Andre Yoskowitz
17 Oct 2012 7:52
After an investigation, Foxconn has admitted to hiring underage interns, in breach of child labor laws.
In China, the legal working age is 16 but some of the interns were found to be as young as 14.
Reads the company's statement: "This is not only a violation of China's labor law, it is also a violation of Foxconn policy and immediate steps have been taken to return the interns in question to their educational institutions. We are also carrying out a full investigation, in cooperation with the respective educational institutions, to determine how this happened and the actions that must be taken by our company to ensure that it can never happen again."
Foxconn's investigation came quickly after a report from China Labor Watch claimed it could confirm the underage interns at the Yantai facility.
Read the CLW report: "These underage interns were mainly sent to Foxconn by schools, but Foxconn did not check the IDs of these young interns. The schools involved in this incident should take primary responsible, but Foxconn is also culpable for not confirming the ages of their workers."
Foxconn says it will fire any employee who helped facilitate the hiring of the interns.