Hepatitis carriers sue Taiwan firm for discrimination

A Shenzhen court has agreed to hear a job discrimination suit lodged by four hepatitis B carriers against two Shenzhen subsidiaries of Taiwan-based computer giant Foxconn.

In the first case of its kind in the city, four college graduates from Guangdong, Hunan , Shanxi and Hubei filed a suit in the Baoan District People's Court accusing the Fukui Precision Components (Shenzhen) Company and the Hongfujin Precision Industry Company of rescinding job offers made earlier this year because they were hepatitis B carriers.

A Foxconn representative said the company would respect mainland law and follow judicial process if it received an official court notice over the suit.

The four men said they went to the factories to apply for work earlier this year and, despite passing all the interviews, were denied employment after tests revealed they had hepatitis B. The men are demanding about 20,000 yuan each in compensation.

'A Foxconn human resources official said they could not hire me since the hepatitis virus was active in my body,' Mr Li, one of the four, said.

'They said they rejected carriers of the disease because many staff lived in shared accommodation.'

'But there is no research to show the hepatitis B virus can be spread through casual contact such as chatting, eating or working together.'