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The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
Tuff Torq Corporation in Morristown has been fined for violating federal child labor laws after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of the Solicitor.
The company manufactures parts for John Deere, Toro, and Yamaha. The investigation, started in 2023, found that Tuff Torq had employed 10 immigrant children illegally, some as young as 14 years old.
According to reports, investigators visited the facility a number of times, and the violations were confirmed on January 23, 2024.
Investigators witnessed a child driving a “power-driven hoisting apparatus”. It is against the law for employees under the age of 18 to use this machinery. Children were also found to be working late at night in the facility, which operates on a 24-hour schedule.
The violations will cost Tuff Torq a $296,951 penalty, as well as $1.5 million set aside from profits brought in during the time that the children were illegally employed. Those additional funds will be dispersed to those immigrant children.
Yanmar Group, the Japan-based umbrella company that owns Tuff Torq Corporation, told Knox News that they did not hire the children directly but that they were sent to work through a “temporary workforce staffing agency.”
Yanmar also claims that the minors used fake IDs and names to be hired by the temporary agency.
In addition to the fines assessed for the violations, Tuff Torq Corporation will also have to implement better training for both staff and contractors, create a tip line for reporting of Fair Labor Standards Act violations, and allow surprise searches of the facility for three years.
They are also prohibited from contracting with staffing agencies that have has FSLA violations previously and they must require contractors to provide information regarding any violations.
