Complaints and Appeals Process
SAAS has established an internal procedure
and instructions to address how complaints and appeals may
be made by CBs and other interested stakeholders against the
accreditation process and resultant decisions made by SAAS.
SAAS ensures that complaints and appeals are properly investigated
and resolved through the implementation of these processes.
Complaints about SA8000 certification and/or
accreditation decisions/procedures are lodged by stakeholders
and may allege improper certification of a facility, or improper
procedures by the Certification Body (CB) in certifying a
facility.
Complaints systems provide benefits to both
workers and companies – it offers workers (and organizations)
an avenue to have their voices heard and companies can be
made aware of workplace practices to which they may not have
been privy. While social audits can reveal much about conditions
in the supply-chain, complaints offer a way to uncover latent
practices.
In general, complaints are best handled at
the lowest level – meaning, it is expected that a complaint
should be filed first and foremost within the certified facility.
If it is not addressed at this stage, the complaint should
be filed with the CB. The
complaints should be filed with SAAS after all other avenues
for hearing complaints have been exhausted or the complainant
feels that their concerns have not been investigated and addressed
properly. Thus, the SAAS complaints process is utilized when
a facility’s own grievance system has been exhausted
and when a CB’s responses have not adequately dealt
with the allegations raised.
All complaints or appeals must fall within
the scope of SAAS accreditation activity and have objective
evidence of nonconformance to SAAS accreditation and/or certification
criteria in order to be accepted as a valid complaint or appeal.
The complainant must also go through the formal criteria for
lodging a complaint as set out in SAAS Procedure
304.
There are 4 types of complaints/appeals that
fall within the SAAS scope:
• Type 1A Complaints:
Received from accredited and applicant certification bodies
regarding audit, surveillance, or other client service provided
by SAAS.
• Type 1B Appeals:
Received from accredited and applicant certification bodies
against determinations/decisions made by SAAS, including those
that lead to accreditation withdrawal or an accreditation
not being issued.
• Type 2 Complaints:
Received from certified organizations or other interested
parties regarding the performance of SAAS-accredited certification
bodies.
• Type 3 Complaints:
Received from interested parties about the performance of
certified organizations.
Regarding Type 1A and 1B
complaints/appeals, CBs are provided with guidance for making
a complaint or appeal in SAAS Procedure 304. For complaints
from certified facilities or other stakeholders about the
performance of SAAS-accredited CBs (Type 2 complaints),
Procedure 304 is to be used for filing the complaint. Objective
evidence must be included detailing the nonconformance of
the CB in order to be accepted by SAAS.
When a complaint is received about the performance
of an organization certified by a SAAS-accredited CB (Type
3 complaints), the complaint will immediately be
forwarded to the certifying CB. The CB must develop a plan
of action and contact the complainant. If the complainant
is not satisfied with the outcome of the investigation, it
may file a complaint against the CB with SAAS, and steps for
Type 2 complaints will then be followed.
SAAS maintains a public list of all formal
complaints/appeals that have
been or are in the process of being investigated.
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