ASPEN (CN) — A former Aspen hotel intern filed a class action against Marriott International accusing it of abusing the J-1 visa internship program to exploit foreign workers for low-wage menial work.
Daniel Esteban Camas Lopez studied culinary arts at Universidad Autonoma de Queretaro in Mexico then came to Colorado in 2020 on a J-1 visa in hopes of furthering his education. In 2021, the hotel he was working for closed, and Lopez was transferred to intern at the Marriot-owned St. Regis, a Gilded Age manor turned luxury hotel adjacent to Aspen Mountain ski lifts.
But instead of learning haute cuisine and perfecting his craft, Lopez said he was pushed into 72-hour workweeks and exploited as cheap labor doing work any American could have done.
“Contrary to law, defendant used J-1 visa interns as ‘substitutes for ordinary employment or work purposes’ at St. Regis,” according to the 13-page lawsuit filed Friday in the District Court for Pitkin County.
As part of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961, the J-1 visa invites interns into the U.S. for a “educational and cultural exchange, promising hands on experience to interns with degrees." Visa-holders are typically tied to the company that sponsored them, and therefore cannot seek higher pay or better work conditions.
Lopez paid $3,900 to participate in the program sponsored by Alliance Abroad Group. Interns were charged additional fees if they left the program early.
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