Marriott Facing Class Action Over Alleged Exploitation of J-1 Visa Interns at St. Regis Aspen Resort

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A former employee at the St. Regis Aspen Resort in Colorado alleges in a proposed class action that he and other workers were recruited with the false promise of receiving “meaningful cultural and educational opportunities” under the J-1 visa internship program but were instead exploited for low-wage, menial work.

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The plaintiff, a Mexican citizen who came to Colorado in 2020 to begin a culinary internship after graduating from Universidad Autónoma de Queretaro with a degree in culinary arts the year prior, says in the 13-page case that the Aspen hotel provided him and other J-1 visa participants with training/internship placement plans that promised hands-on and relevant training.

However, rather than provide J-1 interns with the training described in their plans, defendant Marriott International, Inc., which owns and operates the St. Regis Aspen Resort, merely treated the individuals as replacements for cheap labor, the complaint alleges.

The lawsuit explains that the J-1 visa internship program—also known as the Exchange Visitor Program—allows international visitors to participate in work-based training and internships in their academic or occupational fields to enhance their skills. Federal law states that J-1 visa internships, which are administered by the U.S. State Department, must not be used by employers as “substitutes for ordinary employment or work purposes,” or to displace American workers, the complaint relays.

The plaintiff claims that when he first arrived at the hotel in May 2021 to complete his J-1 visa internship program, St. Regis’s human resources director provided him with a training plan that involved five phases, the first of which would be a week-long orientation. 

According to the filing, the plan stated that phase two would focus on food preparation and presentation; phase three would revolve around saucier/garde manager department rotation, and phase four would be devoted to the hot line station and other culinary skills. Under the plan, these phases would be supervised by the hotel’s executive chef and would, at various points, provide the plaintiff with “regular meetings” to discuss his progress, “guided mentoring” by the department head, and an introduction to the day-to-day operations of the culinary department, such as management, inventory and food costs, the case says.

The plan also called for the plaintiff to train “a minimum of 32 hours and a maximum of 40 hours per week for the duration of the program” with optional overtime, and that phase five would allow him “the opportunity to experience and enjoy the rich culture of the city,” the suit relays.

However, “[the plaintiff] quickly realized that his work at St. Regis did not reflect the promised internship described by the plan,” the lawsuit shares.

For example, the plaintiff was unable to work closely with the executive chef, and he did not attend meetings to discuss his progress, the case says. The plaintiff was also required to work eight hours a day for six days a week, or 48-hour weeks, the complaint contends.

The case goes on to say that a few weeks into the internship, the plaintiff began to work 12 hours or more six days a week to cover a “drastically understaffed” kitchen. As a result, the suit says, there was no time for the plaintiff to engage in any cultural experiences throughout his internship as promised.

“When [the plaintiff] asked the executive chef if he would train him on management, inventory, food costs, and other areas described by the plan, he would be ignored,” the complaint relays. “The executive chef would either tell him yes but never provide the training or tell him they might be able to work on those things once they had more staffing in August.”

In fact, the filing claims, “[t]hroughout [the plaintiff’s] internship, no one in the kitchen ever talked about the plan, reviewed the plan with him, or demonstrated any effort to fulfill the plan’s promises.”

The suit says that to help with understaffing, Marriott International hired temporary workers in June to perform the same duties assigned to the plaintiff and another J-1 culinary intern. Although these new employees lacked experience and had to be trained by the J-1 interns, the defendant paid the temporary workers more than the J-1 participants, the case alleges.

The complaint says that Marriott International struggled to find domestic employees who would work for the same rates it paid the plaintiff and other J-1 interns, which was $14 per hour for regular hours and $21 per hour for overtime hours.

“[R]ather than increasing wages to the domestic market rate, [the defendant] engaged in its fraudulent scheme to import low wage foreign workers under the guise of legitimate internships,” the lawsuit contends, claiming that Marriott International’s coercive conduct amounts to human trafficking.

The lawsuit looks to represent any J-1 visa interns who were employed by Marriott International, Inc. at the St. Regis Aspen Resort during the applicable statute of limitations period.

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