This week, Indian labor officials visited a Foxconn factory in the south of the country and questioned executives about the company’s hiring practices, Reuters reported.
Arun Sankar | AFP | Getty Images
Indian labor officials visited a Foxconn factory in the south of the country this week and questioned executives about the company’s hiring practices, an official said, after Reuters reported that the key Apple supplier had reject married women from iPhone assembly work.
A team of five members federal government regional labor department visited the Foxconn plant near Chennai, Tamil Nadu state, on July 1 and spoke to company executives and human resources officials, A. Narasaiah, the regional labor commissioner, told Reuters by phone on Wednesday.
Foxconn did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while Apple did not respond to Reuters questions about the visit.
The probes come after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government last week asked state officials and the federal government’s regional labour commissioner’s office to provide detailed reports on the matter, following a Reuters investigation into hiring practices at the manufacturing facility.
“We are gathering information and have asked the company to submit documents such as company policies, recruitment policies” as well as evidence of compliance with labour laws and information on maternity and retirement benefits, Narasaiah said. “They told us they do not discriminate.”
Narasaiah said Foxconn told labor officials that the factory employed 41,281 people, including 33,360 women. Of those women, about 2,750, or about 8 percent, were married, he said, citing Foxconn’s representations.
Foxconn does not break down its employment figures into specific areas such as iPhone assembly, where Reuters reported discrimination, Narasaiah said. He added that labor inspectors interviewed 40 married women inside the factory who did not raise any concerns about discrimination.
Narasaiah said he has no current plans to interview Foxconn’s third-party recruiting agents, who scout candidates and bring them to the factory for interviews.
A Reuters investigation Foxconn excluded married women from assembly jobs at its main iPhone factory in India, citing more family responsibilities than unmarried women, according to a report published last week. Foxconn human resources sources and third-party recruitment agencies cited family responsibilities, pregnancy and higher absenteeism rates as reasons for not hiring married women.
The report also found that Taiwan-based Foxconn relaxed its policy of not hiring married women during peak production periods.
The story has sparked debate on television channels, newspaper editorials and calls from opposition figures and women’s groups, including within Modi’s party, for an investigation into the matter.
Responding to a Reuters investigation, Apple and Foxconn acknowledged hiring practices in 2022 and said they had worked to address the issues. But all of the discriminatory practices Reuters documented at the Tamil Nadu plant took place in 2023 and 2024. The companies have not addressed those cases.
Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, has previously said it “strongly rejects allegations of employment discrimination based on marital status, gender, religion or any other form.”
Apple said all of its suppliers, including Foxconn, employ married women and that “when concerns about hiring practices were first raised in 2022, we took immediate action and worked with our supplier to conduct monthly audits to identify issues and ensure our high standards are maintained.”
Indian law does not prohibit companies from discriminating in hiring based on marital status, although Apple and Foxconn’s policies prohibit such practices in their supply chains.
