Malaysian rubber glove manufacturer Top Glove has made its first remediation payment of US$1.05 million to resolve a migrant labor issue less than a month after the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency placed a detention order on disposable gloves manufactured by two Top Glove subsidiaries. CBP moved in on suspicion of mishandling of Top Glove’s migrant workforce.
However, Top Glove said the issue specifically involved recruitment fees paid by foreign workers to employment agents, and maintained it had been bearing all recruitment fees since the adoption of its “zero-cost recruitment” policy since the beginning of 2019.
Top Glove expects to pay a total remediation fee of US$12.6 million, subject to finalisation with the US customs office. The remediation payment will be made to migrant workers who joined the company prior to the implementation of the zero-cost recruitment policy.
According to the glove manufacturer, it has been in “cordial and constructive” engagement with the CBP to resolve the detention order, placed in mid-July. “We have made good progress and look forward to arriving at an agreement on remediation within the month of August 2020.”