FALL RIVER, Mass. (WPRI) — Three immigrant minors filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday against a major New England seafood company, 12 News has learned. The lawsuit accuses Raw Seafoods, Inc., of child exploitation and unsafe working conditions at its Fall River processing plant. The lawsuit alleges that Raw Seafoods hired children and had them work shifts lasting nine to eleven hours. The children were allegedly subjected to coercion, psychological abuse, hazardous workplace conditions, and discrimination. Raw Seafoods, founded in 1998, runs an 80,000 square-foot plant in Fall River with approximately 350 employees. The company specializes in seafood product preparation and manufacturing, working with nationwide distributors, restaurants and vendors. The company has previously been investigated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for workplace safety and employment law violations at its Currant Road plant in 2011, 2014 and 2016. The plaintiffs, two of whom reside in Rhode Island and the other in Massachusetts, were reportedly 15 years old when hired by Raw Seafoods after seeing a recruitment kiosk at a Fall River grocery store in summer 2022. Court documents allege they were seeking work to support their family members in Guatemala. The employment documents were printed in English, which they were instructed to sign without understanding the contents. Due to the victims still being minors, they are referenced in the complaint as "M.R.," "Y.O." and "S.S." "Many immigrant workers are afraid, even the adults," Y.O. said. "That’s why we want to bring to light what happened, because it’s not right, and we want to prevent others, especially children, from facing what we faced." Target 12: Federal probe finds RI regularly warehoused children in psychiatric hospital Their shifts generally started between 3:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. and would end around 2 a.m. They were granted one 15-minute break and one 30-minute meal break, the complaint states. Their responsibilities included cutting fish using machines with sharp blades, operating a dangerous fish-sorting machine — which they did not receive training for — and moving heavy boxes of fish and equipment. Most of the shifts were spent in freezing temperatures, being exposed to toxic chemicals and fumes. According to the complaint, they were left with two or three hours of sleep at night, preventing them from attending school. M.R. and S.S. were reportedly reprimanded when they had to go to class or do homework. Meanwhile, Y.O. was refused time off for a scheduled vaccine required to enroll, due to his work schedule at Raw Seafoods, causing him to miss the entire 2022-23 school year. During their employment, each child allegedly suffered injuries, including M.R. once slicing his thumb with the fish-cutting machine and S.S. cutting his hand with a knife to open bags of fish. They were only given bandages to treat their injuries. "I remember being so tired and afraid of saying anything. I was fifteen. I had rashes all over my body all the time because of the work with the cleaning chemicals. In school, I couldn’t write the next day because my hands were freezer-burned from work. They often shook, so I couldn’t hold a pencil," S.S. recalled." I don’t think it’s okay for anyone to experience that." The lawsuit claims they also experienced racial discrimination, being regularly insulted and verbally abused almost daily for their "non-K’iche’" Guatemalan ethnicity. Non-K’iche’ employees were given harsher working conditions and assigned more physically demanding tasks. M.R. and Y.O. were reportedly threatened and intimidated regularly to keep working at Raw Seafoods and were told if they left, they would not be hired to work anywhere else. S.S. quit working at Raw Seafoods in December 2022. On Jan. 10, 2023, M.R. and Y.O. were told they were fired but could work for the company again in the summer. According to the lawsuit, eight to ten other minors worked at the plant during the time of the plaintiffs' employment. The victims are requesting a jury trial, along with compensation for being subjected to forced labor, forced services, denial of benefits as stated in their contracts and violating child labor laws. 12 News reached out to Raw Seafoods but the company declined to comment. AHEAD: RI Commerce officials lambaste Cox Communications over lawsuit Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Breaking News SIGN UP NOW