U.S. Labor Department sues Hyundai over U.S. child labour, court filing shows

The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday sued South Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor Co., an auto parts plant and a labour recruiter over illegal use of child labour in Alabama.

The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday sued South Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor Co., an auto parts plant and a labour recruiter over illegal use of child labour in Alabama.

The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Montgomery, Ala., also sought an order requiring the companies to relinquish any profits related to the use of child labour.

Reuters reported in 2022 that children, some as young as 12, worked for a Hyundai subsidiary and in other parts suppliers for the company in the southern state.

The Labor Department filing named three companies as defendants, Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama LLC, SMART Alabama LLC, an auto parts company, and Best Practice Service LLC, a staffing firm, for employing a 13-year-old child.

The department's Wage and Hour Division found the child had worked up to 50-60 hours per week on an assembly line operating machines that formed sheet metal into auto body parts.

According to the Labor Department complaint, SMART informed the staffing firm that "two additional employees were not welcome back at the facility due to their appearance and other physical characteristics, which suggested they were also underage."

"Companies cannot escape liability by blaming suppliers or staffing companies for child labor violations when they are in fact also employers themselves," Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda said in a press release.