The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in India has criticized labor officials for failing to adequately investigate evidence of employment discrimination at Foxconn, a company that manufactures Apple iPhones. The NHRC ordered federal and Tamil Nadu state officials to look into Foxconn's hiring practices following a Reuters investigation that revealed discriminatory practices at the manufacturer's plant in southern India.
Despite Indian labor officials questioning Foxconn executives about their employment practices in July, their findings were not made public. In response to this, the NHRC highlighted that the officials did not thoroughly review Foxconn's hiring documents and failed to address the discrimination against married women in recruitment. The NHRC emphasized that the presence of female employees currently employed at the factory does not address whether discrimination occurred during the recruitment process.
The NHRC's dissatisfaction with the investigation led them to order a re-examination of the matter, directing government officials to conduct a thorough investigation within four weeks. The NHRC stated that the authorities had overlooked the core issue and failed to grasp the importance of scrutinizing the hiring practices at Foxconn.
It's worth noting that the NHRC is a statutory body in India with the authority to investigate human rights violations, and it can recommend actions to rectify such violations, including compensation. In a similar vein, last year, the NHRC requested the federal labor department to investigate reports of labor violations at an Amazon warehouse in New Delhi, prompting Amazon to conduct an investigation and take corrective measures.
Despite requests for comments on the NHRC's assessment, neither the state nor federal labor departments, nor Apple or Foxconn, provided responses to Reuters. The NHRC stated in its latest communication that the case is still ongoing and couldn't offer further details at this time.
Reuters conducted an investigation into Foxconn's hiring practices based on interviews with executives, recruitment agents, and job candidates, as well as a review of job advertisements for smartphone assembly roles in India. The investigation revealed that certain job ads between January 2023 and May 2024 specified that only unmarried women of certain ages were eligible for assembly roles, contradicting Apple and Foxconn anti-discrimination policies.