Global Whistleblowing Policy 2020

Lush is committed to promoting a culture where people feel comfortable talking about their concerns, including highlighting instances they think might be illegal or unethical malpractice. 

We want to make sure the workplace is a positive place to be for all those working for Lush and also those in our supply chains. 

If you have reason to believe that malpractice is taking place, we want to hear about it and encourage you to raise this in accordance with this policy. 

What is Whistleblowing?

Whistleblowing is the name usually given to the act of reporting certain types of wrongdoing related to a business, government department, an official in public office, etc. A person is said to ‘blow the whistle’ when they share (secret or new) information about an activity that could be seen as illegal. When someone discloses certain types of malpractice there is protection in place to ensure they are not treated unfairly or do not lose their job because they ‘blow the whistle’. 

Examples of malpractice can be found under ‘What is malpractice’ further on in this policy. 

Whistleblowing is different from raising a personal grievance (bullying, harassment, discrimination). If you are a Lush employee and have a concern about the way you are being treated at work, we would like to encourage you to either contact a member of your local support team or contact the UK People Experience team directly at peopleexperience@lush.co.uk. 

If you would like to report a personal grievance, but you wish to remain anonymous, please ensure you make this clear to the People Experience team and consider that by remaining anonymous, this could make it more difficult to investigate the situation and may limit what action we are able to take. 

If you are an employee of the Lush Group, and have concerns that there has been a breach to The Lush Ethical Charter, this should be raised with your local EBT Representative. 

Who does this policy apply to?

This policy applies equally to ALL employees of Lush around the world in every location, every contract type, every role or position, whether you are new to Lush or have worked for a very long time within the business. This policy also applies to anyone who has or had any type of business relationship with Lush such as agency workers, volunteers, business partners, contractors, suppliers and their employees. This policy must be shared with every Lush employee in every Global market.

The purpose of this policy

The purpose of this policy is to provide a mechanism for reporting, investigating and remedying instances of malpractice in the workplace which applies to our business and those in our supply chains. You can raise concerns at any time about an incident that happened in the past, is happening now, or you believe will happen in the near future. 

What is malpractice?

Malpractice covers things such as a breach of legal obligations, environmental damage, acts of bribery, tax evasion, unlawful cash procedures, theft of company money or property, modern slavery, animal testing, endangering staff or members of the public or any attempt by anyone to conceal these things. 

If malpractice is discovered to have taken place, anybody responsible within the company will be subject to disciplinary procedures and appropriate actions will be taken.

Protected Disclosures

As a company, we are committed to creating a safe place for our staff and everyone associated with Lush to speak up and will ensure the protection of all Whistleblowers.

Many countries also have local laws that protect you when disclosing certain types of malpractice in the workplace.

In the UK, Whistleblowers are protected by The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, if reporting wrongdoing for the public interest. Under this legislation, you are protected to ensure you are not treated unfairly or do not lose your job because you ‘blow the whistle’

When reporting one of the examples below you are protected by The Public Interest Disclosure Act in the UK:

• A criminal offence
• The breach of a legal obligation
• A miscarriage of justice
• A danger to the health and safety of any individual
• Deliberate attempt to conceal any of the above

Other staff must not threaten or retaliate against whistleblowers in any way. If you are involved in such conduct you may be subject to formal actions.

How to raise a malpractice concern

All malpractice concerns should be reported to blowthewhistle@lush.co.uk. Please be clear that you are intending to “whistleblow” rather than raise an individual complaint. 

All emails sent to this email address will be received directly by Lush Ltd in the UK. 

We would strongly advise you to raise malpractice concerns to us directly, however there are external authorities in each market who can also provide you with advice. Please look on your country’s government website for more information. 

What happens next

After receiving your disclosure, we will confirm receipt of the email and the detail of your disclosure will be reviewed and directed to the relevant team depending on the nature of it. We will then consider how best to proceed – this may include an investigation, and/or interviews with yourself and anyone who is suspected of being involved in the malpractice. 

You will be informed of who is managing the investigation and may be contacted for further information. 

We will endeavour to update you within the first month, however under EU law an update must be provided to you within 3 months of initial contact. Depending on the outcome, we might not be able to share certain details with you due to confidentiality reasons.

Anonymity

If you have requested to remain anonymous, we will take all reasonable steps to ensure this is the case. 

We will only disclose your identity if it hinders the investigation or if we are legally obligated to. No such disclosure will take place without prior discussion with yourself. 

Protecting your data

As part of the Whistleblowing process, we may be required to record your personal data, and we will therefore request your consent in order to proceed. We will only collect data that is relevant to the process (for example: name, shop, department or country, topic of disclosure, outcome) and it will only be held until the report has been fully investigated and resolved. After this time the information will be anonymised. It is important to note that Lush’s ability to fully investigate any claims might be limited if you choose to remain anonymous or decide not to give your consent for Lush to collect your personal data.

All personal data is minimised and held securely, while access is restricted to only those individuals who are directly involved in the whistleblowing process. For further information on how Lush handle your personal data please refer to the Lush Privacy Notice on the Lush website.

Consequences of breaches to this policy

Failure to comply with this policy without good reason could result in formal action being taken against employees and in the case of non-employees, termination of the relationship/contract/agreement. 

If after investigation, we conclude that you have made false allegations maliciously or with a view to personal gain, you may be subject to formal action. 

Status of this policy

This policy does not form part of your contract of employment, and we reserve the right to amend it at any time. Updated versions will be made accessible to all employees and external parties on our website and Lush Labs. 

For International Lush Markets

*When a local law or legislation applies that may conflict with this policy, the higher standard will apply.