Grand America Hotels Class Action Says Visa Interns Exploited

A class action lawsuit claims that the Grand America Hotels & Resorts exploits cultural visa interns via a bogus internships program.

Plaintiffs Jann Descanzo, Veronica Bondoc, Glen Segundino, and Marianne Ponio say they were exploited for their labor during a falsely advertised internship program at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City.

The interns claim that they are citizens of the Philippines who studied tourism and hospitality. Allegedly, as part of their continued education in this field, they came to the U.S. to participate in a J-1 visa internship program at the Grand America Hotel.

The Grand America Hotels class action states that the J-I visa internship program is “intended to be an educational and cultural exchange between people of the United Sates and other countries that provides intern-participants with hands-on experience and training.”

However, the interns say that their program was not this type of program at all and instead functioned as a way for the hotel to gain cheap labor. They note that this program may not be used by employers to substitute for ordinary employment.

The Grand America Hotels & Resorts class action lawsuit claims the upscale hotel chain violated the law by using these interns as ordinary workers, did not pay them sufficiently, and knowingly misled them about the nature of the program.

The Grand America Hotel class action lawsuit notes that not only did the hotel company mislead the interns about the program, but the hotel also misled the United States Department of State about the internship program.

Allegedly, the hotel was required to submit a training and internship plan for each participant of the program, and was required to certify to the State Department that the hotel would follow the plan for each intern.

The Grand America Hotel internship exploitation class action lawsuit says that the interns were provided with their internship plan, and that the interns paid recruitment fees to secure their internships and travel to the United States.

The Salt Lake City hotel class action lawsuit claims that the interns were told that they would gain experience in various areas of learning.

However, they were allegedly forced to perform ordinary work, and were paid less than minimum wage to do this. They state that the hotel has a history of exploiting undocumented workers.

The Grand America Hotels class action lawsuit asserts that when the interns complained that their internship program was not an internship at all and was exploitive, their employers threatened them with deportation if they did not complete their assigned work.

The Grand America resort class action lawsuit also cites instances in which the interns faced racist comments and unequal treatment from their employers, in comparison to other employees.

The interns are represented by P. Alex McBean of Alex McBean Law Office PLLC, Alexander Hood of Towards Justice, Christopher M. Lapinig of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, and Beth E. Terrell and Erika L. Nusser of Terrell Marshall Law Group PLLC.

The Grand America Hotel Internship Program Class Action Lawsuit is Jann Descanzo, et al. v. Grand America Hotels & Resorts Inc., et al., Case No. 2:19-cv-00443-CMR, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, Central Division.

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