Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s authorities on Wednesday stated it has requested the Tamil Nadu state to submit a “detailed report” after a Reuters story revealed that Apple provider Foxconn rejected married ladies from iPhone meeting jobs within the nation.
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s authorities on Wednesday stated it has requested the Tamil Nadu state to submit a “detailed report” after a Reuters story revealed that Apple provider Foxconn rejected married ladies from iPhone meeting jobs within the nation.
In a assertion calling for the probe, the federal authorities’s Ministry of Labor and Employment cited the Equal Remuneration Act of 1976, saying the regulation “clearly stipulates that no discrimination (is) to be made whereas recruiting women and men employees.”
The ministry stated it has requested an in depth report from the Labor Division of Tamil Nadu, website of a significant iPhone manufacturing facility the place Reuters uncovered Foxconn’s apply of shunning married ladies from jobs. The Labor Ministry stated it additionally directed the workplace of the Regional Chief Labor Commissioner to offer a “factual report.”
Apple and Foxconn didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the federal government assertion. The Tamil Nadu state authorities didn’t instantly reply to Reuters’ request for remark outdoors workplace hours.
A Reuters investigation revealed on Tuesday discovered that Foxconn has systematically excluded married ladies from jobs at its foremost India iPhone plant close to Chennai in Tamil Nadu state, on the grounds they’ve extra household obligations than their single counterparts.
Foxconn hiring brokers and HR sources interviewed by Reuters cited household duties, being pregnant and better absenteeism as the explanation why Foxconn didn’t rent married ladies on the plant.
The Ministry of Labor “takes word of media stories on married ladies not being allowed to work at Foxconn India Apple iPhone plant,” the assertion stated.
Earlier, in response to questions from Reuters for its Tuesday report, Apple and Foxconn acknowledged lapses in hiring practices in 2022 and stated they’d labored to handle the problems. All of the discriminatory practices documented by Reuters on the Sriperumbudur plant, nonetheless, came about in 2023 and 2024. The 2 firms did not handle the 2023 and 2024 incidents.
Apple stated that “when issues about hiring practices had been first raised in 2022 we instantly took motion and labored with our provider to conduct month-to-month audits to determine points and make sure that our excessive requirements are upheld,” including that every one its suppliers, together with Foxconn, rent married ladies.
Foxconn stated it “vigorously refutes allegations of employment discrimination primarily based on marital standing, gender, faith or some other kind.”
Legal professionals informed Reuters Indian regulation does not bar firms from discriminating in hiring primarily based on marital standing. Apple’s and Foxconn’s insurance policies, nonetheless, prohibit such hiring practices of their provide chains.
