Besides lawsuits and complaints with public authorities, there are other remedy or complaint options - including company-based mechanisms.

As a general rule, these options can be used when a company has caused, contributed to, or is linked to human rights or environmental abuse and should be held accountable. However, there are different options available depending on whether a complaint is channelled directly to a company, the financier of a project or through multistakeholder initiatives.

General considerations for any of these options:

• They usually don’t lead to legally binding outcomes.
• They differ depending on who implements them and on what law, standards or commitments they are based on. Sometimes, companies are legally required to establish these mechanisms and sometimes they do it due to voluntary commitments. Make sure to check each individual pathway closely; even company grievance mechanism vary significantly.

Before using these options, you should consider security, confidentiality, the risk of retaliation and whether the mechanism is likely to help achieve your desired outcome.

Company-based grievance mechanisms and stakeholder engagement

A company complaint is a way to tell a company that you experienced harm linked to its operations, products, services or business partners. This can include harm caused directly by the company or through links to its suppliers, contractors, subsidiaries or other business relationships. In some cases, you can also raise complaints with banks or investors if they financed or supported the project or company connected to the harm.

Under certain laws and international standards – such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, Germany’s Supply Chain Act (LkSG) and France’s Duty of Vigilance law – companies have a responsibility to identify, address and remedy human rights and environmental harms. As part of this responsibility, companies are expected to provide a complaint or grievance mechanism that allows people to safely raise concerns and seek remedy.

There is a similar expectation, and increasingly binding legal requirement, on companies to meaningfully and safely consult with stakeholders like workers, communities and other affected people to better understand and tackle human rights and environmental risks and harms (due diligence). For instance, the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) requires meaningful engagement with stakeholders at key steps of the due diligence process. It says companies should provide stakeholders with relevant and comprehensive information to carry out effective and transparent consultations, while ensuring that participants are not the subject of retaliation or retribution.

A complaint or notification submitted through a company-based grievance mechanism can be one way to push for meaningful dialogue with the company if it fails to engage on its own.

Complaints to financial institutions

Financial institutions, such as public and private banks, often have their own principles or international standards they are expected to follow. Some may also be subject to laws or regulations on human rights and environmental protection.

Many projects are not only operated by companies but also financed or supported by banks and other financial institutions. This means that financial institutions may have responsibilities under their own policies, applicable laws or international standards when the projects they finance or support are connected to human rights abuses or environmental harm. For this reason, some financial institutions have complaint mechanisms that affected people can use to raise concerns about projects they finance.

Sectoral or multi-stakeholder initiatives

A multi-stakeholder initiative (MSI) brings together different actors that all are involved in or are affected by a specific issue. This can include affected communities, workers, civil society organisations, companies, investors, financial institutions or public authorities. These initiatives often aim to develop shared standards and aim to improve company practices.

A sectoral initiative is essentially the same as an MSI but focuses on a specific sector, such as the automotive industry or the energy sector as this allows them to focus on some of the specific issues usually associated with the sector.

Some multi-stakeholder or sectorial initiatives have complaint mechanisms that affected people, workers, communities or civil society organisations can use to raise concerns about companies or projects linked to the initiative.

Binding labour rights agreements

These are agreements between companies, trade unions and labour rights organisations, aimed at improving working conditions in their supply chains. They generally cover workers in factories or other workplaces in production countries. These workers are not employed directly by the participating brands or retailers, but by local suppliers or producers, for example, in factories or on farms.

What distinguishes the agreements covered on this page from brands’ voluntary commitments, and from many other international framework agreements between transnational companies and global trade unions, is that participating companies undertake commitments they are legally bound to. Binding supply-chain labour agreements are a relatively recent development, and only a handful currently exist. Some operate independent complaint mechanisms that workers can use.

Trade unions

Trade unions are membership-based organisations that represent and defend workers’ rights and interests, such as issues surrounding wages, working hours, discrimination, health and safety, or dismissal. Depending on the trade union and the case, they may also provide legal advice and representation, support negotiations with employers, or help workers organise and take collective action, such as strikes or other work stoppages.

Members usually pay a membership fee, often calculated as a small percentage of their income. Most trade unions offer reduced fees for people with low or no income. Depending on the country and trade union, support may sometimes also be available to non-members or prospective members.