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Asmussen Stables To Pay $205K in Penalties, Reimbursements Following DOL Investigation, Litigation

Steve Asmussen Stables has entered into a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor to reimburse grooms and hotwalkers nearly $130,000 to resolve violations of the federal H-2B worker program, which enables businesses to employ temporary visa workers, according to a release from the Department of Labor. Asmussen was also assessed civil money penalties of just over $75,000 for its violations in addition to the wage penalties.

According to the release, this is the fourth time in recent years that Asmussen has been ordered to make payments to workers, having most recently been ordered to pay more than a half-million dollars in back wages and damages. The DOL investigation in this instance found that the employer violated numerous commitments that it made during the H-2B application process to employ workers in the state of New York. The violations were said to have occurred between December 2016 and December 2019.

According to the release, the violations included:

Failing to pay workers for costs they incurred during travel to and from the U.S. at the beginning and end of the racing season, including visa fees;

Seeking and obtaining kickbacks from workers, supposedly to cover Asmussen Stables' attorney fees;

Employing workers outside of New York, contrary to statements made to the government;

Overstating the number of H-2B workers needed by the employer and;

Not disclosing material terms of the position to potential U.S. job applicants, such as that free housing may be available onsite.

“H-2B workers too often find themselves vulnerable to wage shortages and other violations of their rights,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director David An in Westbury, New York. “Employers like Steve Asmussen Stables who employ H-2B workers must comply with the law or face sanctions, including fines and potentially being barred from the program.”

The settlement also includes enhanced compliance measures, including hiring of an independent monitor by the stable to conduct regular audits, providing workers with updated training in languages they understand, forbidding certain managers from being involved in the H-2B program and allowing the division to provide training to Asmussen Stables' H-2B workers regarding their rights.

“The U.S. Department of Labor will pursue all necessary legal avenues to obtain proper compensation for employees and prevent future violations by employers,” explained regional Solicitor of Labor Jeffrey S. Rogoff in New York. “This settlement reimburses these underpaid workers, requires Asmussen Stables to pay penalties and seeks to change this employer's behavior and prevent future violations by providing an independent monitor to perform regular audits.”

The division's Long Island District Office conducted the investigation. Department of Labor Senior Trial Attorney Jacob Heyman-Kantor litigated the case for the division before the Office of Administrative Law Judges. View the consent findings and the order approving the findings.

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Trainer Danny Gargan Sanctioned For Labor Law Violations

A federal court has ordered a prominent Long Island, New York, Thoroughbred racing stable and its owner to pay a total of $132,631 in back wages and liquidated damages to 52 grooms and hot walkers at several locations, including Belmont and Aqueduct racetracks. The stable owner failed to pay workers the overtime wages they earned.

The action by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York follows an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division. Investigators found that Danny Gargan and Gargan Stables Corp. paid certain employees at the racetracks, stables and other locations a fee per horse handled and not per hour as stated in their payroll records.

In addition to shortchanging workers' hours and unlawfully denying them overtime when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek, the division determined the employer falsified payroll records to give the appearance that employees were paid by the hour when they were not. The court affirmed the department's assessment of $37,368 in civil money penalties for willful wage theft and for falsifying records in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Following the division's investigation and litigation by the department's Office of the Solicitor, the court entered a consent judgment ordering the defendants to pay $66,315 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to the affected workers.

The judgment also requires the defendants to:

– Hire, at their own expense, a qualified compliance monitor to review their payroll and record keeping practices to ensure FLSA compliance, recommend changes to any non-compliant practices and consult with the defendants on any changes to their time or recordkeeping practices.

– Implement and use an electronic timekeeping system to ensure accurate recording of employees' work hours.

– Train employees, in languages they understand, on the proper use of the timekeeping system and pay them for that training time.

– Post and provide employees with information and documents in English and Spanish about the FLSA's requirements and their FLSA rights.

The order also permanently enjoins the defendants from inaccurately editing or altering employees' work hours, having employees work “off the books,” retaliating or discriminating against employees who engage in FLSA protected activity and requiring or asking employees to kick back wages.

