Authors: Aditya Kalra and Munsif Vengattil

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s powerful human rights watchdog has admonished labor officials for failing to conduct an adequate investigation into evidence of employment discrimination in Foxconn (SS:), which makes Apple’s (NASDAQ:) iPhones, and ordered them to re-investigate the matter, according to the documents.

In June, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) ordered Tamil Nadu federal and state officials to investigate Foxconn’s hiring practices after a Reuters investigation found that the manufacturer excluded married women from iPhone assembly jobs at its factory in southern India. Reuters found that Foxconn eased the ban during periods of increased production.

The iPhone factory is a flagship foreign investment in India, key to Apple and Foxconn’s plans to expand manufacturing in the country, as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s desire to rival 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 investigation after the news agency sought the files under India’s freedom of information law. Details have not been previously provided.

An undated NHRC status document shows that on July 5, labor officials in Tamil Nadu told the commission 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 the women employed at the factory come from six districts, “which clearly shows that the company has employed a large number of women… without any discrimination.”

Federal investigators told the committee they interviewed 21 married women at the plant who, according to the document, said they had not faced discrimination in pay or promotions.

In response, the NHRC told labor officials in November that they apparently failed to check Foxconn’s employment records or address the substantive issue of discrimination against married women in hiring. According to details of the case, officials relied on the testimony of current employees and “filed their reports in a routine/sloppy manner.”

“The presence of (a) certain number of women does not answer the question of whether the company actually discriminated against married women at the time of recruitment,” the NHRC said, noting that labor officials were “apparently silent on the matter.”

“The Commission has no hesitation in finding that the authorities concerned have failed to identify and understand the fundamental issue.”

Neither the state nor federal labor departments responded to Reuters requests for comment on the NHRC assessment. Calling for the inquiry in June, the Modi government said India’s Equal Pay Act states there should be no discrimination in the recruitment of men and women.

Apple and Foxconn also did not respond to questions about the correspondence. Both companies have previously reported that Foxconn employs married women in India.

The NHRC is a statutory body with powers similar to those of a civil court. It can investigate human rights violations, summon officials and recommend remedial action, including the payment of compensation.

Last year, the watchdog asked India’s federal labor department to review reports of complex working conditions at an Amazon (NASDAQ:) warehouse near New Delhi. Amazon subsequently stated that it had investigated and taken remedial action.

In the Foxconn case, NHRC records show that the agency conveyed its dissatisfaction to government officials on November 19 and ordered them to re-examine the matter through a “thorough investigation” within four weeks.

In a January 10 response to Reuters, the NHRC said it could not provide further information because the case was ongoing.

The Reuters investigation into Foxconn’s hiring practices was based on interviews with current and former executives, recruiting agents and job candidates, as well as a review of job advertisements distributed by recruitment service providers that assist recruit smartphone assembly workers in India. .

Multiple ads published between January 2023 and May 2024 claimed that only unmarried women of a certain age were eligible for smartphone assembly positions, contrary to Apple and Foxconn’s anti-discrimination policies.

In November, Reuters reported that Foxconn ordered recruiters to remove age, gender and marital status criteria from job advertisements.