Asmussen reaches settlement with U.S. Department of Labor on employment violations

Trainer Steve Asmussen has reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor to reimburse his hotwalkers and grooms $130,000, the fourth time that the trainer has been cited by federal and state agencies for employment violations.

Under the settlement, Asmussen also will pay $75,000 in fines and will be subject to a number of measures intended to ensure “future compliance” with H-2B regulations, the Department of Labor said. The H-2B program allows foreign workers into the United States as long as the employer meets certain requirements.

The Department of Labor said that an investigation into Asmussen’s operations in New York revealed that his stable didn’t pay required travel costs for his H-2B employees; that he sought and obtained kickbacks from workers; that he overstated the number of H-2B workers he needed; and that he did not disclose “material terms of the position to potential U.S. job applicants, such as that free housing may be available onsite.”

The Department of Labor said that the violations occurred between December 2016 and December, 2019.

In 2021, Asmussen reached a consent order with the Department of Labor requiring his stable to pay $563,000 in back wages and damages to 170 employees because of a failure to pay overtime and related record-keeping violations.

Nearly a dozen trainers based in New York have reached negotiated settlements with the Department of Labor over the past decade for wage violations, nearly all of them involving overtime.