Photo: Sk Hasan Ali ceived less than a quarter of what they were owed. There are six cases (19 percent of the total) in which the amount paid to workers was between one quarter and one half of the amount they legally earned. In only five of the cases (16 percent) have workers received more than half of their legal due. The Evidentiary Basis for Findings of Severance Theft In some of the 31 cases, there is no dispute as to the fact of the violation: the brand either explicitly acknowledges that its supplier paid workers less than the law requires or the brand and supplier have failed to contest credible reports to this effect. In other cases, the factory and/or buyers claim that workers have been paid in full, but there is proof to the contrary. Where there is a conWRC yz flict between factory or buyer claims and the facts in evidence, it is a product either of misinterpretation of the applicable severance laws by the factory and buyers, willful or otherwise, or a false claim by a factory that it paid workers in full, accompanied by the failure of buyers to independently test the veracity of the claim. In cases where the employer does not admit the violation, the evidentiary basis for the WRC’s finding involves at least one, and in most cases two or more, of the following: detailed information from labor unions with a track record of reliability in reporting of labor law violations; interviews conducted by the WRC with affected workers; official factory records; legal filings or agreements related to workers’ terminal compensation; rulings by government bodies; and information provided by buyers themselves. Fired, Then Robbed zy Page 13