Discrimination lawsuit filed against Penn Cove Shellfish

The owner of Penn Cove Shellfish, LLC denies allegations of racial discrimination raised in a lawsuit filed by a former employee.

“At this point, it’s an unsubstantiated claim,” said owner Ian Jefferds about the lawsuit, filed in Skagit County Superior Court in late February.

The former employee, who is African American, alleges that his supervisor engaged in racist acts and that the behavior was not corrected by the company, according to the lawsuit.

An incident is described in the suit in which the supervisor became angry with the employee, fashioned a noose and held it up to the employee saying “… what am I going to do with this?”

Other allegations that the supervisor made racially motivated “taunting and bullying comments” are described in the lawsuit.

Although the lawsuit claims that Penn Cove Shellfish was notified of the supervisor’s behavior, Jefferds said that the allegations were not made during the time that the plaintiff was an employee.

“We run an operation here where we look after all our employees,” he said. “We have anti-harassment policies, and none of these charges were brought to light when he was employed with us.”