A Georgia federal judge has given preliminary approval to a $1.2 million settlement of a class action lawsuit lodged last year by Mexican engineers and technicians contending that the auto parts manufacturer SL Alabama LLC, along with staffing agency Allswell and recruiting firm SPJ Connect Inc., engaged in a deceptive “bait and switch” strategy. This scheme purportedly involved recruiting highly skilled workers under NAFTA professional visas, only to subsequently assign them to low-wage, manual labor positions.

SL Alabama is a large manufacturer of headlights, rear combination lights, and side mirrors for large automobile manufacturing companies, particularly Hyundai and Kia.

TN visa holders who were recruited by Allswell or SPJ and have been employed at SL production facilities from 25 October 2019 to the present will qualify for the settlement fund, as outlined in the proposed agreement submitted on 19 July 2024. In return, the class members will release the defendants from any claims pertaining to their recruitment or employment.

This lawsuit is part of a series of cases in the Southeast where automobile manufacturers have been charged with misusing the TN visa program, which permits professional workers from Mexico and Canada to occupy positions in the United States. Most recently, logistics firms Hyundai Glovis and GFA Alabama faced allegations in a June complaint filed in the Northern District of Georgia for taking advantage of TN visas to obtain inexpensive labor.

The program, created under the North American Free Trade Agreement, persisted in its original format following the transition to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement in 2020. The plaintiffs in the resolved case contended that they received lower wages and were subjected to longer working hours compared to their American counterparts and non-Hispanic employees. They asserted that they faced threats of deportation when they raised concerns regarding their compensation and working conditions.

On 30 May 2024, the Department of Labour filed a complaint in the US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, aiming to prevent three companies from unlawfully employing minors and to compel them to forfeit profits gained from such activities. The companies named as defendants include Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama LLC, a parts supplier, SMART Alabama LLC, and Best Practice Service LLC, a staffing agency. The complaint asserts that these companies collectively employed a 13-year-old child, who was discovered working as many as 60 hours per week on an assembly line at the SMART Alabama facility in Luverne, which manufactures sheet metal components for Hyundai vehicles.