The long-running program through the U.S. Department of Labor allows businesses that need non-agricultural, seasonal workers to hire them from outside of the U.S. The department will continue processing applications until April 15.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s H-2B visa program, which provides a crucial pipeline of seasonal workers for many hotels, is in a state of flux, with a wave of litigation threatening to shut it down for good, Hotel News Now reported.
The DOL on March 5 announced that it would no longer accept or process H-2B visa requests. After a grassroots lobbying effort by the hotel industry as well as labor-intensive sectors that use the program, a judge issued a stay on March 18, allowing the DOL to continue processing applications until April 15, Hotel News Now reported.
The long-running H-2B program allows businesses that need non-agriculture, temporary, seasonal workers to hire them from outside of the United States. In addition to the hotel industry, sectors that commonly use these seasonal workers include landscaping, restaurants that serve large seasonal populations and others, Hotel News Now reported.
According to Brian Crawford, VP of government and political affairs for the American Hotel & Lodging Association in Washington, D.C., 66,000 temporary worker visas were issued last year. It is unknown how many of those were issued in the hotel industry, but Crawford said the number is “significant,” Hotel News Now reported.
The Broadmoor Hotel, which is one of the largest employers in Colorado Springs, Colo., employs 215 H-2B workers each year during its busy season that runs April through November. That number represents more than 10% of its 2,000 total employees, Hotel News Now reported.
“Losing 10% of our workforce would have been devastating,” said Jack Damioli, president and CEO of The Broadmoor. “If we couldn’t have gotten those workers, we would have had to figure out something, a great deal of training goes into preparing our employees to work at a five-star, five-diamond hotel.”
Damioli said most of the seasonal workers return each year. Crawford said the problems with the decades-old program began in 2008 when the DOL issued new regulations designed to afford more protections to the rights of workers, which some workers’ advocates considered weak and regressive. Additional regulations were issues in 2011 and again in 2012, Hotel News Now reported.
Several workers’ rights lawsuits followed, including Perez v. Perez, in which a Florida federal district court on 4 March ruled that the DOL lacks authority to issue any regulations regarding the H-2B program. The DOL responded by halting activities that kept the program running, thus suspending the processing of requests for H-2B visas, Hotel News Now reported.
Crawford said the ruling did not require the DOL to act; it merely vacated the 2008 regulations. The DOL could have continued to process visa applications as normal but instead suspended processing altogether, Hotel News Now reported.
A letter-writing and lobbying campaign to lawmakers followed the announcement to get the program up and running—now and for the long term, said Crawford, who also chairs the H-2B Workforce Coalition, which has member representatives from several industries, Hotel News Now reported.
The DOL filed a motion to stay the federal court’s order until April 15. On March 18, the court granted the motion and stayed its injunction, stating, “given that there are numerous United States employers who rely on the H-2B program to fill their temporary labor needs, the Court agrees that the requested temporary relief is warranted.”
Damioli said that it wasn’t just that the DOL said it would stop processing applications, it was that they did it so suddenly and before all of the applications for the high spring and summer season had been processed, Hotel News Now reported.
“The fact that it just came out of the blue was shocking,” he said.
Crawford said that at the time of the announcement, approximately 18,000 of the 33,000 visa applications allotted during the six-month period beginning April 1 had not been granted. It was unknown how many of those were in the hotel and lodging industry, he said, or how many were still waiting in what has become a log jam of applications due to the nearly two weeks applications weren’t being processed, Hotel News Now reported.
The Beachmere Inn in Ogunquit, Maine, is one of the hotels still waiting on word for its applications. The inn filed for six workers on 27 February and also paid the premium processing fee to ensure the applications would be handled on time, Hotel News Now reported.
“I’m starting to get worried. When this has happened before, we’ve had problems with embassy delays on Jamaica,” said Sarah Diment, whose family has owned the inn for 78 years. “We need people here by May 15, which is Victoria Day weekend, when we get a lot of clients from Canada.”
Diment said that even with offering compensation above minimum wage, there is still no way to get the seasonal workers her industry needs in that region without drawing from the H-2B program. However, if they aren’t able to get those workers, she said, it could cost her inn up to $1,500 a night when part of it would have to be shut down, Hotel News Now reported.
“There comes a point in the season, though, when we are booked up and would have to open those rooms, which means everyone, including management, would have to work harder and longer hours to meet our guest’s needs,” Diment said.
What happens after the April 15 court stay is anyone’s guess, Crawford said. He said the problems were unnecessary and politically motivated, Hotel News Now reported.
“Anytime something becomes a part of constant litigation, there is a fear of it shutting down,” Crawford said. “The long-term viability of the program is in question.”
The cost to the industry of losing such a program would be huge, he said. DOL and the Department of Homeland Security, which is involved in the program, intend to issue a joint interim final rule by April 30, which is supposed to be consistent with the Florida federal court’s decision, Hotel News Now reported.
“We’re anxiously awaiting the next step with everyone else,” Damioli said.
The DOL did not respond to Hotel News Now‘s requests for an interview.
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.