Seafood company settles sexual harassment suit for 75K

MOUNT VERNON, Wash.  — A Bellingham-based seafood company has settled a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by three women who worked as clam diggers in the company's Skagit Bay location.

The Skagit Valley Herald reported Monday that Trans Ocean Seafoods Inc., which does business as New England Shellfish, agreed to pay $75,000 total to the women.

The lawsuit, filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claimed the company violated federal civil rights law by not properly responding to complaints that a supervisor made unwanted sexual comments to female workers repeatedly in 2012.

The Northwest Justice Project, which represented the women in the suit, said the women complained to the commission in 2013.

The company is also required to provide anti-discrimination training and report all sexual harassment complaints to the commission for the next two years.

The company didn't respond immediately to a request for comment.