A 13-year-old was allegedly caught working inside of a Hyundai plant in Alabama.
According to CBS News, the U.S. Department of Labor is suing Hyundai Motor Co., auto parts company SMART Alabama, and staffing agency, Best Practice Service, after discovering a 13-year-old girl working illegally on an assembly line in Alabama.
The federal complaint was filed by the agency on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama and seeks to force the companies to relinquish profits related to the use of child labor.
The investigation reportedly revealed that the unidentified child worked 50 to 60 hours a week at SMART Alabama’s facility, which supplies parts to Hyundai, instead of attending school.
"A 13-year-old working on an assembly line in the United States of America shocks the conscience," said Jessica Looman, the DOL's wage and hour division administrator, in a statement per CBS News.
SMART Alabama told Best Practice Service that two other employees were allegedly not welcomed back to the facility because of their appearance and other physical traits that may have suggested they were underage, per the complaint.
Now, the Labor Department claims Hyundai is responsible for repeated child labor violations at SMART Alabama. Despite Hyundai’s assertion that they enforce U.S. labor laws and took remedial action, the Labor Department argues that companies can’t avoid liability by blaming staff suppliers.
"The use of child labor, and breach of any labor law, is not consistent with the standards and values we hold ourselves to as a company," said Hyundai in a statement to CBS News. "We worked over many months to thoroughly investigate this issue and took immediate and extensive remedial measures. We presented all of this information to the U.S. Department of Labor in an effort to resolve the matter, even while detailing the reasons why no legal basis existed to impose liability under the circumstances."
"Unfortunately, the Labor Department is seeking to apply an unprecedented legal theory that would unfairly hold Hyundai accountable for the actions of its suppliers and set a concerning precedent for other automotive companies and manufacturers.”
The lawsuit marks the first time that the Labor Department has sued a major company for child labor law violations at a subcontractor, following a government probe and a Reuters report on the alleged widespread illegal use of child laborers at Hyundai’s Alabama suppliers.
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