Our Speak Up website allows L’Oréal employees and stakeholders (external staff, employees of providers or subcontractors, suppliers, clients, consumer, shareholders and representatives of civil society) to raise any serious ethical concerns they may have so that we can address them. This includes the following types of concerns:
1/ Serious concerns regarding Human rights and fundamental freedoms [Definition] Human rights are inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. [Examples] Child labour, forced labour including modern slavery, sexual harassment including sexist comments, bullying & moral harassment, management’s verbal and/or psychological violence, discrimination including racist or homophobic comments, violence, freedom of association and collective bargaining, respect of personal data, respect of human rights within our supply chain, etc.)
2/ Serious concerns regarding health and safety of persons [Definition] Occupational health and safety refers to the adaptation of work to each man to his job : the working conditions; risks resulting from factors adverse to health; the placing and maintenance of the worker in an occupational environment adapted to his physiological and psychological capabilities. [Examples] Non-compliance with measures designed to promote occupational health (e.g. internal requirements regarding Covid 19, poor management of the working environment: non-ergonomic workstations and equipment, etc.) and safety (e.g. lack of safety equipment or procedures in a factory, handling of dangerous products, lack of emergency procedures, unsafe working conditions within our supply chain, etc.)
3/ Serious concerns regarding the environment [Definition] Any action or behavior that causes significant damage or harm to the environment or in contradiction with L’Oréal’s sustainability commitments. Examples] Pollution of the air, soil, surface or underground water, pollution during the transport of hazardous materials, excessive plastic consumption, release of toxic, deforestation, etc. 4/ Serious concerns regarding economic and financial interests [Definition] Any action or behavior that seriously affects L'Oréal's economic and financial interests and respect for business integrity. [Examples] Money laundering, embezzlement, private or public corruption, internal or external fraud, anti-trust or international economic sanctions violations, influence peddling, conflicts of interests, etc.
5/ Other violation to Code of Ethics and/or other internal ethical policies [Definition] L'Oréal is committed to its employees and stakeholders beyond legal constraints, in a sustainable approach through its Code of Ethics and other ethical policies are accessible via this link [Examples] Any allegation with regards to non-compliance of L’Oréal’s ethical commitments which could significantly affect L'Oréal's reputation including but not limited to any criminal proceedings by or against a L'OREAL entity, any situation that could generate an obligation of self-declaration to local authorities.
6/ Retaliation relating to a Speak Up report [Definition] L’Oréal seeks to avoid any retaliation against any person having made a Speak Up report or who has participated in the investigation of such report. [Examples] Excluding a candidate from a recruitment process or access to an internship or professional training program, disciplining, dismissing or threatening employees, subjecting them to other unfavorable treatment or taking discriminatory measures against them with regard to the nature of their duties, compensation, profit-sharing, share allocation, training, redeployment, qualifications, classification, promotions, transfers or renewal of employment or temporary work contract, excluding a supplier from a bidding process, terminating contracts etc
A more detailed list can be found here: Speak Up Policy.
If you are a L’Oréal employee, please contact your manager, HR manager or staff representative. You can also contact your Ethics Correspondent if you require guidance on whom to contact.
In order for the report to be admissible, we encourage you to provide us with all the details and contacts that could be useful for the investigation. You will be asked to provide information on: -where the events occurred -the type of concern you wish to report -if internal or legal proceedings (or equivalent) are impending or ongoing -if you have already contacted someone from L’Oréal on this matter -detailed information on when and how the events occurred -the names, titles and relationship with L’Oréal of the persons you believe are involved -the names, titles and relationship with L’Oréal of persons you believe may have witnessed the events -any documents you can provide to support your concern -your contact details
All reports are sent via the secure EQS Integrity Line server to the Ethics department. They will evaluate the admissibility of your case. In the event of an admissible case, a carefully chosen case manager will be assigned by the Ethics department and he/she will conduct an investigation based on the information you provided. The case manager will contact you through the secured inbox on the platform in case of questions or if additional information is needed. At the end of the investigation, appropriate remediation actions are taken consequently. The Ethics department ensures that the reporter does not face any retaliation following his/her report.
Your first person of contact is your local Ethics Correspondent. Otherwise, you can contact a member of your Country, Zone or Group Management committee who are authorized to receive Speak Up reports.
When you submit a report through the Speak Up platform, you can choose to protect your anonymity. In this event, it will be preserved throughout the whole process. At the end of the reporting process, you will receive an automatically generated ID number and set a password for yourself. Using this login data, you can later log into your personal Inbox at any time by clicking on “Inbox” and then follow the instructions. The Inbox permits you to enter a direct dialogue with the Case Manager at L’Oréal while protecting your anonymity.
