Hyundai Motor Company has been sued for allegedly hiring teenage children in the United States and forcing them to work long hours.
The Department of Labor announced on May 30 that it filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop three companies, including Hyundai’s assembly and manufacturing plant in Alabama, from illegally employing child labor.
The defendants are Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama LLC (HMMA), SMART Alabama LLC, an auto parts company, and Best Practice Service LLC, a staffing firm.
The Labor Department said it took the action after an on-site investigation found that a 13-year-old child was working 50 to 60 hours a week on an assembly line at the plant in Luverne, Alabama, where machines turn sheet metal into body parts.
The department explained that a staffing agency sent the child to SMART Alabama, which supplies parts to the Hyundai manufacturing plant. The complaint alleges that three companies jointly employed the child.
The Labor Department alleged that between July 11, 2021, and February 1, 2022, the companies willfully and repeatedly violated the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
“The Department of Labor’s complaint seeks to hold all three employers in the supply chain accountable,” said Seema Nanda, an attorney with the Department of Labor. “Companies cannot escape liability by blaming suppliers or staffing companies for child labor violations when they are in fact also employers themselves.”
The department is asking the court to order the companies to stop illegally employing children and disgorge profits related to the use of child labor.
Hyundai said in a statement, “The use of child labor and violations of labor laws are inconsistent with our standards and values.”
“Unfortunately, the Department of Labor is seeking to apply an unprecedented legal theory that unfairly holds Hyundai Motor Company liable for the actions of its suppliers,” adding, “We are reviewing the new lawsuit and will defend the company.”
“We took immediate action after learning of the (parts) supplier’s alleged violations. At our request, the supplier terminated its relationship with the staffing firm, and we have further completed an investigation and extensive review of our supplier network in the United States.”
BY HOONSIK WOO [woo.hoonsik@koreadaily.com]
