While the ASC Farm Standard requires that all employees working at the UoC are employed through contracts with agreed upon terms and conditions, and fair wages, ASC recognises that:

This indicator allows for small sites to receive help in operating the business from close family members in a more informal manner and in exchange for some compensation or benefits. These can include:

agreement with the family member about work, working conditions, compensation and benefits

evidence of first or second-degree blood relative of the owner or spouse of the owner.

everyone working at the UoC understands their role and how they are compensated;

everyone working at the UoC is fairly compensated for their work;

everyone working at the UoC is either an employee with a contract or a first or second-degree blood relative of the owner or spouse of the owner.

This indicator applies to all employees.

Copies of contracts should be available on file in the language of the employee, and provisions should be made for cases where people have low literacy levels. For example:

In the case of any changes to the contract during employment, the UoC should:

Examples of changes to terms and conditions can include where employees have:

Migrant workers should have contracts that:

contracts and contract amendments

evidence of the contract being explained to the employee in their language and in a way they understand

contracts, Memorandum of Understanding or terms and conditions agreed between the UoC and the labour or recruitment agency.

whether contracts meet national legal requirements for labour contracts;

that contract terms and conditions match with working hour records and payroll and wage records and/or the Salary Matrix (see Criterion 3.8);

employees’ understanding of the terms and conditions of their contract;

whether employees are in possession of a copy of their contract and documented changes;

for migrant employees: whether they were required to pay recruitment fees, and any costs incurred for travel to the host country by assessing the process of recruitment. See also Criterion 3.2.

A collective bargaining agreement is a labour contract usually set out between a union representing employees and management.

It can set terms and conditions of employment, including:

documented collective bargaining agreements and which employees are covered by them.

employees’ and managers’ understanding of the right of collective bargaining

any collective bargaining agreements in place are upheld.

This is a reporting requirement, not a disclosure requirement, which means that all data is held confidentially by ASC, who does not share it publicly.

Companies should never publicly share personal employee data.

The information collected through this reporting requirements will enable ASC to:

confirmation of data uploaded to MyASC.

that data uploaded to MyASC is consistent with results of the wage gap analysis.

The UoC:

Interference by employers can take many forms, such as making use of their positions of power and influence to:

An employee committee or union shall make decisions independently from the management. For example:

documents related to the representative election process

list of current representatives.

employee knowledge and awareness on:

Collective bargaining:

Allowing employees to engage in this process includes ensuring that they understand:

documents, records or other evidence that show how sites have informed their employees that they are free to bargain collectively, such as:

documents, records or other evidence allow for verifying that sites have informed their employees that they are free to bargain collectively;

any collective bargaining agreements in place are being followed;

employees’ awareness and knowledge of their right to bargain collectively;

A trade union or worker organisation represents workers’ labour interests and concerns.

Employees are allowed to choose:

Freedom of association enable employees to:

Allowing employees to engage in this process includes ensuring that they understand:

documents, records or other evidence that show how sites have informed their employees that they are free to join or form workers’ organisations of their own choosing, such as:

whether local laws and regulations permit freedom of association;

employees’ awareness and knowledge of their right to join trade unions and other workers organisations;

information from documents and records match with information from employee interviews;

employee knowledge and awareness on:

FOA & worker representation: company guidance. Ethical Trading Initiative.

Q&As on Business and freedom of association. International Labour Organisation (ILO).

By ensuring that divers are healthy enough to dive, this minimises the risk of negative impacts to their health and safety during dives.

If a diver has been subcontracted from a diving company, the UoC can ensure that the diving company have taken responsibility for the medical tests.

Some countries have requirements that medical professionals have to undergo particular training or have particular qualifications to confirm someone’s fitness to work as a commercial diver.

records of medical certificates of fitness to dive, signed by a qualified medical professional.

management understand the importance of divers being medically fit and healthy;

management are able to confirm that all divers are medically fit to dive, whether they have been directly employed or are subcontracted through a diving company.

Different countries have different certifications for commercial diving, but a normal scuba certification is not and should never be accepted as adequate commercial diver training.

commercial diver certificates for all commercial divers working at the UoC.

management understand the relevant qualifications that divers should have to be allowed to dive commercially;

management are able to confirm that all divers are properly certified, whether they have been directly employed or are subcontracted through a diving company.

Commercial divers are professional divers who engage in underwater operations and have specific skills and qualifications.

Through keeping records of commercial diving activities, the UoC can:

The types of records to keep depends on local regulations and the type of dive certification. At a minimum, records include:

complete diving records

list of persons involved in diving at the UoC.

diving records are properly maintained for each dive and are up-to-date.