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.

  • snooggums
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    3 months ago

    The company is being fined, so no single person is being held accountable monetarily either

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Google tells me:

      Tuff Torq has 513 employees, and the revenue per employee ratio is $311,891. Tuff Torq peak revenue was $160.0M in 2023.

      They were fined $300,000. So less than one employees’ worth of revenue.

      Cost of doing business, as usual.

      • jordanlund@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Fined $300K, but also have to give up $1.5M in profit for the 10 kids. $150,000 per kid, or, you know, 1/2 of the revenue they generated. ;)

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Well I’m sure a company with ethics, like John Deere probably, will stop doing business with Tuff Torq now. Definitely.

          • jordanlund@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            No, they’ll just re-negotiate their contract to get a better deal causing Tuff Torque to treat their remaining employees worse.

            • BossDj@lemm.ee
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              3 months ago

              Or owner bankrupts tuff torq, gives himself a termination bonus, then makes a new LLC called Tough Tork

          • Fosheze@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            Honestly, they probably will. John Deere is really shitty ethically speaking with their stance on right to repair but they have a very strict supplier code of conduct. I used to work for a place that was one of their suppliers and our contract with them was far more strict than with any of our other customers. It mostly included things focused on employee welfare at the suppliers site. I’m going to see if I can get a hold of it today but posting it would probably violate confidentiality and this is an easily doxable account so don’t expect me to post it wholesale.

            Also this place just got a bunch of bad press while being associated with Deere while Deere currently has enough bad press of their own. They’re going to come down on them hard which almost certainly means just cutting them off because it isn’t like a company as big as Deere is going to struggle to find eager suppliers.

        • bane_killgrind@lemmy.ml
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          3 months ago

          They would actually just hire adults, who cost slightly more if they are desperate. They will continue production at 100%

      • Sidyctism@feddit.de
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        3 months ago

        Could you explain what exactly “revenue per employee ratio” means? My thought would be that this is the value the average employee creates for the company minus the cost of employment per year, is that correct?

        • psud@aussie.zone
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          3 months ago

          Revenue is all the money the company makes, before any costs

          Revenue per employee is that amount divided by the number of employee

          The after costs amount would be profit per employee

    • WarmSoda@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      You’d think since companies are people they’d be thrown in jail or something.

    • kboy101222@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      Whoever signed off on hiring literal children should be held accountable. Actually holding these people to accountability is the only way this is getting solved