Following press reports that Foxconn, an alleged employer of Apple, was reportedly rejecting married people for phone assembly work, the Indian government has requested a thorough report from Tamil Nadu state.
A Reuters investigation alleged that Foxconn had excluded married women from jobs at its main India iPhone plant near Chennai, citing their greater family responsibilities compared to unmarried women.
According to the federal labor ministry, the law” clearly stipulates that no discrimination ( is ) made when recruiting men and women workers.”
Reuters contacted Apple and the Tamil Nadu state authorities for reply, but neither company responded.
Foxconn and the Tamil Nadu labor department have also been in touch with the BBC for a reply.
Foxconn, the largest provider of Apple iPhones, opened its initial factory in Tamil Nadu in 2017, but has since aggressively expanded its operations there.
In 2023, it began assembling the iPhone 15 in the state and earlier this year, Foxconn tied up with Google to make Pixel smartphones in Tamil Nadu.
Given that thousands of people look to its businesses for employment opportunities, rights activists claim the information about the agency’s getting practices in India are alarming.
For the history, Reuters spoke with many employees and Foxconn hiring firms.
According to the review, hiring agencies and Foxconn HR resources” cited family duties, conception, and higher absences as reasons why Foxconn did not hire married women at the flower.”
The company’s labor techniques have been subject to scrutiny for a number of times in the past.
In 2018, a US-based rights group had accused the firm of overworking and underpaying temporary workers at its factory in China that manufactured products for Amazon.
In 2022, its iPhone factory in China saw protests by workers who claimed that they had not been paid certain dues.