Following a probe secured by the United States Department of Labor related to violations of the H-2B visa program, a resort located in Gasparilla Island in Florida, named Gasparilla Inn & Club has been obliged to pay a total of $151,598 in back wages to nine non-immigrant workers as well as $49,401 in civil money penalties.
A report from HRD says that the investigation found that Gasparilla Inn & Club went against the rules of the US temporary H-2B visa scheme by applying for an uncertified job qualification and also giving preference to less-qualified applicants for this temporary work visa, VisaGuide.World reports.
The investigation also found that Gasparilla Inn & Club failed to reimburse visa fees to some workers and also made others wait for a long period of time to wait for their fee reimbursement.
The investigation began in February 2022, while the resort challenged the findings of the US Department’s Wage and Hour Division, and still failed to provide documentation in order to support its challenges.
The resort recently completed payment of the back wages as well as fines after entering into a consent deal before the Office of Administrative Law Judges in November last year.
“Federal law protects nonimmigrant workers employed under the H-2B program, and Gasparilla Inn & Club violated those requirements. Employers who reap the benefits of the H-2B program are obligated to make sure they understand and comply with program requirements,” Wage and Hour District Director, in Tampa, Nicolas Ratmiroff, pointed out.
H-2B visa allows internationals to come to the US and temporarily get engaged in non-agricultural jobs, helping the economy of the United States further grow, thus filling in the labor shortages that it is facing in many industries.
In order to qualify for the H-2B visas the following requirements should be met:
Prove that there are not enough qualified and available US workers to do the temporary work
Prove that the employment of H-2B workers will not have a negative impact on the wages as well as working conditions of the United States workers
Ensure that the need for the workers’ services is temporary, despite the fact that the job’s underlying nature is not temporary
A cap of a total of 66,000 non-citizens is set by US authorities for H-2B visas every fiscal year, with a total of 33,000 visas granted for workers in the first half and other 33,000 for workers who start working in the second half of the fiscal year.
Recently, the United States Department for Homeland Security and Labour announced that for the first time would make a total of 65,000 H-2B visas available for this fiscal year.
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