Workers, Kia Supplier Reach $1.2 Million Trafficking Settlement

A group of migrant workers and auto part suppliers for Kia and Hyundai are seeking court approval of a $1.2 million settlement to resolve class action claims of labor trafficking and racketeering.

Mexican engineers and technicians alleged in a lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia last year that auto parts manufacturer SL Alabama LLC, staffing agency Allswell, and recruiting firm SPJ Connect Inc. operated a “bait and switch” scheme to recruit high-skilled workers on NAFTA professional visas and place them in low-paid, manual labor jobs.

TN visa holders recruited by Allswell or SPJ and employed at SL production facilities between Oct. 25, 2019 to the present will be eligible for the settlement fund, according to the proposed arrangement submitted July 19. The class members in exchange will release the defendants from any claims related to their recruitment or employment.

The lawsuit is one of several in the Southeast in which auto manufacturers have been accused of abusing the TN visa program, which allows professional workers from Mexico and Canada to fill jobs in the US. Most recently, logistics companies Hyundai Glovis and GFA Alabama were accused in a June complaint in the Northern District of Georgia of exploiting the TN visas for cheap labor.

The program, which was established as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement, was continued in the same form after the trade deal was replaced by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement in 2020.

Plaintiffs in the settled case alleged they were paid less and required to work longer hours than US workers and non-Hispanic employees. They claimed they were threatened with deportation in response to complaints about their employment and pay.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs said they couldn’t comment on the proposed settlement. Attorneys for the defendants didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case is Peregrina v. SL Alabama, LLC, N.D. Ga., No. 3:23-cv-00206, settlement proposed 7/19/24.