Hyundai, like most automakers, loves to be on lists. Safety awards, vehicle top-tens, sales champions, and any other list. Make that almost any list. Hyundai and its US supply chain have just been named to one list no company wants to be on. It comes from The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH), a non-profit group which has some strong words regarding Hyundai Motor Group and its relationship with US employees.
The group has just named the Hyundai-Kia US supply chain to its Dirty Dozen list of "employers that put profit first and expose workers to harm" for alleged actions over the last decade. That's obviously a list Hyundai does not want to be on.
Report Cites Deaths, OSHA Violations, Fines
In its report, National COSH has a long list of reasons for Hyundai-Kia to be on this list. Last year's federal ICE raid of the Hyundai-LG Energy Solution battery site in Georgia might have been the most prominent event to make the list. At that raid, more than 470 workers were detained, but it was three deaths at the site before the raid which National COSH highlights.
The report lists 12 worker deaths at companies part of the supply chain for the two automakers from 2015-2025. It also includes reports that at least nine facilities in Alabama that supplied parts to Hyundai-Kia were found to have illegally employed children between 2020 and 2022. In 2024, the US Department of Labor filed a suit naming Hyundai's Alabama plant as a joint employer of a 13-year-old at a metal stamping company.
The report notes 854 workplace safety violations between 2015 and 2025, resulting in $6.2 million in penalties. The report also says that 70% of these were related to "willfull, repeat, or serious" violations. There are also reports that workers in the Hyundai-Kia supply chain earn 10%-15% less than other auto supply chain workers in the state. National COSH attributes the lower wages to a link to incarcerated labor. In Alabama, that can see prisoners working for substantially below minimum wage after prison fees and charges.
It's important to note that this involves the company's US plants, but also the supply chain for these two automakers, which are not strictly Hyundai Motor Group or Kia. Some of those suppliers are completely independent, though some, as mentioned above, are part of the Hyundai Motor Group umbrella.
Source: National Council For Occupational Safety And Health,
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