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Employment Laws Being Broken in China

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The Apple Company has several factories located in China and a recent audit is showing major concerns over employment laws that are being broken over in the area. Such laws include having employees work extremely excessive hours, having employees work overtime without being paid, lack of health and safety precautions, amongst many other concerns.

The Fair Labor Association has found that more than half of the current employees in the Foxconn factories of China have been forced to work for 11 days in a row without being able to rest or have a day off. And, nearly have of the employees have experienced an accident while working or have witnessed an accident. Auditors found that Foxconn had several blocked exits as well as a lack of protective equipment which is probably the reason so many accidents have been taking place.

Foxconn has dealt with many suicides at the company and even an explosion, which killed several workers. However, even with all of that damage, the company still failed to talk to workers about proper safety etiquette. Many employees have also felt a lack of confidence when working with equipment, especially due to the lack of discussion over safety procedures.

In China, labor laws says that no individual should be working more than 49 hours a week, yet during the month of December, the workforce had managed to clock in some 70+ hours each week. On average, the amount of hours clocked in during the week was at 61 hours, which is still relatively high and over the set average amount of hours that are supposed to be worked. In the meantime, most staff members did not get a day off throughout the entire week.

Auditors found out this information from an investigation, which lasted for about a month. They handed out forms that were to be completed and filled out anonymously. In the meantime, reports show that employees often worked many overtime hours yet they were denied pay for the extra hours that they had worked. In fact, about 14% of the employees were working overtime without being paid for it. Apple has made an agreement with Foxconn, ensuring that all employees be paid for their overtime.

Foxconn has also made an agreement to follow the Chinese law about working a certain amount of hours each week. Instead of forcing current employees to work over the amount of maximum hours, they will be hiring more staff members. With more staff members, they will be able to drastically reduce the amount of overtime that other employees have to deal with. The employees that are already working with the company will also be receiving a compensation package, which will offer more benefits to the employees. This is something that the employees deserve, especially with all of the hard work they do.

Employment Laws Being Broken in China by
Authored by: Harrison Barnes