The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit against Hyundai Motor Co., a South Korean auto giant, as well as an auto parts plant and a recruiting company. This legal action comes after the discovery of a 13-year-old girl who was found to be working illegally on an assembly line in Alabama.
The Labor Department has taken legal action against Hyundai, SMART Alabama, and Best Practice Service. In a complaint filed on Thursday, the agency is seeking to ensure that these companies give up any profits that are connected to the use of child labor. The Labor Department alleges that all three companies had a shared responsibility in employing the child.
According to the Labor Department, the decision was made following a discovery by federal investigators. They found that a 13-year-old girl had been working long hours, up to 50 to 60 hours a week, on a SMART assembly line in Luverne, Alabama. Her role involved operating machines that transformed sheet metal into auto body parts. Shockingly, the child had been employed at the facility for a duration of six to seven months. Instead of attending middle school, she spent her time on the assembly line, contributing to the production of parts that were supplied to Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama.
“In a statement, Jessica Looman, the DOL’s wage and hour division administrator, expressed her shock at the fact that a 13-year-old is working on an assembly line in the United States of America.”
According to the Department, SMART Alabama, a subsidiary of the Korean automaker, has been found responsible for multiple violations of child labor between July 11, 2021, and February 1, 2022. Best Practice allegedly sent the child to work at the component parts provider.
SMART allegedly informed the staffing firm that two more employees would not be allowed back at the facility due to their appearance and other physical characteristics that indicated they might be underage, as per the complaint.
“Blaming suppliers or staffing companies for child labor violations is not an escape route for companies to avoid liability. They must acknowledge that they are also employers themselves,” emphasized Seema Nanda, solicitor of the Labor Department, in a recent news release.
Hyundai expressed disappointment that the Labor Department filed a complaint, stating that it is committed to enforcing U.S. labor law.
Hyundai stated that the employment of child labor and violation of labor laws are not in line with the company’s principles and beliefs. They conducted a comprehensive investigation into this matter over several months and promptly implemented extensive corrective actions. The company shared all the relevant information with the U.S. Department of Labor in an attempt to address the issue, while also explaining why there was no legal basis to hold them liable in this particular situation.
“Regrettably, the Labor Department is attempting to implement an unprecedented legal theory that would unjustly make Hyundai responsible for the actions of its suppliers, creating a worrisome precedent for other automotive companies and manufacturers,” the company expressed.
Hyundai took swift action in response to the complaint by severing ties with the staffing agencies mentioned. The company also conducted a thorough review of its U.S. supplier network and implemented stricter workplace standards. To further ensure compliance with labor laws, Hyundai now mandates independent audits of their operations for their suppliers in Alabama.
This is the first instance in which the Labor Department has filed a lawsuit against a prominent company for allegedly breaching child labor laws through one of its subcontractors. The lawsuit is a result of an extensive government investigation and a separate Reuters report that exposed the rampant and illegal employment of migrant child laborers by Hyundai’s suppliers in Alabama.
According to a 2022 report by Reuters, children as young as 12 were found to be employed by a Hyundai subsidiary and other parts suppliers in the Southern state.
According to a wire service report, there were concerns about underage workers at Smart following the incident in February 2022 when a Guatemalan migrant child went missing from her family’s home in Alabama. The report revealed that a 13-year-old girl and her two brothers, aged 12 and 15, were found to be working at the plant and not attending school during that year.
In fiscal year 2023, the Labor Department conducted investigations into 955 cases of child labor violations, which affected a total of 5,792 children across the country. Out of these cases, 502 children were found to be employed in hazardous occupations, in clear violation of the established standards.
Last summer, tragic incidents occurred involving underage workers. One devastating incident involved 16-year-old Michael Schuls, who lost his life after being pulled into machinery at a sawmill in Wisconsin. Similarly, another 16-year-old worker lost their life after getting caught in a machine at a poultry plant in Mississippi. These incidents highlight the serious and fatal risks that minors can face while working on the job.
