Continuing with the theme of discrimination against HBVers in China (see my earlier post on TCL), a message on a mainland bulletin board suggests local companies are not the only culprits. According to this post, Flextronics does likewise. A young woman claims she received a letter from Flextronics in which the following sentences (in English and Chinese) appeared: Please kindly attention that you are required to be in good health when commencing work. Or else Flex has no choice but to release the employment on you. As soon as you join Flex, you’ll be arranged for a medical checkup. If you are not sure of your health, could you please make a prior checkup with your own pay. 如果你对自己的身体状况有质疑的�，请预先�一次相关体检。对于体检��格者，我们将�得��弃。体检地点：市级以上医院 ；体检项目：招工体验(一定包括乙�两对) Because the English and Chinese are not identical, here is a translation of the Chinese: "If you are not certain about your health status, please have the relevant medical check-up first. We will not employ those who do not pass the check-up. Venues for medical check-up: municipal hospitals or higher qualified hospitals. Item: pre-employment. Medical check-up (must include HBV serologic test)." Although not well known outside the electronics sector, Flextronics is a giant by any standard. It is the world's leading electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider and is headquartered in Singapore. Listed on the NASDAQ, it posted revenue in the vicinity of US$16 billion in 2004, and employs 82,000 people worldwide. It helps customers to design, build, ship, and service electronics products. Their customers include Alcatel SA, Dell Computer, Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Motorola, Siemens and Xerox. In China, it has facilities/subsidiaries in Changzhou, Dongguan, Doumen, Gongming, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Qingdao, Shajing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xixiang and Zhuhai. Flextronics states in its code of conduct that it is company policy to "comply with all applicable employment and labour laws and regulations, including all non-discrimination requirements" [see here, p. 6; opens as pdf]. If so, the company should bear in mind that on 19 January 2005, new general medical check-up standards came into force. Article 7 of the standard states: “Applicants with any form of acute or chronic hepatitis are not qualified. HBV carriers qualify if they are not diagnosed as having hepatitis.� For more on this change see CSR Asia Weekly, Vol. 1, Week 6). The requests from the company above may therefore be in breach of the new regulations. Flextronics has clearly made a commitment to CSR, and we think this situation provides the company with a perfect opportunity to enhance its CSR reputation. We believe that there is much to be gained by a foreign company in China saying publicly that it will not discriminate against HBVers by endorsing the new regulatory changes and allowing those with hepatitis B the opportunity to realise their full potential.