The Indian authorities has sought an in depth report from Tamil Nadu state following media stories that Apple provider Foxconn was allegedly rejecting married girls for iPhone meeting jobs.
A Reuters investigation alleged that Foxconn had excluded married girls from jobs at its major India iPhone plant close to Chennai, citing their larger household obligations in comparison with single girls.
The federal labour ministry says the regulation “clearly stipulates that no discrimination (is) to be made whereas recruiting women and men staff”.
Neither Apple nor the Tamil Nadu state authorities responded to requests for remark from Reuters.
The BBC has additionally reached out to Foxconn and the Tamil Nadu labour division for a response.
Foxconn, the biggest provider of Apple iPhones, arrange its first manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu in 2017 however has since been aggressively increasing its operations in India.
In 2023, it started assembling the iPhone 15 within the state and earlier this yr, Foxconn tied up with Google to make Pixel smartphones in Tamil Nadu.
Rights activists say the stories concerning the agency’s hiring practices in India are regarding, on condition that 1000’s look to its factories for employment alternatives.
Reuters stated it spoke to quite a few workers and Foxconn hiring businesses for the story.
The report stated that hiring brokers and Foxconn HR sources “cited household duties, being pregnant and better absenteeism as the reason why Foxconn didn’t rent married girls on the plant”.
This is not the primary time the agency has come underneath the scanner for its labour practices.
In 2018, a US-based rights group had accused the agency of overworking and underpaying short-term staff at its manufacturing facility in China that manufactured merchandise for Amazon.
In 2022, its iPhone manufacturing facility in China noticed protests by staff who claimed that they’d not been paid sure dues.
