Subsequent to a
U.S. Department of Labor investigation, a California -based employer and their
H-2B visa agent in Texas paid back wages stemming from violations of the H2-B visa
program and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
BLUFFTON, SC – After
an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division
(WHD), Montage Hotels & Resorts LLC – operating as Montage Palmetto Bluff
in Bluffton, South Carolina – has paid $8,301 in wages to an employee for
violating labor provisions of the H-2B visa program. The Laguna Beach,
California-based employer also paid a civil penalty of $8,301 assessed by WHD
for the violation.
WHD determined the employer failed to meet a condition of their
contract for participating in the visa program when they failed to hire a
qualified U.S. worker who had applied for a job as a cook at the resort. As a
result of the investigation, Montage Hotels & Resorts hired the employee
and paid her wages she would have earned from the start of the employer’s H-2B
contract.
In addition, WHD found the employer’s H-2B agent – Frisco,
Texas-based Practical Employee Solutions – unlawfully charged visa fees to
the non-immigrant guest employees. This practice resulted in minimum wage
violations of the FLSA when the charged fees resulted in the employees’
rates of pay falling below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Montage
Hotels & Resorts paid 15 employees $1,233 in wages to remedy those
violations. The employer also violated the recordkeeping requirements of the FLSA
when payroll records did not reflect the agent’s fees as pay deductions.
