Taiwan Supplier Recruitment Fees

Individuals moving across borders in search of work are often charged high recruitment fees to cover their travel, visas, and any accommodation costs. These fees can saddle workers with debt. Over the last few years, we have updated our policies and procedures to outline our alignment with the Employer Pays Principle that no worker should pay for a job.

Taiwan has been identified as a region that relies heavily on foreign migrant labor. In 2019, one of our suppliers in Taiwan was audited and determined to be employing migrant laborers who paid recruitment fees associated with their hire. Our Sustainability Team traveled to the facility to follow up on the remediation work by identifying the sums that needed to be reimbursed to employees. With support and collaboration between our team and the facility, remediation was completed in February 2020. An additional independent verification assessment was also conducted in October 2020 where we confirmed all reimbursement payments to employees had been made.

We will continue investing in capacity building and training in Taiwan and other countries that utilize migrant labor, and educate suppliers on how to responsibly implement recruitment practices that do not include workers paying recruitment fees.