"Migrant teens sue Raw Seafoods, claiming child labor violations", 30 September 2024

Three migrant teenagers filed a lawsuit in federal court last week claiming their employer, a seafood processing plant in Fall River, violated multiple labor laws, including prohibitions on forced labor, discrimination and “hazardous child labor,” by forcing them to work long, overnight shifts with dangerous machinery. 

The processing plant, Raw Seafoods Inc., is described as a leading seafood supplier in New England, employing about 350 people...According to the suit, the teens all started working at the processing plant in 2022 when they were 15 years old. Each had recently immigrated from Guatemala to support their families. Two are living in the United States without their parents. 

“Raw Seafoods has profited off exploiting immigrant children,” attorneys representing the migrant teens wrote in the complaint. They are being represented by Justice At Work, a labor advocacy firm that provides legal services to low-wage workers, and Yale Law School’s Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic....  

In the complaint, attorneys provided grim details of the distressing labor conditions...

In a written statement, Raw Seafoods co-owner and vice president Scott Hutchens pushed back on the lawsuit’s allegations. “As a family business, we have prioritized the health, safety, and fair treatment of our employees for 26 years,” he wrote. “These allegations are both shocking and hurtful and are a direct attack against our core value to treat all of our employees with respect and dignity.” 

Hutchens added that the company has not been able to investigate the hiring circumstances of the underage workers because they were kept anonymous in the lawsuit. The migrant teens stopped working at the processing plant in 2023, according to the complaint.....