Despite widespread gang violence and the collapse of civil authority in Haiti, the WRC has continued achieving concrete remedies for violations of workers’ rights in the country—including securing justice for worker leaders fired for speaking out against abusive conditions.
In May 2025, the WRC achieved a settlement equivalent to 14 full years’ wages for the average Haitian garment worker for a union leader who was illegally fired by Uniwell, a supplier factory to A4, a US seller of non-collegiate team sports apparel. The WRC’s investigation found that the factory illegally dismissed the worker leader in September 2024, in retaliation for his bringing a wage-and-hour complaint to Haitian labor authorities.
The WRC advised Uniwell and A4 that, to correct the violation, the worker had to be offered reinstatement with back wages from the date of his dismissal. Although the factory initially refused to take any corrective action, after engagement by the WRC with both Uniwell and A4, the factory offered the worker the settlement, which the worker ultimately chose to forgo reinstatement to accept. The WRC confirmed that the worker chose to accept this settlement voluntarily and recognizes the constructive role played by A4 in securing this compensation from the factory, which will be of great support to the worker and his family.
However, since it means that he will not be returning to his role as a worker representative in the factory, this outcome, though positive, does not represent best practice for remediation of freedom of association violations. In all cases of retaliatory termination, the best practice remains reinstatement of employment for the worker and provision of back pay.