Common Rights was commissioned by labor advocates to examine what constitutes exploitation under the UK Modern Slavery Act.  In particular, Common Rights examined the situation of workers not provided relevant information about their actual and potential exposure to toxic substances at work as a form of exploitation.

Working together with Good Electronics, Common Rights developed the report “Exploitation by deception in the electronics industry.” The report argues that, when workers are not provided with relevant information about the toxic and otherwise hazardous substances in the workplace they are actually or potentially being exposed to, this could constitute exploitation by deception.

The report further argues that exploitation by deception regarding toxic exposures could and should be an actionable offence under various laws, such as the UK 2015 Modern Slavery Act and international human rights and labour laws.

The report take a closer look at the problem of deception in the electronics industry, followed by an analysis of the normative framework for workers’ rights that are relevant to the problem at hand.  The normative analysis focuses on modern slavery, the right to information and the right to safe and healthy work.  The States’ obligations of States and responsibilities of businesses’ are outlined, and the report provides recommendations to States, businesses and workers’ representatives.