Once you write a report, all people assigned by the Ethics departmentEthics department needed to resolve the investigation could have access to your report. The Ethics department Ethics departmentis responsible for any information you share and ensures the protection of your data.
Once the report has been submitted on the website, you will receive a receipt confirmation. The report will be sent to L’Oréal’s Office of the Chief Ethics Officer. An admissibility check is then carried out to ensure your concern falls within the scope of the Speak Up policy. Within 7 days, you will receive information on the follow up of your report. This may vary depending on the nature of your report. This may include: a request for more information to be able to decide on the admissibility of your report. OR a confirmation that your report is admissible and when you will be informed of the name of the person in charge of investigating your report. OR a note informing you that your report is not admissible under the Speak Up policy and information on the persons you should contact. If your report is admissible, you will then be kept regularly informed of the progress of the investigation via this website.
Ensuring confidentiality and protecting the identity of people who speak up is the best way to avoid retaliation. Moreover, once an investigation is over, there is a follow-up with the people involved to ensure they have not suffered any retaliation. This includes any person identified throughout the investigation process. Any retaliation allegations should be reported and are handled directly by the Office of the Group Chief Ethics Officer.
The Speak Up website is hosted outside L’Oréal’s IT systems, on an encrypted platform, so that all information relating to investigations is protected. A Speak Up report is only shared on a strict “need-to-know” basis with the people involved on the investigation or who are involved in taking corrective measures. Special care is taken when dealing with personal data.
If anyone involved in investigating a Speak Up report breaches this obligation, this can lead to sanctions. The Group’s Chief Ethics Officer oversees the Speak Up policy.
When you submit your report, you receive an ID number, and you define a password to access a secured dialogue box for further communications with the people in charge of the case. You can access this dialogue box by clicking on the home page button “Investigation dialogue inbox "
This will depend on the nature and complexity of your concern. The need for translation may also have an impact. Within 7 days, you will be contacted with information about your case and you will then be regularly kept informed of the progress of the investigation. Please do not hesitate to connect to the platform and ask information if you have any. As far as possible, we aim to investigate all matters within reasonable time.
If you are not sure of the information you are providing (e.g.; because you did not personally witness the events), state it clearly in your report. Please avoid making a Speak Up report merely on hear-say unless you have information which can support such hear-say. If it appears at the end of the investigation that your concern was not substantiated, you will benefit from the same retaliation protection as if you were in good faith and did not make your report maliciously.
If you received an email, your involvement is key to resolve the investigation. Click on the link on the email, it will redirect you to the inbox page with a provided ID number and a field to set up your password. Using this login data, you can later log into your personal Inbox at any time by clicking on “Inbox” and then follow the instructions. This inbox will allow you to communicate with the case manager securely.
Once identified as a stakeholder in a report, strict confidentiality is applied as for all people involved. Only people assigned by the Ethics department needed to resolve the investigation could have access to your information. No one outside this scope is aware of your involvement. This means your hierarchy and colleagues are outside that scope and no information about this report must be exchanged, while the investigation is ongoing. The Ethics department is responsible for any information you share and ensures the protection of your data.
This can vary on a case to case basis but often information accounts for the most part of your contribution. As soon as you are aware of your role in an investigation, you should log in to your secured inbox and follow instructions given by the case manager.
It means that someone reported you for non-ethical behavior as described in question 1 of this FAQ. It also means that an investigation is ongoing to assess the accuracy of the allegations brought against you. It does not mean that you are wrongful. The investigation must show concrete proof to support these allegations.
This is not a judiciary procedure but an internal investigation to signal and solve concerns of non-ethical situation regarding l’Oréal’s policy (refer to question 1 for further details on allegations type).
This can vary on a case to case basis but often information accounts for the most part of your contribution. As soon as you are aware of your role in an investigation, you should log in to your secured inbox and follow instructions given by the case manager.
Legal notice
EQS Group AG is specialised in the operation of secure and anonymous internal reporting systems. The EQS Integrity Line is the web-based reporting system of EQS Group AG.
When submitting a report or question via the EQS Integrity Line, the reporter stays anonymous if he/she does not want to disclose his/her identity. EQS guarantees the technical anonymity of the reporter and ensures that his/her identity cannot be traced by technical means.
The data is stored encrypted on the EQS Integrity Line and EQS has no access at any point in time to the content of this data. More information can be found on the EQS website at www.eqs.com
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