The Department of Labor sued Hyundai on Thursday for using child labor in Alabama, holding the automaker responsible for employing children in its supply chain, including a 13-year-old girl who worked until 60 hours a week making auto parts. .
In the complaint filed in federal court in Montgomery, Ala., the department said Hyundai was responsible for employing children at a Smart Alabama factory in Luverne, Ala., that produces parts such as body panels shipped to a Hyundai factory. in Montgomery. The suit also claimed that a staffing agency, Best Practice Service, recruited the children to work at the supplier’s factory.
In a statement, Hyundai said child labor was “not consistent with the standards and values we uphold as a company.” He added that the Labor Department used “an unprecedented legal theory that would unfairly hold Hyundai responsible for the actions of its suppliers.”
Smart did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives for Best Practice Service, which is no longer in business, could not be reached for comment.
From July 2021 to February 2022, a 13-year-old girl worked at the Smart factory, where she was recruited to work by Best Practice Service, according to the lawsuit. The suit also claimed that two other children worked at the factory.
The Labor Department said that by employing children at its supplier, Hyundai was violating the “hot goods” provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which prevents interstate commerce of goods “that were produced in violation minimum wage”. provisions relating to overtime or child labor” of this law.
“Companies cannot escape responsibility by accusing their suppliers or recruitment companies of child labor violations when they are in fact employers themselves,” said Seema Nanda, legal director of the Ministry of Labor , in a press release published Thursday.
The trial comes after investigations by Reuters And The New York Times documented the use of child labor by suppliers to automobile manufacturers. In 2022, Reuters discovered that Smart Alabama had used child labor in its facilities and that Kia, part of the same South Korean conglomerate as Hyundai, had also used child labor in the South. A 2023 Times investigation found that children were employed at suppliers to General Motors and Ford Motor.
Hyundai imports a large portion of its vehicles from South Korea, but has made big investments in factories in the South, spending nearly $8 billion on an electric vehicle plant in Georgia. The United Automobile Workers union said it hoped to organize workers at Hyundai’s Montgomery plant.
