Sep 19, 2018
Trump Administration Investigating Employers using the H-2B program
Amy Jill Novak
On September 6, 2018, the Trump Administration announced plans to investigate employers using the H-2B program. The program is used to fulfill a temporary, short-term staffing need. It is vitally important to seasonal businesses. A new initiative coming out of the United States Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division plans to target certain industries, including hospitality and landscaping, conducting random audits to ensure protections for American workers are in place and being followed. The United States Department of Labor has two oversight programs in place both with the Wage and Hour Division and also with the Office of Foreign Labor Certification while the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services also conducts fraud investigations from their Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate. “Random” audits are both not needed and patently unfair to employers. Notice is required under existing federal regulations governing the program. Rumor has it that the government is looking for evidence of the program’s misuse in order to shut it down. However, President Trump’s Mar-A-Lago Hotel in Florida is a consistent user of the program. Will he get audited?