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...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiR2h0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy55YWhvby5jb20vcmVz...