H-2B Visas | Horse Racing Free Tips

Labor Shortage Could Be The Next Big Challenge For Racing, Industry Experts Say

The racing industry had a number of hurdles ahead of it before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Reducing fatal breakdowns, creating a national regulatory body, attracting new owners and horseplayers, along with many other challenges, were all at the forefront of discussions before March 2020. Speaking at this week's American Horse Council National Issues Forum, industry experts say 2020 may have worsened the next big problem facing racing — the labor shortage.

In the short term, the pandemic made it difficult for people to travel to work in the United States on a short-term basis, but that problem may have been solved. Earlier this year, President Trump issued three proclamations that suspended the entry of aliens from certain countries due to concerns about the novel coronavirus. Several groups, including Breeders' Cup, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Keeneland, Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, and Fasig-Tipton, worked with the Department of Homeland Security to get exemptions for people traveling into the United States to buy horses at the autumn sales or to run at the Breeders' Cup. The president's restrictions allowed for exemptions that were in “the national interest” and through a very specific and detailed explanation of Thoroughbred economics, the industry groups were able to get exemptions for certain key players in both events. That discussion could ultimately prove helpful down the road.

“We were happy we were able to get that done,” said NTRA President and CEO Alex Waldrop. “I think it's a good story to tell. At this point in time, I think the Department of Homeland Security is very familiar with our industry, the international nature of our industry, and they're supportive of the national interest exemption where it's appropriate.”

That doesn't mean that when the pandemic is over, the horse racing industry will no longer face restrictions on international movement that impact its bottom line. It's no secret that trainers and farms have had difficulty in recent years accessing H-2A and H-2B visa workers to fill seasonal needs for grooms, hotwalkers, exercise riders, and farm workers. Those restrictions have only gotten tighter under the current administration, according to the Bryan Brendle, director of policy and legislative affairs for the American Horse Council.

The Department of Homeland Security has discretion to allow visas above the statutory cap, and while it did authorize supplemental H-2B visas in March, it only released 35,000 and not the 60,000 it could have released. (Trainers have previously said even with supplemental visas released they struggled to find staff.)

The issuance of new H-2B visas was put on hold in June. In August, the U.S. State Department, which handles the visa process in the home countries of guest workers, did create an exemption for caretakers of non-farm animals, which is how horses are classified in the visa system. That only freed up people who had been granted visas prior to the freeze and then been told not to travel to the United States, so the State Department's action didn't result in many additional workers coming into the States.

Eric Hamelback, CEO of the National HBPA, said he still regularly hears from trainers, including high-profile operations like Chad Brown, Todd Pletcher, and Dale Romans, who are unable to find enough help despite high unemployment figures in the States this year. Hamelback said he knew of operations at smaller tracks that had to close altogether because they couldn't find employees to take care of horses.

“While we are all on different pages with some items in this industry we can't be on different pages as we push for our workforce shortages, whether it's developing new programs here in the States or continuing to push for H-2B visas,” said Hamelback.

Waldrop said the “elephant in the room” is the potential impact of the upcoming national election on this issue.

“You have to ask yourself — is there a difference between a Trump presidency and a Biden presidency?” he said. “My sense is, we've got an uphill battle, we've got tough sledding if we continue to work with the Trump administration. I think you're going to see difficult times ahead, certainly no talk of comprehensive immigration reform.

“I think you cannot say Trump will not develop a comprehensive policy and Biden will, but I do think you'll see some additional conversation taking place [if Biden wins].”

Of course, one solution would be to try to create a better pipeline for domestic workers to fill the jobs on the racetrack. Remi Bellocq, executive director of Equine Programs at Bluegrass Community and Technical College, said that progress could be on the horizon on this issue, but it's not going to be an easy one to solve. Bellocq recently collaborated with the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and KEEP to create a one-year apprenticeship program for horse trainers. He also suggested Godolphin may soon launch an international educational initiative to help those interested in racing find the appropriate pathway to industry jobs in their country.

“On a greater scale, we need to look at what we do nationally,” Bellocq said. “My strong feeling is that until we approach the workforce issue the same way we approach unwanted horses or racing medication, this will continue to be a bigger and bigger challenge. One of the things I've found personally is you have a guest worker immigration issue you have to deal with, but the labor issue, which is a domestic training issue, is just as critical. Until we can incentivize and recruit domestic workers into our industry, pay them what they ought to be paid, find work/life balance, it's going to be a growing problem.

