Department of Labor

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,...

The Department of Homeland Security and Department of Labor will be issuing a regulation that will make an additional 64,716 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas available to employers for fiscal year (FY) 2023, on top of the 66,000 H-2B visas that are normally available each fiscal year, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association reported in a release Thursday. By making these supplemental visas available at the outset of the fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, 2022, those in the horse industry, such as trainers, who rely heavily on the H-2B visa...

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....

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Department of Labor issued a joint temporary final rule published Tuesday in the Federal Register that offers 22,000 additional H-2B visas to employers for the second half of the federal fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, 2021. The visas, used by employers such as racehorse trainers seeking seasonal guest workers, are capped at 66,000 annually, with an even split of 33,000 available for each half of the federal government's fiscal year. Six thousand of these supplemental visas will be reserved for nationals of...

Trainers who run on the New York circuit tend to have the best horses in the country and compete for some of the highest purses in North America. But attorney Drew Mollica, whose expertise is equine law, said that investigations conducted by the New York Sate Department of Labor have put many New York horsemen in a precarious position. Mollica made his comments on this week's edition of the TDN Writers' Room podcast in a segment sponsored by The Green Group. Several prominent New York trainers have been hit with...