VAIL, Colo. — As Vail Resorts made efforts in March to evacuate temporary workers from the communities it operates within, a group of workers who depended on the company for transport home was left waiting in the days before their border closed.
>VIDEO: Vail employees told to leave housing after resorts close during coronavirus pandemic
Now stuck in company housing, those workers say Vail Resorts has not respected the responsibilities associated with being an employer of H-2B visa workers. They’re also feeling nervous about the prospects of being allowed back into the U.S. after overstaying their visas.
The workers’ top complaint is the fact that Vail Resorts has an obligation to book them travel home and had a feasible window to get them home between the company’s March 17 decision to cease operations for the remainder of the season due to the coronavirus outbreak and the workers’ home country border closing on March 22. The workers say by failing to act quickly, Vail Resorts left them feeling stranded and scared, with their most reliable communication coming from attorneys rather than a human resources department.
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