U.S.-based seafood-processing firms OBI Seafoods and Ocean Beauty Seafoods have agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit over paying employees late and underpaying them during mandatory quarantines instituted during the Covid-19 pandemic.
On 5 December, U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Washington Marsha J. Pechman signed an order forcing OBI and Ocean Beauty to pay USD 2.1 million (EUR 2 million) to class-action members and USD 10,000 (EUR 9,485) each to the plaintiffs in the case – Marija and Dusan Paunovic – as well as related settlement administration costs and attorneys’ fees.
OBI CEO John Hanrahan declined to comment on the specific terms of the settlement, but said that OBI Seafoods “values its employees, pays competitive wages, and complies with all federal, state, and local wage laws and regulations” in a statement to SeafoodSource.
Hanrahan said that OBI workers in Naknek, Alaska – including all temporary workers under an H-2B visa and the plaintiffs for which the case centered around – were paid a daily stipend and were provided with free housing, meals, and laundry services for time spent in state-mandated quarantine prior to the start of the 2020 salmon season.
“OBI Seafoods believes that it fully complied with all federal and state employment laws. We understand that quarantining and working under state-mandated Covid-19 restrictions was challenging for everyone, and we appreciate the cooperation we received from our entire team throughout the pandemic,” he said.
In the complaint, however, the plaintiffs alleged that OBI and Ocean Beauty “knowingly and improperly delayed payment of wages for fish-processing employees, most or all of whom are foreign citizens on H‐2B visas temporarily working in the U.S. far from their homes in Latin America, Asia, and Europe.”
Originally filed in 2021, the complaint also alleged that quarantined OBI workers were paid just …