“What I find with a lot of our graduates is they'll go to work for a trainer but very quickly they'll want to move up, become an assistant trainer or a foreman, and we have to very quickly fill those lower skilled jobs again. That's one of the things we continue to try to find solutions for.”

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Weaver Pays Over $400K In Earnings, Civil Penalties Related To Labor Laws, H-2B Visa Program

Trainer George Weaver has agreed to pay $325,431 in owed wages to employees and $99,567 in civil penalties related to violations of labor and immigration laws, according to a report by The Miami Herald Friday.

A federal judgment states 59 employees will receive $2,548 each in what the government said was unpaid overtime pay. A portion of the penalties assessed to Weaver were for incorrect timekeeping practices, according to the report.

Several New York-based trainers have come under scrutiny by federal agencies for their employment practices in recent years, particularly timekeeping. Federal standards require employers to have an accurate timekeeping method and pay employees hourly, with a change in rate for overtime pay; this is not typically the method of payment for backstretch employees, who are more commonly paid a flat rate based on the number of days, weeks, or horses worked.

The U.S. Department of Labor also assessed penalties for what it said were violations of the federal H-2B visa program, including adherence to the program's minimum wage standards, charging employees for costs related to utilizing the program, and trying to discourage employees from reporting to federal investigators or cooperating with the proceedings.

In 2019, the Saratoga Institute on Equine, Racing, and Gaming Law touched on the topic of H-2B and wages law in an effort to correct common misconceptions about the federal requirements. You can read more about how those issues impact racing employers from our reporting here.

Read more about the recent Weaver settlement at The Miami Herald

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Pandemic Affects Visas, Limiting H-2B Workers

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — George Weaver feels it. So do Chad Brown, Todd Pletcher and Shug McGaughey. Among the many new issues that Thoroughbred trainers across the country must contend with during the 2020 pandemic is a shortage of skilled staff.

In recent years, it has become more difficult for horsemen to secure all the H-2B visas that they desire to legally bring foreign nationals into the country as guest workers. The arrival of COVID-19 in late winter closed U.S. consulates, compounding the problems, preventing visa holders from getting their entry documents from the State Department. On June 22, President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending the visa program through December, a move designed to help the tens of millions of unemployed Americans find jobs.

“It is a problem,” said McGaughey, who is missing some of his hotwalkers and could use another exercise rider. “The bad part about it is that Trump, or the government, just does not realize that these are jobs that American people refuse.”

That’s the rub. One of the key provisions of the H-2B visa program is that the jobs must first be offered to Americans before foreign residents can be hired. Trainers say they are always interested in hiring U.S.-based employees for the positions, primarily grooms and hotwalkers.

“The people that are needed, nobody wants to do this work,” Weaver said. “It’s not even about the money, nobody wants to wake up at 3:30, 4:00 in the morning every single morning or even six mornings a week. They don’t want to do it.”

Immigration attorney Will Velie of Norman, Oklahoma, is an expert whose Horseman Labor Solutions company has been helping trainers staff their stables with guest workers for 15 years. Velie estimated that approximately 1,500 people come into U.S., primarily from Mexico and Central American countries to work in the Thoroughbred racing industry. He said it costs trainers between $1,500 and $2,000 per worker in fees and legal expenses. In addition, trainers must pay for travel back and forth to the employees’s home countries and other costs.

“They would not do this if they didn’t have to,” Velie said. “The only reason they are doing this is because they don’t have the people to do the work anymore.”

Velie said the pandemic, which led to border closings and the pause on the admission of people who do already had been approved for visas, has made a tough situation worse.

“It’s particularly bad this year,” he said. “It’s always bad. It’s been bad for a long time. So you’ve got this confluence of factors that make it to where it is very difficult to find enough workers on the backside of the track, even with 25 million unemployed people.”

Weaver said none of the dozen or so internationals he had planned for are with him this summer at Saratoga Race Course. His exercise riders are helping out with hotwalking and he said that some of his grooms have to deal with six or seven horses every day, rather than the norm of four or five.

Like the other trainers, Weaver said his stable is getting by, but he is frustrated by how the situation played out despite doing the proper planning.

“It cost a lot of money, and when you pay the lawyer and you pay the stuff and you don’t get your people, it’s like you just [wasted] a bunch of money and you don’t have your help,” he said.

Pletcher’s stable has been hit hard. He said that none of his 35 guest workers was able to come into the country before the program was closed.

