Adidas Hit with Fine Over “Working Conditions” in Calabasas Yeezy Studio

Image: StockX

Law

Adidas Hit with Fine Over “Working Conditions” in Calabasas Yeezy Studio

Following reports from the British media in April 2017 that adidas’ Yeezy sneakers were being made in sweatshops by laborers forced to work excessive hours and paid just £147 ($183) per month (not even enough to buy a pair of the in-demand sneakers), the German sportswear ...

November 12, 2018 - By TFL

Adidas Hit with Fine Over “Working Conditions” in Calabasas Yeezy Studio

Image : StockX

Case Documentation

Adidas Hit with Fine Over “Working Conditions” in Calabasas Yeezy Studio

Following reports from the British media in April 2017 that adidas’ Yeezy sneakers were being made in sweatshops by laborers forced to work excessive hours and paid just £147 ($183) per month (not even enough to buy a pair of the in-demand sneakers), the German sportswear giant is coming under fire for Yeezy-related working conditions again, except this time, in the U.S. Adidas’ American arm has been hit with a proposed $45,000 fine in connection with an investigation into the working conditions its Southern California-based Yeezy design studio.

The State of California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (“OSHA”) initiated a nearly 5-month-long investigation of adidas’ Calabasas, California Yeezy design studio after Brian Gant, an adidas employee, reported that he had been “seriously injured” when a “sole press machine tipped over while being moved” and fell onto his hand and foot in March resulting in “crushing injuries.”

OSHA determined that adidas had been running afoul of the California State Code of Regulations by failing “to establish, implement, and maintain a written Injury and Illness Prevention Program” and for similarly failing “to provide employees with information and training on the safe use of a JET Pallet Truck … used for moving a sole press machine.”

As a result, adidas is subject to the $45,000 fine, and in addition to paying up, must provide OSHA with “a letter [notifying] that it has taken appropriate corrective action.”

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