The California Transparency in Supply Chains Act (“Act”) requires manufacturers and retailers doing business in California to report on their websites the activities they engage in to ensure that their supply chains are free from slavery and human trafficking.
Ready Pac Foods, Inc. is committed to observing the highest ethical standards in the conduct of its business and has programs in place to effectively manage the risks of slavery and trafficking throughout our supply chains.
Our Code of Conduct (“Code”) serves as a guide for all of our employees at Ready Pac Foods, Inc. and our third-party business partners, including suppliers, distributors, consultants and other business partners. Our Code contains specific provisions addressing human rights, labor and business conduct to evaluate and address risks of human trafficking and slavery.
To that end, our employees must comply with the principles in our Code. Failure to comply with Ready Pac Foods, Inc. Code subjects violators to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment. Ready Pac Foods, Inc. also expects the same commitment to the highest ethical standards and compliance with applicable law, including, human trafficking and slavery from our business partners.
Ready Pac Foods, Inc. supply agreements contain representations that our business partners are in compliance with all applicable federal, state and/or provincial, regional, municipal, and local laws, codes, regulations, rules, ordinances, decrees, permits, registrations and orders. We specifically highlight the requirement to comply with laws addressing human trafficking, forced labor and slavery. In addition, Ready Pac Foods, Inc. may audit our supply chain partners by conducting visits and/or have third-parties monitor visits to ensure compliance with applicable law, including compliance with prohibition on slavery and human trafficking. Ready Pac Foods, Inc. also requires that business partners comply with the laws regarding slavery and human trafficking of the country or countries in which they are doing business.
The Ready Pac Foods, Inc. Compliance Hotline, where permissible under local laws, is available to all employees, directors and contractors, as well as our business partners, their employees or their subcontractors. The hotline, where permissible, enables the reporting of noncompliance by Ready Pac Foods, Inc. business partners, their employees or subcontractors. Ready Pac Foods, Inc. employees who do not act promptly to report noncompliance matters may be subject to disciplinary action.
We plan to institute training for our product supply leadership, and internal team members with direct responsibility for supply chain management, to identify and address risks of slavery and trafficking in our supply chains.
Finally, we reserve the right to evaluate (and may use third parties to evaluate) our supply chains for risk, including human rights and labor risks such as trafficking and slavery. We support our Code with site visits and self-assessments. We are exploring membership with AIM-Progress and the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (SEDEX). We support mutual recognition platforms for audits to encourage our business partners to focus on remediation and improvements rather than re-audit by multiple customers. In the event concerns arise, we will investigate the matter and take appropriate actions to mitigate the risk by either terminating the relationship or remediating to ensure our business partner is in compliance with our Code.
