Fish Processors Win Class Bid for Covid-19 Quarantine Pay Case

Fish processors who say two related seafood companies failed to pay them minimum wage for time spent in a mandatory coronavirus quarantine may pursue their wage claims as a class, a federal judge in Washington state said.

Marija and Dusan Paunovic established that there are common issues of law and fact—including whether OBI Seafoods LLC and Ocean Beauty Seafoods LLC should pay them for quarantine time and how much—that predominate over individual ones, the US District Court for the Western District of Washington said.

The Paunovics underwent a mandatory two-week quarantine in 2020 after traveling to Alaska from Serbia ...