Nestlé Class Action Says Chocolate Sources Use Forced Child Labor

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A new class action lawsuit was filed against Nestlé USA alleging the company uses West African sources for its chocolate, but does not disclose to consumers that those sources are known to use child labor.

Lead plaintiff, Danell Tomasella, alleges in her class action lawsuit that the Ivory Coast and Ghana, where Nestlé gets cocoa beans to use in its chocolate products, rely on child labor.

Tomasella says that she and others would not have purchased Nestlé chocolate had they known that some of the worst offenders in child labor were involved in its production.

The plaintiff says popular Nestlé chocolate products, including Nestlé Crunch, Baby Ruth, and Butterfinger all use chocolate made from cocoa beans sourced from West Africa.

“Nestlé’s material omissions and failure to disclose is all the more appalling considering that Nestlé has identified the protection of human rights, including the abolition of child labor and the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labor as one of its corporate business principals,” alleges the Nestle class action lawsuit. “But Nestlé does not live up to its own ideals.”

More than 1.1 million children in the Ivory Coast are involved in dangerous forms of labor, according to the Department of Labor, including use of dangerous tools, exposure to toxins, and heavy manual labor. Additional practices include paying children little or even no wages for their work and forcing children under 15 to work.

According to the Nestle class action lawsuit, Nestlé has been aware of the horrific child labor practices used to source its cocoa beans since at least 2015, but has failed to take any action. In fact, alleges the plaintiff, Nestlé has falsely claimed that the problem of child labor is better in the region, while government reports find otherwise.

“Defendant has knowledge of the child and slave labor in its supply chain… based on its years of experience marketing and distributing chocolate products made from West African cocoa beans; its partnership with West African exporters; its responsibility for enforcing its supplier code, which forbids child and slave labor; and its failed efforts in conjunction with the Chocolate Manufacturers Association to make good on the promise to eliminate the worst forms of child labor from the West African supply chain by 2005,” argues the Nestle class action lawsuit.

Tomasella alleges that she and other consumers do not want their dollars supporting the worst child labor practices in the world, but Nestlé fails to disclose the source of their chocolate.

The plaintiff seeks to represent consumers in Massachusetts who purchased Nestlé chocolate products over the last four years. The Nestle class action lawsuit alleges that by failing to disclose the child labor involved in the making of its products, the company violates Massachusetts state consumer protection law.

The plaintiff is seeking damages as well as a court order stopping Nestlé from the “unfair and deceptive marketing and sale of their Chocolate Products.”

Tomasella is represented by Hannah W. Brennan, Steve W. Berman and Elaine T. Byszewski of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP.

The Nestlé Child Labor Class Action Lawsuit is Tomasella v. Nestlé USA Inc., Case No. 1:18-­cv-­10269, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

UPDATE: On April 19, 2018, Nestle USA Inc. and The Hershey Co. have asked a Massachusetts federal court to dismiss a couple of class action lawsuits alleging the companies failed to disclose information about using forced child labor in their cocoa supply chain.