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Utah hotel fined for rehiring undocumented workers
A Salt Lake City hotel has agreed to pay a near $2 million fine for employing dozens of undocumented workers even after a warning from government officials.
In 2011, immigration officials discovered 133 employees working illegally at The Grand America Hotel, Salt Lake City.
After a warning, the hotel fired all of them, but just a few days later, prosecutors allege hotel managers created three employment agencies to rehire the workers with fake names and documents.
Grand America said it fired four managers involved in the ruse and two other managers were disciplined.
Prosecutors acknowledged that senior executives were unaware of the actions of their managers.
"We don’t believe there is any evidence of corporate involvement in the efforts to set up the temporary employment agencies and the rehiring of the undocumented workers," said acting US Attorney for Utah Carlie Christensen.
"We conducted an extensive internal review and investigation and cooperated with the government from the very beginning of this when it was brought to our attention," said Grand America’s attorney Brett Tolman.
Although Grand America cooperated fully with the investigation, it must still pay a fine of $1.95 million.
The company said it will also invest $500,000 in retraining and new hiring procedures.
"All industries, regardless of size, location and type are expected to comply with the law, and as this settlement demonstrates, there are real consequences for businesses that employ an illegal workforce," said Kumar Kibble, of Utah Homeland Security.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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