While the minimum legal working age in China is 16, Foxconn has admitted to using interns as young as 14 in one of its factories in the eastern city of Yantai. It says it is investigating the matter, and that any employee responsible for such hiring violations will have their contract terminated.
The company, which assembles Apple’s hugely popular iOS devices, has sent all underage workers back to their schools, and it’s now investigating how they were ended up at its plant.
In a statement released Tuesday, Foxconn said: “We recognize that full responsibility for these violations rests with our company and we have apologized to each of the students for our role in this action. Any Foxconn employee found, through our investigation, to be responsible for these violations will have their employment immediately terminated.”
Labor rights group China Labor Watch released a statement saying that while the primary responsibility for the underage workers lies with the schools, Foxconn is also responsible for not confirming the ages of the workers.
Foxconn, one of China’s biggest employers, has had its practices come under close scrutiny recently as poor working conditions and mistreatment of workers have come to light.
In September, over 2,000 Foxconn workers were involved in a riot, apparently over pressures brought on by iPhone 5 production, with 40 people injured and reports of several dead.
Apple is not Foxconn’s only client, as the company also assembles products for a number of other companies, which include Microsoft, Nintendo, Dell, and others.
