Resort firms cited in student-worker probe

Many of them wound up cheated out of wages and overtime pay, working jobs that violated child labor laws or docked pay to cover room and board. A state investigation last year found that nearly 200 foreign workers were cheated by several companies in an upstate resort town. The state ordered the businesses to repay the employees, plus interest, and pay fines. Some of the companies are appealing the ruling, and about 180 students who worked for the companies between 2002 and 2006 are still owed $103,000, according to state Department of Labor records. "Forcing these international students to work overtime without pay is criminal," said Charles Kernaghan, director of the National Labor Committee, a human rights organization. "These students go back as ambassadors to their countries.

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