A special-India watchdog has ordered a new inquiry into Foxconn’s hiring mistakes, according to Reuters
By Aditya Kalara and Munsif Vengatil
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s powerful human rights watchdog has admonished labor officials for failing to adequately investigate evidence of employment discrimination. Foxconn (SS:), which makes Apple (NASDAQ:) iPhones, and told them to re-examine the issue, documents show.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in June ordered federal and Tamil Nadu state officials to investigate Foxconn’s employment practices, after a Reuters investigation found the manufacturer excluded married women from iPhone assembly jobs at a factory in southern India. Foxconn has relaxed the restrictions during peak production periods, according to Reuters.
The iPhone factory is a major foreign investment in India, crucial to Apple and Foxconn’s plans to boost the country’s manufacturing sector, as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aim to compete with China in electronics production.
Indian labor officials visited a Foxconn factory in July to question executives about employment practices, but have not made their findings public.
Reuters this month reviewed NHRC case files related to the investigation after the news agency sought the records under India’s Right to Information Act. The details have not been previously reported.
Outdated NHRC case documents show that Tamil Nadu labor officials told the commission on July 5, 2008, that 6.7% of the 33,360 women working at the Foxconn factory were married on the assembly line. He stated that the women employed in the factory are from six districts, “which is clear that a large number of women workers are employed by the company… without any discrimination.”
Federal investigators told the commission they interviewed 21 married women at the plant, who said they were not discriminated against in pay or promotion.
In response, the NHRC told labor officials in November that they did not appear to have examined Foxconn’s hiring documents or addressed the underlying issue of discrimination against married women during recruitment. The officials relied on contemporaneous staff testimony and “submitted their reports in a normal/routine manner,” according to the case details.
“The fact that there are (a) certain number of female employees at present does not answer the question whether the company has discriminated against married women at the time of recruitment,” the NHRC said in a statement to the labor officials. It’s about keeping quiet.”
“The commission does not hesitate to state that the relevant parties have not been able to identify the main issue.”
Neither state nor federal labor departments responded to a Reuters request for comment on the NHRC review. When the probe was called for in June, the Modi government said India’s Equal Pay Act stipulates no discrimination in the employment of men and women.
Apple and Foxconn also did not respond to questions about the correspondence. Both companies have previously said that Foxconn will hire married women in India.
The NHRC is a legal entity having the same jurisdiction as a civil court. It can investigate human rights abuses, summon authorities and recommend remedial measures, including compensation payments.
Last year, the watchdog asked India’s federal labor department to look into reports of harsh working conditions at an Amazon (NASDAQ:) warehouse near New Delhi. Amazon said it subsequently investigated and took corrective action.
In the Foxconn case, NHRC files show that the agency forwarded the complaint to government officials on November 19 and ordered them to conduct a “thorough investigation” within four weeks to re-examine the case.
In a response to Reuters on January 10, the NHRC said it could not provide further information as the case is ongoing.
Reuters’ investigation into Foxconn’s hiring practices was based on interviews with current and former executives, recruitment agents and job candidates, and a review of job advertisements distributed by vendors helping to hire smartphone assembly workers in India.
Several ads posted between January 2023 and May 2024 state that only unmarried women of a certain age are eligible for smartphone assembly roles, in violation of Apple and Foxconn’s anti-discrimination policies.
Reuters reported in November that Foxconn ordered employers to remove age, gender and marriage requirements from job ads.