The Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) has filed a complaint against fashion brand H&M in Bengaluru for alleged labor abuses at a its supplier factory in 2020. As per Fashion Network, the brand collaborated with several local labor unions for the purpose.

The legal complaints against H&M arose from a report by AFWA which it launched at its online event on July 7, according to the AFWA website. The report was titled ‘Money Heist: COVID-19 Wage Theft in Global Garment Supply Chains’ and looked at alleged labour violations in the garment industry in countries including India and Sri Lanka by brands including Levi’s, Asics, DKNY, and H&M among others.

Using the findings in its report, AFWA has filed a legal complaint in Bengaluru to request that H&M be held jointly liable for what it alleges were labour abuses at one of its garment supplier factories. AFWA argues that H&M had full control of the factory workers’ subsistence and continued employment. Many garment workers faced destitution when clothing companies cancelled orders last year due to the pandemic and they faced no work and no pay without a safety net.