New York Paralegal Blog

WASHINGTON— Stephen C. Delaney, 55, of Quincy, Mass., was found guilty on April 8, 2011, by a federal jury in Boston of falsely labeling frozen fish fillets from China. Specifically, Delaney was convicted of a felony violation of the Lacey Act, a federal wildlife statute. The jury found that, on or about April 15, 2009, Delaney falsely labeled approximately $8,000 worth of frozen fillets of pollock, product of China, as cod loins, product of Canada. The labeling of pollock as cod is identified by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the list of examples of substituted seafood and economic fraud on its website. Evidence at trial established that the price of cod is approximately $1.00 per pound higher than that for Alaska pollock. In addition, Delaney was convicted on one misdemeanor violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act for misbranding seafood. Specifically, the jury found that Delaney sent into interstate commerce approximately $203,000 worth of frozen fish fille...

Male Employees, Particularly Black Men, Were Consistently Abused and Degraded by Owners of Fish Market, Federal Agency Charges NEW YORK – M. Slavin & Sons, a retail and wholesale fish market, violated federal law by creating a hostile work environment for male employees, including physical and verbal sexual harassment and offensive and degrading comments based on race and national origin, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed on 12/07/2009. According to the EEOC’s suit, some of the owners and managers of M. Slavin & Sons subjected male employees, particularly black employees, including both black Americans and at least one immigrant from Africa, to ongoing harassment. The misconduct included groping their buttocks, putting fish hooks into their buttocks and unnecessarily rubbing their bodies into the employees when passing them by. The owners and managers also made numerous crude, obscene sexual and/or racist comments. One owner u...