India’s Human rights body orders probe into discriminatory hiring at Foxconn plant

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has called out labor officials for failing to carry out a thorough investigation into allegations of employment discrimination at Foxconn’s iPhone assembly plant in India. 

The human rights watchdog of India had called on federal and Tamil Nadu state officials to probe the hiring practices at Foxconn’s hiring practices after reports revealed that the manufacturer was excluding married women from iPhone assembly line jobs.

This comes as both Foxconn and Apple aim to expand iPhone manufacturing in India in line with Indian PM Narendra Modi’s vision of boosting the country’s electronics production.

A Reuters report revealed Tamil Nadu labor officials visited the Foxconn plant last July, but did not release the findings publicly. According to their findings, the labor officials had informed the human rights watchdog that 6.7 percent of the 33,360 women employed at the plant were married. However, it was not specified if they were employed on the assembly line at the plant.

The officials also stated that female employees were hired from six districts, making it clear that “a large number of female employees have been hired by the company … without any discrimination.” 

However, the NHRC alleged that the labor officials did not discuss the core issue of discrimination against married women.

The NHRC stated that labor officials did not properly scrutinize Foxconn’s hiring documents and “filed their reports in a routine/casual manner.” The commission further highlighted that “the presence of (a) certain number of female employees at present does not answer the question (of) whether the company had actually discriminated against the married women at the time of recruitment,” stressing that officials were “apparently silent in this regard”.

Responding to the situation, the commission has ordered a “thorough investigation” within four weeks in line with the government’s assertion that India’s Equal Remuneration Act prohibits discrimination in recruitment based on gender.

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