The U.S. Department of Labor Thursday is asking a federal court to compel Hyundai, an Alabama automotive supply plant and a temporary agency to “surrender profits” related to child labor in the state.

A complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Alabama’s Middle District says a 13-year-old worked for up to 60 hours a week on an assembly line in Luverne operating machines that formed sheet metal into auto body parts.

And when federal investigators learned of the minor’s employment, the company, Smart Alabama, told another two employees not to return due to their “appearance and other physical characteristics, which suggested they were also underage,” according to court documents.

The court action was filed against Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, Smart Alabama, which employed the teen, and Best Practice Service, the service that provided the worker to Smart Alabama, according to court documents.

The court action came after an investigation by the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division.

Investigators say that, between July 11, 2021, through Feb. 1, 2022, the three companies “willfully and repeatedly violated” the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, as well as its “hot goods” provision.

‘Hot goods’ refers to shipping products produced in violation of minimum wage or overtime requirements, or that were produced where a child labor violation occurred in the past 30 days.

“The Department of Labor’s complaint seeks to hold all three employers accountable in the supply chain,” Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda said in a statement. “Companies cannot escape liability by blaming suppliers or staffing companies for child labor violations when they are in fact also employers themselves.”

“A 13-year-old working on an assembly line in the United States of America shocks the conscience,” said Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman.

Reuters originally reported in 2022 that children were employed at SMART Alabama, which supplied parts for Hyundai’s Montgomery plant since 2003.

Two suppliers, SL Alabama and SMART, have terminated their relationships with third-party staffing agencies which, the company said, falsely certified that they had screened and cleared children as being eligible to work.

Both SL Alabama and JK USA, an Opelika temporary employment agency, in 2023 paid fines from federal court and the Alabama Department of Labor.