By Joshua Schneyer, Mica Rosenberg and Kristina Cooke

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Hyundai Motor Co mentioned it’s in talks with the U.S. Division of Labor to resolve considerations about youngster staff in its U.S. provide chain, and the corporate is taking corrective actions after a Reuters investigation discovered kids as younger as 12 working in hazard-laden Alabama factories linked to the automotive large.

In a press release late Tuesday, Hyundai advised Reuters it has held a sequence of discussions with the Labor Division, which has been investigating a Hyundai subsidiary in Alabama and different components suppliers to the automaker, and its sister model Kia Corp, for potential youngster labor violations.

The talks with the U.S. labor regulator have targeted on “compliance measures throughout our provide chain,” firm spokesman Michael Stewart mentioned in a press release. He additionally detailed a number of new measures Hyundai is implementing to “guarantee non-compliance by no means occurs once more.”

Amongst them: Hyundai mentioned it can roll out new employment coaching packages all through its U.S. provide chain, validate identification paperwork for job candidates, arrange nameless tip hotlines, and discourage the usage of third-party staffing businesses. Reuters discovered these businesses typically positioned underage staff within the suppliers’ vegetation.

The Labor Division declined to touch upon conferences or discussions with Hyundai. In a press release, a division spokesperson mentioned it’s “dedicated to making sure employers perceive their duty below the legislation and engages with employers to assist them obtain compliance.”

Hyundai’s assertion comes as a U.S. congresswoman whose Alabama district contains the positioning of the corporate’s U.S. meeting plant is urgent the automaker to make sure children are now not illegally working within the state’s automotive vegetation.

Congresswoman Terri Sewell, a Democrat, mentioned she has held a sequence of discussions with Hyundai, together with one final week, to handle the considerations at auto components factories that offer Hyundai and Kia.

“I’ve made clear that the usage of youngster labor is abhorrent and unacceptable, and that there should be accountability,” Sewell advised Reuters in a press release. The congresswoman mentioned she is going to proceed working with Hyundai, federal regulators and autoworkers in Alabama to make sure that the automaker’s actions “will likely be adequate to forestall this from taking place once more.”

‘CHILD LABOR IS UNACCEPTABLE’

Hyundai is Alabama’s prime manufacturing facility employer. It depends on a community of principally Korean-owned suppliers throughout the state to make its well-liked U.S.-made automobiles and SUVs at its Montgomery plant.

“We share Congresswoman Sewell’s view that the usage of youngster labor is unacceptable,” Hyundai mentioned.

Sewell’s feedback are the primary from a high-ranking Alabama official on youngster labor issues in Hyundai’s provide chain. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey’s workplace, in addition to different U.S. lawmakers from the state, did not reply to requests for remark.

The brand new actions by Hyundai and its discussions with regulators and lawmakers come after Reuters documented youngster labor in varied Alabama auto vegetation making components for Hyundai or Kia. The experiences have prompted investigations and blowback from traders, unions and customers.

One of many vegetation, SMART Alabama LLC, is straight owned by Hyundai. The U.S. and Alabama Labor Departments launched an investigation after a Reuters article final July discovered Central American migrant children had been working at SMART.

Then, in August, authorities raided SL Alabama LLC, one other Hyundai provider, and eliminated a number of kids from the manufacturing facility ground. Regulators fined SL and its labor recruiter.

In December, Reuters reported first-hand accounts of current youngster labor in additional Korean-owned automotive factories throughout the state, and revealed that state and federal authorities had been investigating as many as ten Alabama vegetation that offer Hyundai and Kia.

These probes are ongoing. Authorities are additionally investigating whether or not underage staff in Hyundai’s Alabama provide chain might have fallen prey to youngster labor trafficking networks, in keeping with two officers conversant in the matter.

Hyundai mentioned it took “rapid motion” upon studying of violations at SMART Alabama and SL final 12 months.

EXPANDING U.S. OPERATIONS

Hyundai has visited or held talks with 29 provide vegetation throughout Alabama, and has required them to undergo unbiased third-party audits, the corporate mentioned this week.

“In consequence, Hyundai is assured there are not any present underage labor points at our Tier 1 suppliers,” it added. Tier 1 suppliers manufacture Hyundai car components to promote on to the automaker.

As soon as authorities started investigating, Reuters reported earlier, staffing companies dismissed young-looking international staff from a number of of the vegetation the place that they had positioned them.

The kid labor experiences have put a highlight on Hyundai’s rising operations in america. Final 12 months, it broke floor on a $5.54 billion electrical car and battery plant in Georgia.

Hyundai and Kia each have world employee charters that prohibit youngster labor of their factories and people of suppliers. Alabama and U.S. legislation limit manufacturing facility work for folks below age 16, and all staff below 18 are forbidden from many roles in auto vegetation, the place metallic presses, slicing machines and dashing forklifts can pose risks.

Amid labor shortages within the area, lots of the Alabama vegetation relied on staffing companies to recruit low-wage meeting line staff with little vetting, Reuters discovered.

Any tardiness to ship their quota of components to Hyundai and Kia might outcome within the vegetation accruing late expenses of 1000’s of {dollars} per minute. Regulatory fines for youngster labor, against this, might be comparatively small.