Our Commitment to Human Rights and Prohibition against Modern Slavery

Burlington is committed to the highest ethical standards and conducting its business with the highest level of integrity. Accordingly, Burlington has a Code of Conduct (“Code”) that we expect our Business Partners to follow.

At Burlington, we strive to work with Partners who treat their workers with dignity and respect, adhere to applicable laws and regulations, and maintain high standards of business conduct and ethics. We strongly believe that Partners, who do business with Burlington, should comply with the principles reflected in the Company’s Code, and we reserve the right to refuse to do business with those who do not uphold, in action as well as words, the same principles.

We highlight key expectations below. For more details, please refer to Burlington’s Code of Conduct, Terms of Commitment to Ethical Sourcing, California Transparency in Supply Chain Act statement, and our various policies against merchandise manufactured by forced labor.

Ethical Practices

Burlington will seek to identify and work with Partners who aim to maintain a set of ethical standards compatible with Burlington standards. Bribes, kickbacks, or other similar unlawful or improper payments, offered or given to any person or entity in an attempt to obtain or retain business, are strictly prohibited.

Employment Practices

Burlington will only conduct business with Partners whose workers are:

1. Guaranteed freedom of association and collective bargaining,
2. Not discriminated against in their employment,
3. Allowed women’s rights,
4. Fairly compensated,
5. Eligible for overtime,
6. Not put at risk of physical harm and are protected according to occupational safety and health standards,
7. Not “child” laborers,
8. Not “prison” laborers, and
9. Otherwise employed voluntarily.

Partners shall ensure procedures are in place by which workers, alleging violations of these Terms of Engagement, may do so without fear of negative repercussions. Please see our Terms of Commitment to Ethical Sourcing.

Child, Forced, or Trafficked Labor

At Burlington, we do not believe that child, forced or trafficked labor should be utilized in the manufacture of any goods that we sell. We are committed to protecting workers, here and abroad, by promoting ethical and lawful employment practices. Accordingly, we expect our business partners and suppliers to comply with all applicable domestic and international employment laws and regulations.

• We have undertaken the below efforts to ensure the absence of slavery and human trafficking in our supply chain.  For more details, please see our statement regarding child, forced or trafficked labor [CA Transparency Act Statement].
• Our suppliers are expected, at a minimum, to conduct business in a socially responsible and ethical manner and to comply with all applicable laws and regulations. Our Code of Business Conduct [link to Vendor Code of Conduct] sets forth, among other things, our expectation that our suppliers comply with national and international laws and regulations with regard to their employment practices and policies. Specifically, our Code makes clear that no supplier should use forced labor (prison labor, bonded labor, or indentured servitude) or child labor, and all suppliers and contractors must pay their employees at least minimum wage, including using overtime only when each employee is fully compensated according to local law. 
• Suppliers should inform each employee at the time of hiring if mandatory overtime is a condition of employment and, on a regularly scheduled basis, provide one day off in seven. Suppliers should require no more than 60 hours of work per week or comply with local limits if they are lower.
• We require our suppliers to maintain on file all documentation needed to demonstrate compliance with this Code and required laws. We reiterated our commitment to protecting workers, here and abroad, by promoting ethical and lawful employment practices in a letter to our vendor community in 2016, which we plan to update for our vendor community.

Employment Practices

• We contract with a third party to perform annual audits at supplier production facilities where we are the importer of record with respect to merchandise produced at such facilities.
• We have purchase order terms and conditions in place with our merchandise suppliers requiring them to certify and warrant that
  1. the goods they provide to us comply with all applicable laws regarding slavery and human trafficking and
  2. forced and child labor was not utilized in the manufacture of the products.
• If we believe that a supplier is not in compliance with our requirements, every effort is made to work with the supplier to correct their noncompliance. We will provide such supplier with an opportunity to remedy any actual or potential noncompliance through the implementation of a corrective action plan, and we will conduct a subsequent audit. Should the supplier continue to fail to meet our standards, we reserve the right to take any actions as we deem appropriate, up to and including termination of our business relationship with the supplier.