US sues Hyundai for allegedly employing 13-year-old girl

Lina PortmanMay 31, 2024

2 2 minutes read

Top line

The federal government charged Hyundai, an auto parts company and labor recruiter with violating child labor laws by employing a 13-year-old child on Thursday, following a multi-year investigation. years and a report alleging that the Korean automaker and its suppliers used underage workers.

The child worked up to 60 hours a week, the agency claims.

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Highlights

A 13-year-old girl, nicknamed “EC,” was employed by SMART Alabama, an auto parts supplier formerly owned by Hyundai, at a manufacturing plant in Luverne, Alabama, after being hired through the company recruitment Best Practice Service. (BPS), the Department of Labor claims in a lawsuit.

The agency claims “EC” worked at the facility up to 60 hours per week between July 2021 and February 2022, controlling machines that transformed sheet metal into car body parts.

After SMART Alabama discovered “EC” was a minor, the company informed BPS that two other employees were not welcome at the plant because their appearance and physical characteristics suggested they were also minors, according to a file filed in court.

The Department of Labor alleges that BPS “knew or had reason to know” that “EC” was a minor before she was discovered by SMART Alabama.

Hyundai spokesperson Michael Stewart told Forbes that the company “worked for several months to investigate this issue and took immediate and thorough corrective action,” including submitting information to the Department of Labor for solve the problem.

Hyundai no longer owns SMART Alabama, the automaker said, after owning nearly 73 percent of the company when it reportedly employed “EC” (neither SMART Alabama nor BPS immediately responded to requests for comment ).

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To monitor

The Labor Department is requiring the three companies to pay for profits made from relying on child labor, including the sale of cars made by those workers.

Key context

Hyundai has faced allegations that the automaker and its industry partners employed underage workers at its Alabama-based factories. In 2022, Reuters reported that SMART Alabama, then still a subsidiary of Hyundai, used child labor at the Luverne plant. According to Reuters, workers as young as 12 worked at the metal stamping plant, although Hyundai and SMART Alabama have denied claims that they hired minors at the plant. Also in 2022, the Department of Labor ordered an Alabama auto parts maker Hyundai and Kia to stop employing children as young as 13 at a factory northeast of Montgomery. The agency asked both companies to block shipments of goods produced by child labor.

Large number

955. That's the number of child labor cases the Department of Labor investigated last year in the United States, according to the agency. These cases involved 5,972 children, 502 of whom, according to the Ministry of Labor, were employed in violation of standards for hazardous occupations.