The company, Tuff Torq, was fined nearly $300,000 for hiring 10 children. It must also set aside $1.5 million to help the immigrant minors who were illegally employed.
Immigrant children as young as 14 were found working illegally amid dangerous heavy equipment at a Tennessee firm that makes parts for lawn mowers sold by John Deere and other companies, according to Labor Department officials.
The company, Tuff Torq, was fined nearly $300,000 for hiring 10 children. As part of a consent agreement with the federal government, the company is also required to set aside $1.5 million to help the children who were illegally employed. Ryan Pott, general counsel for Tuff Torq’s majority owner, the Japanese firm Yanmar, acknowledged the violations to NBC News.
Yeah, that’s kinda why the company is getting fined. For the crimes.
Companies like this operate like an umbrella and hide people from the protections our laws offer them, frequently holding leverage over workers in ways that cross international boundaries.
People aren’t getting work visas to do grunt work in manufacturing or meat slaughter houses. This is America. No one needs a temp service to hire teenagers if you’re doing things legally in those industries.
There’s a reason this company used a hiring service, you see it in every industry that needs hard labor in this country. Its the elephant in the room. Wake up.