EGN NEWS DESK
The Labor Department on Thursday sued Hyundai over the usage of youngster labor in Alabama, holding the automotive producer chargeable for the employment of kids in its provide chain, together with a 13-year-old woman who labored as much as 60 hours per week making automotive components.
In the go well with, filed in a federal courtroom in Montgomery, Ala., the division stated Hyundai was chargeable for the employment of kids at a Smart Alabama manufacturing unit in Luverne, Ala., which produces components like physique panels which are shipped to a Hyundai manufacturing unit in Montgomery. The go well with additionally claimed a staffing company, Best Practice Service, recruited the youngsters to work on the provider’s plant.
In a press release, Hyundai stated youngster labor was “not in step with the requirements and values we maintain ourselves to as an organization.” It added that the Labor Department used “an unprecedented authorized concept that will unfairly maintain Hyundai accountable for the actions of its suppliers.”
Smart didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. Representatives of Best Practice Service, which is now not in enterprise, couldn’t be reached for remark.
From July 2021 to February 2022, a 13-year-old woman labored on the Smart plant, the place she was recruited to work by Best Practice Service, the go well with claimed. The go well with additionally contended that two different youngsters have been employed on the plant.
The Labor Department stated that by way of the employment of kids at its provider, Hyundai was in violation of the “scorching items” provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which prevents the interstate commerce of products “that have been produced in violation of the minimal wage, time beyond regulation or youngster labor provisions” of that regulation.
“Companies can’t escape legal responsibility by blaming suppliers or staffing corporations for youngster labor violations when they’re in truth additionally employers themselves,” stated Seema Nanda, the Labor Department’s chief authorized officer, in a press release Thursday.
The go well with comes after investigations by Reuters and The New York Times documented the usage of youngster labor by the suppliers of automotive corporations. In 2022, Reuters discovered that Smart Alabama had used youngster labor at its facility, and that Kia, which is a part of the identical South Korean conglomerate as Hyundai, had additionally used youngster labor within the South. A 2023 investigation by The Times discovered youngsters employed on the suppliers of General Motors and Ford Motor.
Hyundai imports lots of its autos from South Korea however has made massive investments in factories within the South, spending practically $8 billion on an electrical automobile plant in Georgia. The United Automobile Workers union has stated it hopes to arrange staff at Hyundai’s Montgomery plant.
