Exclusive: India watchdog faults probe of Foxconn hiring, orders new inquiry

Munsif Vengattil - Reuters - 23/01
India's powerful human rights watchdog has admonished labor officials for failure to adequately investigate evidence of employment discrimination at Foxconn, which makes Apple iPhones, and told them to re-examine the matter, documents show.
  • NHRC faults India officials for lax investigation of Foxconn hiring practices, documents show
  • Labor officials failed to scrutinize recruitment at Foxconn iPhone plant, NHRC says
  • NHRC ordered fresh probe into Foxconn hiring practices, documents show
NEW DELHI, Jan 23 (Reuters) - India's powerful human rights watchdog has admonished labor officials for failure to adequately investigate evidence of employment discrimination at Foxconn, which makes Apple iPhones, and told them to re-examine the matter, documents show.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in June ordered federal and Tamil Nadu state officials to probe Foxconn's hiring practices, after a Reuters investigation found the manufacturer excluded married women from iPhone assembly jobs at its southern India plant. Foxconn relaxed the ban during high-production periods, Reuters found.
The iPhone factory is a flagship foreign investment in India, crucial to Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab and Foxconn's (2317.TW), opens new tab plans to grow manufacturing in the country, as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's aim of rivaling China in electronics production.
Indian labor officials visited the Foxconn plant in July and questioned executives about employment practices, but did not make their findings public.
Reuters this month reviewed NHRC case files related to the probe after the news agency sought the records under India's Right to Information laws. The details have not been previously reported.
An undated NHRC case status document shows Tamil Nadu labor officials told the commission on July 5 that 6.7% of the 33,360 women working at the Foxconn plant were married, without specifying whether they were on the assembly line. They said women employed at the factory came from six districts, "which makes it clear that a large number of female employees have been hired by the company ... without any discriminat...
[Short citation of 8% of the original article]