III. Confirmed Cases of Severance Theft during Covid-19 Given the long history of severance violations in the garment industry, there was reason to fear, from the outset of the pandemic, that the large-scale job loss sure to unfold across the apparel supply chain would be accompanied, in many cases, by theft of workers’ severance. As outlined in this report, this is exactly what has transpired. The WRC has confirmed severance theft during the last 12 months at 31 garment factories in nine countries. These factories all produce, or produced, for prominent brands and retailers. In all cases, the theft is a violation of national law and of the self-promulgated labor standards of the relevant brands and retailers. Some cases involved the outright closure of a factory; in others, the factory dismissed a substantial portion of its workforce while continuing operations. In the aggregate, these factories deprived 37,637 workers of an estimated $39.8 million in legally due compensation. Table 2 lists each of the factories where we have confirmed a violation and the brands and retailers that we have identified as clients of that factory. For each case, we indicate whether workers were fired as part of a factory closure or through a substantial workforce reduction (“mass dismissal”). We report the month in which workers lost their jobs; the number of workers affected by the theft; the amount of money in severance and other terminal compensation these workers were owed at the time of dismissal; and the amount that is still unpaid as of March 2021. As previously outlined, in some cases of severance theft workers receive nothing; in others, partial payment is made, though it typically represents half or less—sometimes much less—of what is owed. In 13 of the 31 cases documented herein, 42 percent of the total, workers have received none of their legally mandated compensation. In another seven cases (23 percent), workers have re- Figure 1: Portion of Severance Received by Workers at 31 Factories with Confirmed Severance Theft Less than a quarter of the amount owed 7 cases No payment 13 cases 6 cases Between a quarter and half the amount owed 5 cases More than half the amount owed WRC yz Fired, Then Robbed zy Page 12