According to published reports, the U.S. Labor Department has filed a lawsuit against trainer Steve Asmussen alleging that, since 2012, the trainer's KDE Equine has not paid Churchill Downs stable workers overtime and has failed to keep proper employment records regarding wages paid and hours worked. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Louisville, KY.
“They just have a fundamental misunderstanding, honestly, of the hours that these folks work and how they're paid,” Asmussen's attorney Clark Brewster told Louisville Courier-Journal. “And even if they were correct in their calculations, the amount that Steve pays is at the very highest end of all trainers for the compensation of the people in the stable that would greatly exceed minimum wage or any purported overtime by a lot.”
The civil suit seeks to force Asmussen to comply with wage and labor laws, and to repay workers back wages from the past three years. It references a 2013 federal court order in New York in which KDE agreed to pay more than $29,000 in back wages to Asmussen's New York employees.
Asmussen and assistant Scott Blasi were embroiled in a controversy last year after allegations of horse abuse were lodged by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Asmussen and Blasi were cleared of wrongdoing by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Those claims are still under investigation in New York.
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