“The defendants took advantage of their employees by underpaying them and then tried to hide this illegal behavior by falsifying their payroll records,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director David An in Westbury, N.Y. “Gargan Stables Corp. and Danny Gargan have learned that disregard for federal labor laws and their employees' rights have costly consequences. We suggest other employers review their own pay practices to prevent violations. The Wage and Hour Division has many tools to assist employers and workers in understanding the law.”

“To put it plainly, underpaying employees is wage theft. The U.S. Department of Labor has, and will continue to pursue all necessary legal avenues to obtain proper compensation for employees and deter future violations by employers. This settlement – the latest of several with racing industry employers – compensates these underpaid workers and includes enhanced training and timekeeping requirements to change this employer's behavior and prevent future violations,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Jeffrey Rogoff in New York.

The division's Long Island District Office conducted the original investigation. Senior Trial Attorney David J. Rutenberg of the regional Office of the Solicitor in New York litigated the case for the department.

Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency's toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division.

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Asmussen Agrees To Pay $563,800 In Back Wages, Liquidated Damages

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen has reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor to pay $563,800 in back labor and liquidated damages to 170 employees, reports the Thoroughbred Daily News.

The agreement, filed Sept. 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, stretches from June 7, 2016 through at least Sept. 8, 2020, during which time the Secretary of Labor, Martin J. Walsh, alleges that Asmussen failed to pay his New York employees overtime wages and to keep accurate work records.

The amount is derived from $281,900 in unpaid wages plus another $281,900 in damages. The average owed to individual employees is $3,000, though one individual is owed $44,367.84.

This is the third time Asmussen has settled a complaint from the Department of Labor; the trainer was previously sued by the government in 2012 and in 2015.

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

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Asmussen Agrees To Pay $563,800 After Racing Deal With Dept. of Labor

According to a Sept. 8 filing in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen has agreed to pay $563,800 in back wages and damages covering 170 employees. The amount is derived from $281,900 in unpaid wages plus another $281,900 in damages.

The plaintiff in the case was Secretary of Labor Martin J. Walsh, who had filed a complaint against Asmussen's KED Equine LLC and Asmussen Racing Stables. The period in question runs from June 7, 2016 through at least Sept. 8, 2020, and the two parties had been litigating the dispute since 2019 before reaching an agreement.

The secretary alleges that during the time period in question, Asmussen failed to pay his employees in New York overtime wages for all hours worked and failed to make, keep and record adequate and accurate work records.

Among the 170 employees, one, Javier Rivera, is owed $44,367.84, and another, Diego Armando Pantoja, is owed $36,450.06. The average amount owed to the 170 workers is about $3,000.

Asmussen did not reply to a text seeking comment.

This is not the first time Asmussen has had to deal with the Department of Labor, which has on three occasions levied charges that the trainer has been in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Asmussen was sued by the government in 2012 and 2015 and both times it was alleged that he was paying flat wages for overtime hours worked and did not properly keep track of the amount of hours an employee had worked. He settled on both occasions.

Asmussen, who races at several different tracks at once, including the NYRA tracks, has one of the biggest training operations in the country.

Asmussen, who became he winningest North American trainer in the history of the sport during the Saratoga meet, is far from the first trainer to run afoul of the Labor Department. In 2019, Chad Brown was ordered to pay $1.6 million in back wages, liquidated damages and civil penalties for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Other New York trainers who have been ordered to make payments covering back wages include Kiaran McLaughlin, Linda Rice, Gary Contessa and Jimmy Jerkens.

The trainers who have spoken upon the matter have argued that the labor departments do not understand the unique nature of backstretch work, which may require an employee to work in the mornings, take a few hours off, and then to come back in the afternoon for short period. McLaughlin and Contessa both cited labor issues and onerous fines when announcing they had left the sport. McLaughlin is the agent for jockey Luis Saez and Contessa is back to training after a brief retirement.

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