The Labor Department sued Hyundai on Thursday over its use of child labor in Alabama, holding the automaker liable for employing children in its supply chain, including a 13-year-old girl who worked up to 60 hours a week making auto parts.
In the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Montgomery, Alabama, the department said Hyundai was responsible for employing children at a Smart Alabama factory in Luverne, Alabama, that makes parts such as body panels to be delivered to a Hyundai factory in Montgomery. The lawsuit also alleged that 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 adhere to as a company.” It added that the Labor Department was “applying an unprecedented legal theory that would unfairly hold Hyundai accountable 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 plant, where she was hired by Best Practice Service, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit also alleged that two other children were employed at the plant.
The Labor Department said that by employing children at its supplier, Hyundai violated the “hot goods” provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which prevents interstate commerce in goods “manufactured in violation of the minimum wage.” “Overtime or child labor provisions” of this Act.
“Companies cannot avoid liability by blaming suppliers or staffing firms for child labor violations when they are also, in fact, employers themselves,” Seema Nanda, legal officer for the Labor Department, said in a statement Thursday.
The lawsuit comes after investigations by Reuters and The New York Times documented the use of child labor by automotive suppliers. In 2022, Reuters found that Smart Alabama had used child labor at its factory 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 by suppliers to General Motors and Ford Motor.
Hyundai imports many of its vehicles from South Korea but has made large investments in factories in the south, spending nearly $8 billion on an electric vehicle plant in Georgia. The United Automobile Workers union has said it wants to organize workers at the Hyundai plant in Montgomery.
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2024-05-30 22:37:07
www.nytimes.com
