A chicken-catching company has become the first British business to be found liable to compensate victims of human trafficking...
A chicken-catching company has become the first British business to be found liable to compensate victims of human trafficking.
Six men from Lithuania had claimed that they were severely exploited. That included being denied sleep and toilet breaks, and living and working in inhumane and degrading conditions. The company has been ordered to compensation for, among other things, unlawfully withholding wages and depriving the men of facilities to wash, rest, eat and drink. The level of that compensation is yet to be decided.
The men were reported to have worked on farms, eggs from which were supplied to businesses that sell to supermarkets. It’s a warning to employers that modern slavery in supply chains is a very real possibility.
If you haven’t yet got to grips with your obligations to eradicate modern slavery – which includes servitude, forced or compulsory labour and human trafficking – from your business and supply chain, do it now. Even if you are not one of the £36m+ turnover businesses that has to publish an annual statement on this, your place in their supply chain could be in jeopardy if you don’t also ensure that your own suppliers, and even your suppliers’ suppliers, aren’t engaged in some form of modern slavery.
