shall not exceed 48 hours. Employers shall allow workers at least 24 consecutive hours of rest in every seven-day period. All overtime work shall be consensual. Employers shall not request overtime on a regular basis and shall compensate all overtime work at a premium rate. Other than in exceptional circumstances, the sum of regular and overtime hours in a week shall not exceed 60 hours.
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Overtime Compensation
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Every worker has a right to compensation for a regular work week that is sufficient to meet the workers’ basic needs and provide some discretionary income. Employers shall pay at least the minimum wage or the appropriate prevailing wage, whichever is higher, comply with all legal requirements on wages, and provide any fringe benefits required by law or contract. Where compensation does not meet workers’ basic needs and provide some discretionary income, each employer shall work with the FLA to take appropriate actions that seek to progressively realize a level of compensation that does.
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Employment Relationship
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Employers shall adopt and adhere to rules and conditions of employment that respect workers and, at a minimum, safeguard their rights under national and international labor and social security laws and regulations.
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Freedom of association and collective bargaining
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Employers shall recognize and respect the right of employees to freedom of association and collective bargaining.
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Click here to learn more about our membership with FLA.
[i] The FLA developed its Workplace Code of Conduct based on International Labour Organization (ILO) standards. The Code, presented below, delineates the specific code elements that FLA-affiliated companies are required to enforce in factories that supply their products. The FLA Code is supplemented by FLA Compliance Benchmarks, which identify specific benchmarks for each code element.
