The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Montgomery, Alabama, also sought an order requiring the companies to relinquish any profits related to the use of child labor.
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. The girl and her two brothers, aged 12 and 15 at the time, all worked at the plant in 2022 and were not going to school, according to people familiar with their employment.Hyundai in an emailed statement said the company no longer has any ownership in SMART.
In 2022, Reuters revealed the widespread and illegal employment of migrant children in Alabama factories supplying both Hyundai and sister brand Kia. In addition to leading to probes by law enforcement and regulators, the coverage was followed by other media examinations of the problem of child labor in the U.S.