Charging employees fees for recruitment or during employment can lead to debt bondage and makes employees vulnerable to exploitation and coercion.

If fees are found, the UoC shall reimburse them as soon as possible.

Following are a list of recruitment fees and related costs as determined by the ILO and adapted from their guidance that may be incurred as a result of the recruitment process and that are not to be charged to potential or actual employees:

employee contracts

contracts with any recruitment agencies that contain an agreement that workers will not be charged any fees towards recruitment at any stage of recruitment

payslips and pay records.

whether a recruitment agency has been used for recruitment;

that wage terms listed in contracts match payslips or payroll records and there are no hidden fees being deducted;

whether contracts of migrant workers contain clauses about repatriation;

employees’ perceptions of the nature and conditions of their recruitment process.

ILO (2019), General Principles and Operational Guidelines for Fair Recruitment and Definition of Recruitment Fees and Related Costs. Available at: <https://www.ilo.org/sites/default/files/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_protect/@protrav/@migrant/documents/publication/wcms_703485.pdf>

A common tactic in forced labour situations can be to withhold salary, property or benefits, to pressure an employee to stay in employment.

Benefits can be:

There are situations where withholding salary, property or benefits are legally required, and so allowed under this indicator. For example:

employee contracts that include information about any wage deductions

payslips and payroll records

evidence that recruitment agencies do not unlawfully withhold any salary, property or benefits.

contracts do not contain any unlawful deductions;

wage terms listed in contracts match payslips or payroll records;

any deductions made from wages such as taxes, or social security, are lawful, transparent, and authorised by the employee;

employees are aware of the purpose of any deductions being made.

The word ‘directly’ means an employee who is employed by the UoC, rather than by a recruitment agency.

The UoC is responsible for ensuring that any employees who are working at the UoC, but recruited and/or contracted by a recruitment agency are also allowed to terminate their own employment.

The UoC should also be aware of and comply with local labour laws and regulations related to employment termination.

The UoC has fair and transparent employment agreements (see Criterion 3.7) that are:

Examples of unacceptable terms and conditions relating to terminating employment are:

employee contracts that include conditions for termination of employment

records of resignation

evidence that recruitment agencies allow employees to terminate their employment.

whether or not employees are aware of how they can terminate their employment if they wish, and what the terms and conditions are for doing so.

The retention of identity documents is a violation of employees’ basic rights.

When employees cannot easily prove their identity or citizenship status or have the documents required to travel, they become more vulnerable to exploitation.

Employees should always either possess or have access at any time to their original personal documentation, including documentation needed to terminate employment, and to leave the country and travel freely. For example:

storage solutions for personal documents

policies about the retention of employee documents.

whether or not employees store personal documents anywhere at the UoC;

that employees are not asked to hand over any personal documents.

The UoC is responsible for initial screening of recruitment agencies, including:

The UoC is also responsible for continued monitoring of recruitment agencies, including annually reviewing their:

records of screening of recruitment agencies, both upon engagement of the agency and also on an ongoing basis

copies of valid, up-to-date licences of recruitment agencies

contracts with recruitment agencies

employee contracts for those who have been recruited by recruitment agencies.

whether or not recruitment agencies have been used by the UoC;

that a recruitment agency screening process is in place;

terms and conditions of employment for those who have been recruited through recruitment agencies;

if any foreign migrant employees have been recruited through agencies;

if terms and conditions and an MoU are in place for the recruitment of migrant employees;

employees’ perceptions of the recruitment process;

that recruitment agencies used have not been associated with any bad practices by local labour unions or other organisations.

The remediation framework is set out in Appendix 10, including timelines, corrective action and reporting obligations.

Remediation of forced labour:

When remediating a case of forced labour, there can be different steps in the process, which can include:

The UoC should then engage in a process of developing corrective actions to prevent forced labour reoccurring. This can include:

Given the complexity of human rights issues, partnership with external partners is often necessary to provide effective remediation. They can:

These potential partners can include:

Potential support that these partners can provide could include:

documented remediation procedures

records and documents of any remediation process that has taken place

records and documents of any corrective actions that have been put into place

documented monitoring system in place.

existence of remediation procedures;

knowledge and capacity of staff to implement remediation procedures, or availability of external capacity;

the ability of the site to monitor any corrective actions within their management system;

knowledge and capacity of staff to develop corrective actions, where necessary;

amended contracts with recruitment agencies, where relevant.

Bureau of International Labor Affairs, Forced Labor Remediation Guide. Available at: <https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/comply-chain/steps-to-a-social-compliance-system/step-6-remediate-violations/key-topic-forced-labor-remediation-guide#:~:text=REMEDIATION%20ACTION%3A,-Ensure%20that%20wages&text=Ensure%20that%20payment%20schedules%20are,receive%20their%20full%20wages%20due>.

ILO (2015), Combating Forced Labour: A Handbook for Employers and Business. Available at: <https://www.ilo.org/media/441596/download>

Forced labour can take many forms and can include:

The wording ‘or support’ in the indicator means that the UoC:

employee contracts

licences or certificates of any recruitment agencies used (see Indicator 3.2.3)

evidence that any recruitment agencies used are complying with relevant regulations (see Indicator 3.2.3)

records from internal audits.

general risk factors for forced labour in a country (see useful resources section);

NGOs’ or other local organisations’ knowledge of any reports of forced labour in the sector in this region;

human resources personnel’s awareness of any issues in the workplace;

worker or union representative’s awareness of any issues in the workplace;

whether or not any migrant workers are working at the UoC whether local or international, as a heightened risk factor for forced labour;

whether or not recruitment agencies are being used, as a heightened risk factor for forced labour;

that employees are not threatened with any penalties or retaliation;

that employees are not in any form of debt bondage;

that employee contracts are clear and up-to-date and employees understand their terms and conditions of employment;

consistency with records related to other parts of the ASC Farm Standard that represent risk factors for forced labour, e.g.:

ILO (2015), Combating Forced Labour: A Handbook for Employers and Business. Available at: <https://www.ilo.org/media/441596/download>

US State Department country reports for human trafficking: <https://www.state.gov/trafficking-in-persons-report/>

The policy can be published:

The policy should be:

‘Other relevant stakeholders’ can include anyone who is interested in or impacted by the operations of the UoC, for example:

publication of the policy

that the policy is publicly available and easily accessible;

that stakeholders are aware of the existence and contents of the policy.

The policy is:

Informing employees about their human rights can help:

Training for employees on the policy should include:

records of the training, including attendees and topics covered

policy available for employees in an accessible format.

employees understand the purpose and contents of the policy;

training is taking place annually and all employees are trained.

Employee representation:

A committee structure preferably:

A committee’s role includes:

The UoC should ensure that any employee representative or committee:

list of members of the employee committee or employee representation

records of meetings and actions

records of election procedures.

employees are aware of who represents them and how to contact them;

the employee representation understands their role and the human rights policy.