NHRC launches new probe into discriminatory hiring at Foxconn’s India plant

India’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has strongly criticised labour officials for failing to adequately investigate reports of employment discrimination at Foxconn, the manufacturer of Apple iPhones. The NHRC has instructed the authorities to revisit their findings, following concerns about biased recruitment practices at Foxconn’s southern India plant, Reuters reported on Thursday.

The NHRC had ordered both federal and Tamil Nadu state officials to probe Foxconn’s hiring practices in June 2023, after a Reuters investigation revealed that the company had been excluding married women from assembly line jobs. The plant, which is key to Foxconn’s and Apple’s manufacturing expansion in India, had reportedly relaxed this policy during peak production periods.

Foxconn’s factory in Tamil Nadu is a flagship foreign investment, crucial to both Apple’s production in India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambition to reduce reliance on China for electronics manufacturing. However, the discovery of discrimination against married women in recruitment practices raises serious concerns about labour rights in the sector.

Initial findings and criticism

In July 2023, labour officials visited the Foxconn plant and questioned company executives regarding their hiring practices. While these officials reported that 6.7 per cent of the 33,360 women working at the plant were married, they did not specify whether any of these women were on the assembly line. Additionally, the officials claimed that the women were hired from six different districts, suggesting there was no discrimination in the hiring process.

However, the NHRC was dissatisfied with these findings. In a letter to the labour officials in November 2023, the NHRC pointed out that the investigation did not examine Foxconn’s hiring documents and failed to address the core issue of discrimination on the basis of marital status.

The commission noted that the reliance on testimonies from current employees was insufficient and did not directly address whether married women had been excluded during the recruitment process. NHRC further noted that officials had not fully grasped the issue.

NHRC’s directive to reinvestigate

The NHRC has now instructed the labour officials to conduct a “thorough investigation” into the matter within four weeks. The commission also highlighted that the failure to scrutinise recruitment records or address the specific allegations of marital discrimination undermines the investigation’s credibility.

The NHRC’s actions come under the Equal Remuneration Act, which mandates that there should be no discrimination based on gender or marital status in recruitment, and the government’s recent push to ensure equitable labour practices in the country.

Apple and Foxconn’s deny allegations

In response to the allegations, both Apple and Foxconn have denied discriminatory hiring practices. They have previously stated that Foxconn hires married women in India.

In 2024, Foxconn instructed recruiters to remove age, gender, and marital status criteria from job advertisements.

The case remains ongoing.