NASWA ordered to pay $124,999 in back wages and penalties

MANCHESTER — The NASWA Motor Inn Inc., doing business as The NASWA Resort in Laconia, has paid a total of $64,449 in back wages to 64 employees and $60,550 in civil penalties to resolve violations of a non-immigrant visa program, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division reported on Wednesday.

Federal labor investigators said in a statement that the resort failed to comply with several requirements of the H-2B visa program, which permits employers to temporarily hire non-immigrant foreign workers to perform nonagricultural labor or services in the U.S. for a limited time.

Cynthia Makris, president of the NASWA Resort, did not respond to requests for comment.

According to the Department of Labor, the NASWA Resort failed to offer the same terms and working conditions to U.S. job applicants that it provided to foreign employees during 2016 and 2017. In its job advertisement, the resort stated that employees would be required to pay for housing and a security deposit, but did not require H-2B employees to pay the security deposit and did not require all H-2B employees to pay for housing.

The advertised positions offered 35 weekly hours, which the Labor Department said was significantly less than the actual weekly averages of 48 and 45 hours in 2016 and 2017, respectively. The resort also failed to include the availability of a higher rate of pay in the job advertisement, the agency said.

Additional violations included:

• Placing H-2B employees in job classifications outside of those included on the employer’s approved applications, and paying workers in those categories less than the required wages;

• Requiring foreign employees to pay their own visa fees;

• Using a recruiter who charged 44 of the foreign employees registration and processing fees;

• Failing to provide the required job information to all foreign employees when required;

• Failing to reimburse employees the required amount for travel to the resort and back to their home countries;

• Overcharging foreign employees for housing; and

• Failing to display the H-2B notice of employees’ rights poster.

“The Wage and Hour Division will always ensure that employers who use this program follow all of its requirements. Our work in this area safeguards American jobs, levels the playing field for law-abiding employers, and protects vulnerable workers from being paid less than they are legally owed,” said Daniel Cronin, the Wage and Hour Division’s Northern New England District Director.

The Northern New England District Office conducted the investigation. The Department’s Regional Office of the Solicitor in Boston negotiated the settlement. 

The Wage and Hour Division is distributing back wage payments to many employees who worked during the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Employees may contact the District Office at 603-666-7716 to determine whether they are due back wages and to make payment arrangements, which will require identity verification.