Class Action Alleges GFA Alabama, Hyundai Glovis Exploited TN Visa Program, Denied Workers Proper Pay

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges GFA Alabama and Hyundai Glovis have illegally exploited a specialized visa program to recruit highly skilled workers from Mexico and place them in manual labor positions with discriminatory pay and excessive hours.

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According to the 95-page breach-of-contract case, the two logistics companies have induced foreign workers to move to the United States from Mexico with promises of well-paid engineering jobs under the Trade NAFTA (TN) visa program, which is meant for professional-level workers with specialized training and experience. Instead, the suit says, the workers were placed in low-level manual labor positions in the defendants’ warehouses and on automotive assembly lines, where they were allegedly subjected to racial discrimination and deprived of proper overtime pay.

The case claims the defendants’ alleged bait-and-switch scheme has defrauded both the U.S. government and foreign workers and violated the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and federal labor laws.

Per the case, GFA and Glovis, which is part of the Hyundai Kia Automotive Group, operate warehouses in Georgia at which the plaintiffs and other foreign workers were recruited to work. One plaintiff, an industrial engineer, says he moved to the U.S. after receiving an offer letter from GFA for an engineering position through the TN visa program. Once he arrived, however, the plaintiff was “surprised to discover” that he was required to perform manual labor—specifically, using a packaging machine to package LG appliances and later operating a forklift, cleaning, and guarding the warehouse, the case relays.

According to the suit, the plaintiff observed that he and other Mexican workers with TN visas were given less desirable hours and more difficult tasks for less pay than non-Latino, U.S.-born workers. Additionally, the case claims TN visa recipients were required to work 12-hour shifts without time-and-a-half overtime pay, and had illegal deductions taken from their paychecks. When the workers complained, they were told they could either accept the defendants’ discriminatory working conditions or “go back to Mexico,” the suit alleges.

The second plaintiff, who was educated and trained as a pharmaceutical chemist in Mexico, describes a similar experience of allegedly being misled with regard to her position, and asserts an individual claim that she was discriminated against based on her pregnancy.

Both the plaintiffs say they spent “considerable money” on visa and travel fees, work supplies and household goods, and eventually returned to Mexico at their own expense.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone who was hired by GFA, employed at the company’s McDonough or West Point, Georgia warehouses, received wages from GFA and was a TN visa holder anytime since June 20, 2019.

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