BYD has announced plans to hire more local workers in California as its latest response to criticism that it violated labor rules in the United States，said in a foreign media's report.

BYD said in?the statement that it had "temporarily loaned" some engineers, battery specialists and design experts to transfer the company's patented technology from China to its employees in California, and these experts are not displacing any American workers.

"They are training and providing support to approximately 40 California-based employees who have already hired to start up its operations. BYD plans to hire many more California-based employees as our bus production commences," the company said in the statement.

California's Department of Industrial Relations, which launched an investigation in September into BYD's workplace practices, found that the company had failed to pay minimum wage to some employees at its Los Angeles headquarters and at a factory in Lancaster, Calif, and also failed to give workers in the factory a second break during their shifts as mandated by labor laws in the state, Los Angeles Times reported on Oct 27.