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Guangzhou - Two factories that make Microsoft products in southern China violated overtime regulations and failed to properly register the use of workers aged 16 to 18, officials said on Monday.
The problems at the plants in the city of Dongguan were initially raised last week by the National Labour Committee, a New York-based non-profit that monitors the treatment of foreign workers by US companies. The group alleged that the teen labourers worked long shifts and were not allowed to use bathrooms during working hours at the plants, owned by Taiwan-based KYE Systems Corp.
The factories make webcams, computer mice and Xbox controllers for Microsoft, the world's biggest software company.
Investigators with Dongguan's human resources bureau said in a report that factories are allowed to hire workers between the ages of 16 and 18 as long as the labourers are registered with the authorities. The KYE factories had 385 such workers - most supplied by vocational schools - and 326 weren't properly registered, the report said.
Employees were also forced to work an excessive amount of overtime in March, clocking about 280 hours, the report said. Copies of the labour contract also weren't given to employees, the document said.
KYE Systems spokesperson Lai Jin-hui insists that factories did nothing wrong regarding overtime and had followed regulations that limit the work week to 60 hours. But Lai acknowledged that the factories failed to properly register workers and would now fix the problem.
- AP
