PORTLAND (AP) — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit against Pacific Seafood Company after a Hispanic worker claimed he was the victim of discrimination.

The Portland-based seafood processor and distributor denies the claim of warehouse worker Jesus Perez, who says he was fired after complaining about his wages.

But the federal commission called firing a worker for saying he believes he’s being discriminated against “a shocking act.”

Pacific Seafood President Frank Dulcich issued a statement saying the allegations are false and the privately owned company will fight them.

Dulcich says his family founded the company after arriving in America from the former Yugoslavia, and fought discrimination against immigrants to build Pacific Seafood into one of the largest seafood distributors in the West.

Pacific Seafood owns Bandon Pacific Seafood, in Charleston, which it bought in 1990, in addition to several other seafood processing plants on the U.S. West Coast and Alaska.