Indian labor officials visited a Foxconn factory in the country’s south this week and questioned managers about the company’s hiring practices, an official said, after Reuters reported that Apple’s main supplier was denying married women the job of assembling iPhones.
A five-member team from the federal government’s regional labor department visited the Foxconn factory near Chennai, Tamil Nadu, on July 1 and spoke with company directors and human resources officials, A. Narasaiah, the regional labor commissioner, told Reuters by telephone. on Wednesday.
Foxconn did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Apple did not respond to questions from Reuters about the visit.
The requests come after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government last week asked state officials and the regional chief labor commissioner’s office to provide detailed reports on the matter following a Reuters investigation into hiring practices at the factory.
“We are collecting information and have asked the company to provide documents such as company policies, employment policies,” as well as evidence of compliance with labor laws and maternity and pension information, Narasaiah said. “They told us they don’t discriminate.”
Narasaiah said Foxconn told union officials that the factory employs 41,281 people, including 33,360 women. Of those women, about 2,750, or about 8 percent, were married, he said, citing Foxconn data.
According to Narasaiah, Foxconn did not break down the workforce into specific areas, such as iPhone assembly, where Reuters reported discrimination. He added that labor inspectors interviewed 40 married women at the plant who did not raise concerns about discrimination.
Narasaiah said he currently has no plans to question Foxconn’s third-party recruiting agents, who search for candidates and bring them to the plant for interviews.
A Reuters investigation published last week found that Foxconn systematically barred married women from assembly work at its main iPhone factory in India on the grounds that they have more family responsibilities than their unmarried counterparts. Sources in Foxconn’s human resources department and third-party recruitment agents cited family responsibilities, pregnancy and frequent absenteeism as reasons for refusing to hire married women.
The report also found that Taiwan-based Foxconn has relaxed its practice of not hiring married women during periods of high productivity.
The story has sparked debates on TV channels, editorials in newspapers and calls from opposition figures and women’s groups, including in Prime Minister Modi’s party, for an investigation into the matter.
In response to a Reuters investigation, Apple and Foxconn acknowledged mistakes in hiring practices in 2022 and said they were working to resolve the issues. However, all of the discriminatory practices documented by Reuters at the Tamil Nadu plant took place in 2023 and 2024. The companies did not address these cases.
Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, previously said it “strongly denies allegations of employment discrimination based on marital status, sex, religion or any other form.”
Apple said all of its suppliers, including Foxconn, hire married women, and “when concerns about hiring practices first arose in 2022, we took immediate action and worked with our supplier to conduct monthly audits to identify issues and ensure compliance with our high standards.”
Indian law does not prohibit companies from discriminating in hiring based on marital status, although Apple and Foxconn’s policies prohibit the practice in their supply chains.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
