NHRC says labor officials did not adequately investigate complaints of employment discrimination at Foxconn

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has criticized labor officials for failing to fully investigate allegations of workplace discrimination at Foxconn’s iPhone assembly plant in India. The watchdog has instructed federal state and Tamil Nadu officials to re-evaluate Foxconn’s hiring practices after reports revealed the exclusion of married women from assembly line jobs, according to reports. a ban decreased during peak production periods. The NHRC directive comes as Foxconn and Apple aim to expand manufacturing in India, aligning with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of boosting electronics production in the country.

According to a report in Reuters, labor officials conducted a visit to the Foxconn plant in July, but did not release their findings publicly. Documents he reviewed showed that Tamil Nadu labor officials reported to the NHRC that 6.7 percent of the 33,360 women employed at the plant were married, without specifying whether they worked on the assembly line. Officials stated that the recruitment of female employees from six districts “makes it clear that the company has hired a large number of female employees…without discrimination.” However, the NHRC noted that officials did not address the core issue of discrimination against married women.

The NHRC stated that labor officials “submitted their reports in a routine/casual manner” and failed to analyze Foxconn’s contracting documents. The Commission emphasized that “the presence of (a) certain number of female employees today does not answer the question (of) whether the company had actually discriminated against married women at the time of recruitment,” noting that officials were “apparently silent in this regard.

The Commission has ordered a “thorough investigation” to be carried out within four weeks, reflecting its civil court-like powers to recommend corrective action, including compensation. Neither the state nor the federal labor departments responded to requests for comment on the NHRC assessment. The NHRC’s intervention aligns with the government’s assertion that India’s Equal Remuneration Act prohibits discrimination in recruitment based on gender.

(With input from Reuters)