BILLINGS, Mont. — Dozens of Jamaican citizens recruited to work as cooks, servers and housekeepers at a Montana ski resort for the ultra-rich have reached a $1 million settlement over allegations they were discriminated against and paid less than other employees to do the same work.
About 90 Jamaicans workers will receive checks ranging from less than $1,000 to more than $14,000 under the settlement with the Yellowstone Club and Georgia-based staffing firm Hospitality Staffing Solutions, court documents show.
The workers alleged they did not receive tips or service charges included on restaurant and bar bills like other employees did while cooking for or serving club members, who include Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Berkshire Hathaway founder Warren Buffett and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Neither the club nor the staffing agency admitted any liability under the settlement.
The settlement approved by U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon on April 22 came in a lawsuit filed on the workers’ behalf in 2019. It covered their treatment at the exclusive ski and golf club in the mountains near Big Sky during the winter of 2017-18.
The Jamaicans alleged they had been recruited to work at the club through fraudulent claims about the tips and service charges they would receive, and then brought to Montana through a federal employment visa program
The suit claimed the lost tips and service charges could amount to around $500 a night for workers at the nicest restaurants.
The suit also said lower wages were paid to Jamaican workers, with cooks paid $12 per hour while others were paid $15 to $18 an hour. It alleged non-Jamaican workers were given preference to work special events where they could be paid more money.
Those who complained said they were told they would not receive tips and service charges because they “were not from here,” while a server who complained was told he could always be “taken back to Jamaica,” the lawsuit said.
The two defendants blamed each other, according to the lawsuit. The club claimed Hospitality Staffing was responsible for payroll, and Hospitality Staffing claimed the decisions were being made by the club.
Under the settlement, the club will pay $515,000 and Hospitality Staffing will pay $485,000, according to court documents.
Yellowstone Club general manager Hans Williamson said in a statement that the resort now directly employs workers who come from Jamaica under the employment visa program. Williamson said the majority of those workers return each year and the program has grown.
The workers’ attorneys, who will receive $250,000 in fees and almost $23,000 in expenses, declined to comment beyond what was contained in the settlement agreement. The workers were represented in part by Towards Justice, a Denver based non-profit law firm.
An attorney for Hospitality Staffing did not immediately respond to a telephone message seeking comment.
The plaintiffs filed discrimination complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in September 2018 and received notices of their right to sue in July 2019, weeks after Yellowstone Club bars agreed to pay $370,000 to the state of Montana for selling liquor without a license and storing liquor away from licensed premises.