Labor Department Charges Ala. Hyundai Supplier With Obstructing Investigation
Source: The Root
BY: BREANNA EDWARDS
A major Hyundai supplier in Selma, Ala., has been hit with a temporary restraining order after allegedly threatening workers who spoke out against health and safety conditions at the plant, resulting in the termination of a whistleblower.
An Alabama federal judge issued the restraining order Thursday, a day after the Labor Department charged Lear Corp., which owns Hyundai supplier Renosol Seating, with interfering with a federal investigation into alleged dangerous conditions at Renosol’s Selma plant.
The Labor Department accused the supplier of “flouting the Occupational Safety and Health Act’s protections by threatening, frivolously suing and suspending or terminating employees” who aided in the investigation, according to the complaint.
“[U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez’s] current investigation and future enforcement action are threatened with irreparable harm if defendants are allowed to continue to retaliate against the company’s employees through its acts of intimidation for engaging in protected activities,” the Labor Department wrote in its complaint. “Such threats, if successful, will prevent witness participation not only in this investigation and enforcement action, but also in other cases, by deterring other workers from exercising their right to communicate with the government without fear of retaliation.”
FULL story at link.
Kim King (second from right), who had worked at Renosol Seating in Selma, Ala., for nearly 10 years, is turned away by security at Hyundai’s corporate offices in Montgomery, Ala. Hyundai is the exclusive customer of Renosol Seating in Selma.
SELMA WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Read more: http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2015/04/labor_department_charges_ala_hyundai_supplier_with_obstructing_investigation.html
Also see: NBC: Alabama Whistleblower Fired and Sued After Protesting Conditions: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026519891
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if you can't skirt those pesky labor laws? 
