Rio de Janeiro – Brazil has filed a lawsuit against Samsung alleging poor working conditions at a factory in the Amazon and demanding more than $100m in damages, the government said on Tuesday.
The Ministry of Labour said employees at the factory worked up to 15 hours a day, including 10 hours on their feet, and sometimes for 27 days straight.
The audit was performed at the Manaus plant, one of the largest of Samsung's 25 factories worldwide. The facility employs 6 000 workers and supplies all of Latin America.
The South Korean electronic giant "subjects its employees to the risk of illness from repetitive activity and the intense pace of work on the assembly line," the labour ministry said.
The government is seeking $108m in "collective moral damages".
Samsung already faces some 1 200 legal complaints by workers at Manaus.