MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - A New Hampshire resort paid nearly $125,000 in back wages to employees and fines to resolve violations of the non-immigrant visa program, the U.S. Labor Department said Wednesday.
The department said investigators found that the Naswa Resort in Laconia in 2016 and 2017 failed to comply with several requirements of the H-2B visa program, which permits employers to hire temporarily non-immigrant foreign workers to perform non-agricultural work.
Investigators said the resort failed to offer the same terms and working conditions to U.S. job applicants that it provided to H-2B employees. In its job advertisement, the resort said employees would be required to pay for housing and a security deposit, but didn’t require all H-2B employees to pay that. The ad offered 35 hours a week, less than the 2016 and 2017 weekly averages of 48 and 45 hours, respectively. It also failed to include the availability of a higher rate of pay in the ad, the department said.
Additional violations included placing the H-2B employees in job classifications outside of those included on the employer’s approved applications; paying those workers less; and not paying visa, registration and processing fees.
A message that was left at the resort Wednesday seeking comment was not returned.
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