“It has affected everyone,” he said. “We have a large number of visa employees that were approved but have not been allowed to come over. We’ve had to have our staff pull off some overtime, put in extra hours and extra work. Yeah, it has been a hardship for a lot of people. This would be our peak time of the year, so we would have over 100 employees. We have similar numbers, in some cases less-experienced.”

Pletcher nodded at the suggestion that some of his staff is receiving on-the-job training.

“Pretty much,” he said. “At the same time you want new people coming into the business and learning. A lot of our visa workers have been with us for a long time, know the system and are skilled professionals.”

Eric Hamelback, the CEO of the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, said that the jobs Pletcher and the other trainers must fill might seem to the casual observer to be low-level duties easy for most people to handle.

“It is a skilled labor. Yes, it’s hard work. It is agricultural,” he said. “But it’s skilled when you are dealing with animals, whether they are a multi-million dollar horse or one that is a $5,000 claimer. They can kill you in a heartbeat and it takes a certain strength and skill to work in this field. You can’t just grab someone off the street and expect them to be able to hotwalk, much less groom.”

Hamelback said that his organization, which represents nearly 30,000 trainers and owners, is working with the National Horse Council and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association to build congressional insight and support for changes to help the industry with the visa program.

Every year, the Thoroughbred industry is vying for a share of the 66,000 H-2B visas that are allotted. During the year, the White House may add more visas to the pool. The demand is intense: 100,000 applications for the 33,000 H-2B visas available in the first round for 2020.

“This is a big topic and it is a lot of work,” Hamelback said.

Much like Pletcher, Brown has a very large operation and relies on foreign workers to fill some of his staff positions.

“It’s been challenging,” he said. “Thankfully, we have some of our workers who have been able to successfully come in before some stuff got shut down. Not all of them. I know some other trainers that are not in a good spot. It has really affected us. It has caused us to really change the management of our stable, such as how many we are able to have in New York.”

Brown continued, “Thankfully, our team has all pulled together and everyone has picked up the slack. Our business is no different than a lot of other businesses, probably, just trying to get through this pandemic, knowing that there is probably light at the end of the tunnel, that it’s not going to be this way forever. Keeping that mindset. Getting through each day the best we can.”

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KEEP Issues Response to the Suspension of H-2B Visas

The Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP) released the following response to President Trump’s announcement that no new H-2B visas would be issued in 2020:

“On Monday, June 22, 2020, President Trump issued an order that extends the federal government’s suspension of new H-2B visas, as well as other work visas, through the end of the year. This order, as with the previous order issued in March, claims to open up new jobs to Americans during a time of record unemployment. However, when it comes to the Kentucky horse industry, this order will put our industry at severe risk.

H-2B visas are critical to Kentucky’s horse industry. During a typical year, the demand for H-2B visas vastly outpaces the supply. To fully suspend the issuance of these visas is a massive blow to the Commonwealth’s signature industry.

KEEP represents and advocates on behalf of the entire horse industry in Kentucky–all horse breeds and disciplines. KEEP’s goal is to preserve, promote and protect Kentucky’s signature $4-billion industry. Without a workforce that can meet the demands of the growing industry, it will be difficult for that economic impact to continue at the same level, especially as we are working to recover from the global pandemic.

KEEP is contacting Kentucky’s senators and representatives in Washington to make them aware of this issue. Additionally, KEEP has joined with other businesses and trade associations across the country who are impacted by this decision to provide a response to the President and to the Congress.

Because the horse industry deals with animals that must be cared for, regardless of the pandemic, it is imperative that the industry can hire the labor force it needs. Additionally, equine operations across the state are working to ensure that their employees have necessary PPE and can work in a safe environment. Fortunately, due to the outdoor nature of the industry, it makes this much easier.

KEEP, through a partnership with the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Workforce Center, has spent the last two years building the framework for a talent pipeline that will bring more Kentuckians into the horse industry. While we are confident that this will result in an increase in the homegrown workforce for our industry, this will not happen overnight. With unemployment in Kentucky reaching alarming levels, we are hopeful that Kentuckians will look to the horse industry for employment. However, historically, there has not been an affinity for these types of jobs.

Kentucky is leading the country when it comes to the horse industry and its economic impact. With nearly 80,000 jobs, more than 238,000 equines and 35,000 horse operations in Kentucky today, KEEP feels strongly that the industry will recover from the pandemic. However, without a full workforce, that future is in danger. KEEP will continue advocating to ensure that Kentucky’s horse industry has an adequate labor pool to meet our workforce needs and will continue developing career pathways for Kentuckians to join this industry.”

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