Equal & Equitable Opportunities in the Workplace

Description | Indicators | Scoring Criteria | Definitions | Issues

Benefits:

• Basic:
  • Paid sick leave
  • Paid national holidays
  • Paid vacation
  • Overtime compensation
  • Disability insurance
  • Basic health insurance (unless covered by universal government program)
• Expanded: To qualify, as expanded a work benefits package must include the basic benefits plus at least three of the following:
  • Retirement savings
  • Paid bereavement leave
  • Family leave (parenting, caring for sick family member, military leave, etc)
  • Flex-time
  • Telecommuting options
  • Job sharing
  • Domestic partner coverage
  • Transportation support
  • Child care

Child labor: No workers under the age of 15; (or 14 where the law of the country permits) or under the minimum age for employment in the country.

Discrimination: treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit.

Diversity: Diversity is the presence of a wide range of variation in the qualities or attributes of a group or organization. Diversity includes respect for racial/ethnic, age, gender, cultural, disability, sexual orientation, marital and parental status, and other social differences in staff, suppliers and customers.

Forced Labor: Compulsory prison or debt bondage labor of children or adults. Lodging of deposits or identity papers by employers or outside recruiters for the purpose of restricting or preventing and individual from leaving employment.

Harassment: Harassment is defined as conduct that would be considered, by a reasonable person, to interfere with the climate of understanding and mutual respect for the dignity and worth of each person. It may be one incident or a series of incidents depending on the context. Harassment includes offensive and/or intimidating comments or conduct, whether intentional or not, that are known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome and that cause a negative impact on an individual or group. Harassment includes comments or conduct that would constitute discrimination under the BC Human Rights Code.

Labor policy: A comprehensive labor policy must include at least the following:

• Affirms the right of personnel to form and join trade unions of their choice and/or to bargain collectively
• Affirms that the company will not employ forced (involuntary) or child labor or purchase from others who do anywhere in the supply chain.
• Affirms commitment not to discriminate in hiring, remuneration, access to training, promotion, termination, or retirement based on race, national origin, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, union membership, political affiliation, or age
• Affirms commitment to diversity throughout the company, including senior management of company and corporate governance bodies

Living Wage: the minimum hourly wage necessary for a person to achieve some specific standard of living. In the context of developed countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, or Switzerland, this standard generally means that a person working forty hours a week, with no additional income, should be able to afford a specified quality or quantity of housing, food, utilities, transport, health care, and recreation. This concept differs from the minimum wage in that the latter is set by law and may fail to meet the requirements of a living wage.

Maplecroft Map of Labour Rights and Protection Index: maps.maplecroft.com The Maplecroft indexes score countries on a variety of human rights issues, screening based upon human rights violations. The LRPI is based upon measures for: child labor, forced or involuntary labor, trafficking, freedom of association and collective bargaining, discrimination and business integrity and corruption.

Trade unions: Company shall not take punitive action against personnel for forming or joining trade unions of their choice and/or bargaining collectively.

Workforce engagement: This refers to programs that give workers a say in management decision making of the workplace, such as quality circles.

Comments