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.

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.

    • prole@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      101·
      3 months ago

      it’s probably difficult to perform background checks on people who are illegally entering the country.

      So the default is to just hire a literal child and hope for the best? Do you not see how stupid that is.

    • Tilgare@lemmy.world
      91·
      3 months ago

      Well to work with heavy machinery, you have to be 18. You’ve clearly never met a 14 year old, but 4 years and puberty at that age make a BIG difference. These children were very obviously, well, children.

      • Leviathan@lemmy.world
        4·
        3 months ago

        I’ve seen people over 18 work on heavy machinery who I wouldn’t consider mature enough to do so. The older you get the more you cringe when you see someone work and know they’re gonna get hurt before they have a chance to live.