Following the revelation that its major supplier Pegatron was in violations of student labour at some of its China factories, Apple has put the supplier on probation. This means that Pegatron will not execute new contracts on behalf of the iPhone maker during the duration.

According to Bloomberg, Apple had found Pegatron to be falsifying paperwork so as to cover up violations of its code of conduct for suppliers. “We have a rigorous review and approval process for any student worker program, which ensures the intern’s work is related to their major and prohibits overtime or night shifts,” Apple told Bloomberg in a statement.

Apple also states that Pegatron had fired the program’s manager. “Pegatron misclassified the student workers in their program and falsified paperwork to disguise violations of our Code, including allowing students to work nights and/or overtime and in some cases to perform work unrelated to their major,” Apple said.

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Pegatron is one of Apple’s biggest supply chain partners. The Taiwanese company manufactures several products for Apple and even does for its latest iPhone 12 models. With the reported probation, Pegatron won’t get any new business from Apple until the matter is fully resolved.

Pegatron in its defense says it did all it could to remedy the matter upon discovery. “Upon discovery of this non-compliant activity, we immediately took the student workers off production lines and worked with our customer and third-party experts to make appropriate arrangements for them to return to their homes or schools with proper compensation alongside all necessary support and care,” Pegatron said in a statement.

Pegatron has previously been accused of exploiting the workers under its student labour program. In 2013, China Labor Watch issued a report alleging unpaid overtime and underpayment of student workers at a Pegatron factory.

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