Chinese prosecutors recently filed lawsuits against at least 16 companies accused of requiring female jobseekers to undergo pregnancy testing.

Chinese law explicitly prohibits employers from carrying out pregnancy tests as part of pre-employment examinations, but some companies are so worried about the costs of maternity leave and benefits that they prefer to make sure the women they hire are not pregnant. Earlier this month, prosecutors in the Tongzhou district of Nantong, China’s Jiangsu Province, announced that it had sued 16 companies for illegally testing female job applicants for pregnancy without even formally informing them about it. Their investigation revealed that companies violated women’s right to equal employment opportunities, as at least one candidate was rejected after it was revealed that she was pregnant.

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Prosecutors began their investigation after receiving an anonymous tip, and by the end, they found at least 16 companies that unlawfully required female jb seekers to take pregnancy tests, as well as two hospitals and a physical exam center where 168 pregnancy tests had been carried out on behalf of the offenders. In most cases, the women were not informed in writing about the pregnancy testing and only offered verbal hints.

In one case, a woman who was expecting a baby in a few months was not hired because of her pregnancy. After the investigation, the offending company hired the woman and offered her compensation.

“We can speculate from this evidence that the pregnancy tests were required by these companies, and it had violated women’s rights to equal work opportunities,” the prosecutors concluded.