A Boca Grande resort discriminated against U.S. workers in favor of foreign workers brought in under the H-2B visa program, then shorted those workers $151,598 in pay, the U.S. Department of Labor announced.

That back pay went to nine non-immigrant foreign workers, $16,844 per worker, at the Gasparilla Inn & Club (motto: “Florida As It Was Meant To Be”).

At Gasparilla, a three-night stay in a standard room with a King bed at the end of May will cost you and your snuggle buddy $896. You and your golf buddy can get a standard room with two twin beds for $814, but you’ll have to wait until the end of June.

Gasparilla, which signed a consent agreement with Labor before the Office of Administrative Law Judges, also paid a $49,401 civil money penalty for violating the rules of the H-2B visa program. The program, similar to the H-2A program for non-immigrant seasonal agricultural workers, allows businesses to bring in temporary labor help for work that’s seasonal, intermittent or a one-time high volume period. Resorts commonly use the program for seasonal staffing.

But, there are rules for the program. Labor’s Wage and Hour Division investigators found Gasparilla:

Made some workers “wait years” for visa fee reimbursement and didn’t reimburse some others at all.

Hired two people as front line workers, but put supervisor tasks on their plate.

“Applied an uncertified job qualification, and applied the qualification arbitrarily, giving preference to less-qualified H-2B...

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