Johnston & Murphy (J&M) is committed to socially responsible management practices—in both its own operations, and in its supply chain. Through their Supplier Code of Conduct, Johnston & Murphy has committed to a set of principles related to social and environmental impacts that factories must adhere to. J&M expects all factories producing for the company to comply with local laws regarding labor and occupational health and safety, that workers are not subjected to threats or coercion, and that all any salient environmental impacts are managed effectively.

Program Details

The Johnston & Murphy social compliance audit program is managed by Sumerra. J&M factories are required to undergo audits on an annual basis. The program offers an Audit Acceptance Protocol that allows factories to submit a previously completed social compliance audit—commissioned by another brand or commissioned by the factory itself—in lieu of undergoing a new J&M social compliance audit. Alternatively, a Factory has the option to request a ‘J&M Audit’ that is managed by Sumerra. The program is designed to reduce audit fatigue experienced by J&M Suppliers.

1. Audit Acceptance 

In lieu of undergoing the annual J&M social compliance audit, J&M Suppliers can submit a non-J&M commissioned audit to fulfill the requirement.  If the supplier chooses this option the audit must meet the following criteria:

• The audit was performed within 4 months of the Audit Acceptance due date (2 months prior to the audit deadline) (this date is provided in the Audit Notification Letter)
• The audit was performed by a third-party audit company
• The audit included all J&M production lines and common areas
• The audit covered labor and Heath, Safety, and Environmental (HSE) management

All audits submitted for the Audit Acceptance Protocol must be submitted in one of the following formats:

• Full audit report + List of non-conformances/CAP; OR
• Audit summary + List of non-conformances/CAP; OR
• List of non-conformance/CAP + copy of the code of standard the audit was conducted against

The supplier must  complete the Audit Acceptance Questionnaire (AAQ) used by Sumerra to determine audit validity. The AAQ consists of a list of questions about the supplier and the audit submitted for acceptance.  Audits will only be rejected when they do not meet the audit acceptance criteria and will not be rejected based on the audit findings.  If there are zero-tolerance issues in the audit report provided, a follow-up audit might be required to verify the status of the issues (depending on the outcome during the Corrective Action Process).

Once the Quality Review is complete, all Audit Acceptance that ‘pass’ will move into the Corrective Action Plan (CAP) Management phase of the process (see Section 3 below).

 

2. New Johnston & Murphy Audit 

If the supplier is unable to provide an audit that meets the requirements for the Audit Acceptance Protocol, the supplier must schedule a social compliance audit through Sumerra.   Sumerra will schedule the audit during the audit month it is due, using a qualified third-party Auditor to perform the audit. Following the audit, the Sumerra Quality Assurance team reviews the audit for consistency and accuracy. Once the Quality Review is complete, results will be communicated to the Supplier and next steps in regards to the Corrective Action Plan (CAP) Management will be communicated (see Section 3 below for additional information on CAP).

Audits managed by Sumerra are not required to go through the Audit Acceptance Protocol.

 

3. Corrective Action Plan (CAP) Management

As part of the Johnston & Murphy program, both Audit paths include a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) Management process. CAPs are developed and CAP issues are tracked for all audit reports.

During these check ins, Sumerra tracks the CAP closure progress by gathering information from the supplier. Once an issue is properly remediated, with information provided to Sumerra demonstrating this remediation, the issue is closed.

Any zero-tolerance issue identified in the audit require a follow-up audit to verify remediation. Sumerra will communicate with the supplier to schedule the follow-up audit.

Getting Started

Audit Notification:  Approximately 4 months before the annual audit deadline, Sumerra will send the factory an Audit Notification Letter (ANL) with key deadlines and instructions for completing the registration.