Updated India's labor and employment ministry has ordered an investigation into Foxconn — the contract manufacturer's supplier also known as Hon Hai Precision and one of Apple's main suppliers — after reports emerged that the company will not hire married women to work at its main iPhone assembly plant in the subcontinent.
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The inquiry is in the form of a request for a "detailed report" from the Labor Department of the Tamil Nadu state government. Foxconn's largest Indian facility is located in Sriperumbudur, a city in Tamil Nadu.
"Section 5 of Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 clearly states that no discrimination shall be made in the recruitment of male and female workers," the ministry reasoned on Wednesday. "As the State Government is the appropriate authority to execute and administer the provisions of this Act, the report has therefore been sought from the State Government."
A Reuters report published the day before the ministry's move alleged that Foxconn systematically excluded the employment of married women at the Sriperumbudur factory.
