Centre seeks report from Tamil Nadu on claims of married women denied work at Foxconn plant

The Centre on Wednesday asked the Tamil Nadu government to submit a report after a Reuters article claimed that married women were not being allowed to work at an Apple iPhone manufacturing unit run by Foxconn in the state.

Foxconn, a Taiwanese manufacturing firm, is one of American technology company Apple’s biggest suppliers.

The Reuters report on Tuesday said that Foxconn had been systematically excluding women who were married from assembly jobs at its main iPhone factory in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu’s Kanchipuram district, on the grounds that they had “more family responsibilities than their unmarried counterparts”.

Foxconn said it “vigorously refutes allegations of employment discrimination based on marital status, gender, religion or any other form”.

On Wednesday, the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment said it had taken note of the article and had sought a detailed report from the Tamil Nadu government’s labour department.

A press release from the ministry cited the Equal Remuneration Act, which says that there should be no discrimination while recruiting men and women workers.

“As the state government is the appropriate authority for the enforcement and administration of the provisions of this Act, hence the report has been sought from the State government,” the ministry noted.

It added that the regional chief labour commissioner was also directed to furnish a report to the...

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