Dive Brief:
- Outdoor power equipment component maker Tuff Torq will pay approximately $1.8 million in penalties and other fines related to child labor violations at its Morristown, Tennessee, facility.
- The manufacturer, which supplies top brands like John Deere and Yamaha, must stop illegally employing children and set aside $1.5 million as remediation of 30 days’ profits related to its use of child labor. The proceeds will benefit the illegally employed children, according to the Labor Department.
- Tuff Torq must also pay $296,951 in civil penalties for subjecting 10 children to illegal labor practices, such as operating dangerous machinery and requiring them to work more hours than the law allows, according to the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division report.
Dive Insight:
Japan-based agriculture equipment manufacturer Yanmar Group owns Tuff Torq and says it did not directly hire the children, according to a company spokesperson. The children were hired by a temporary workforce staffing agency and used fake names and credentials in the hiring process, the spokesperson said in an email to Manufacturing Dive.
While the investigation began months ago, the Labor Department obtained clear evidence of the violations on Jan. 23 when investigators returned to the Tuff Torq facility and observed a child operating a power-driven hoisting apparatus, a job prohibited for workers under 18.
As part of its remediation efforts, Tuff Torq must allow unannounced and warrantless searches of its facility for three years and establish a contract with a community-based organization for regular training to staff, managers and contractors.
The manufacturer is also required to create an anonymous tip line for reporting child labor and other suspected violations and refrain from entering any new contracts with staffing agencies or other contractors with child labor violations, the release said. Outside hiring agencies must also provide information regarding hiring protocols designed to prevent child labor to Tuff Torq.
“This consent decree holds Tuff Torq accountable while also discouraging future violations, focusing on the supply chain, and striving to make the victims whole,” Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda said in a statement.
The news comes as the DOL said it’s seeing an increase in child labor violations. The department reported that the number of child labor violations increased 44% year over year in July 2023, while the number of penalties had increased 87%.
In fiscal year 2023, the department investigated 955 cases with child labor violations, involving 5,792 children nationwide. It cited employers for more than $8 million in civil money penalties, according to the DOL.
