Indian labor officers visited a Foxconn manufacturing unit within the nation’s south this week and questioned executives in regards to the firm’s hiring practices, an official stated, after Reuters reported that the main Apple provider has been rejecting married girls from iPhone meeting jobs.

A five-member group of the federal authorities’s regional labor division visited the Foxconn manufacturing unit close to Chennai, in Tamil Nadu state, on July 1 and spoke to firm administrators and human sources officers, A. Narasaiah, the regional labor commissioner, instructed Reuters by phone on Wednesday.

Foxconn didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, whereas Apple didn’t deal with questions from Reuters in regards to the go to.

The inquiries come after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s authorities requested state officers and the workplace of the federal authorities’s Regional Chief Labour Commissioner final week to supply detailed experiences on the matter, following Reuters’ investigation into hiring practices on the manufacturing facility.

“We’re amassing info, and have requested the corporate to submit paperwork like firm insurance policies, recruitment insurance policies” in addition to proof of compliance with labor legal guidelines and knowledge on maternity and retirement advantages, Narasaiah stated. “They instructed us they don’t seem to be discriminating.”

Narasaiah stated Foxconn instructed the labor officers the manufacturing unit employs 41,281 folks, together with 33,360 girls. Of those girls, some 2,750, or about 8%, have been married, he stated, citing Foxconn’s submission.

Foxconn didn’t break down the staffing figures into particular areas corresponding to iPhone meeting, the place Reuters reported the discrimination was happening, Narasaiah stated. He added that the labor inspectors interviewed 40 married girls contained in the plant, who raised no considerations about discrimination.

Narasaiah stated he presently has no plan to query Foxconn’s third-party hiring brokers, who scout for candidates and produce them to the plant for interviews.

A Reuters investigation printed final week discovered Foxconn systematically excluded married girls from meeting jobs at its most important Indian iPhone plant on the grounds they’ve extra household obligations than their single counterparts. Foxconn HR sources and third-party hiring brokers cited household duties, being pregnant and better absenteeism as causes for not hiring married girls.

The reporting additionally discovered that Taiwan-based Foxconn relaxes the apply of not hiring married girls throughout high-production intervals.

The story has sparked debates on TV channels, newspaper editorials, and calls from opposition figures and girls’s teams, together with inside Modi’s occasion, to analyze the matter.

Responding to the Reuters investigation, Apple and Foxconn acknowledged lapses in hiring practices in 2022 and stated that they had labored to handle the problems. All of the discriminatory practices documented by Reuters on the Tamil Nadu plant, nevertheless, occurred in 2023 and 2024. The businesses didn’t deal with these situations.

Foxconn, also referred to as Hon Hai Precision Trade, has beforehand stated it “vigorously refutes allegations of employment discrimination primarily based on marital standing, gender, faith or every other kind.”

Apple has stated all its suppliers, together with Foxconn, rent married girls and all its suppliers, together with Foxconn, rent married girls and “when considerations about hiring practices have been first raised in 2022 we instantly took motion and labored with our provider to conduct month-to-month audits to determine points and be certain that our excessive requirements are upheld.”

Indian legislation doesn’t bar firms from discriminating in hiring primarily based on marital standing, although Apple’s and Foxconn’s insurance policies prohibit such practices of their provide chains.