Kiaran McLaughlin has been part of New York racing since 1986. He worked as an assistant to D. Wayne Lukas, was a jockey agent for Chris Antley, and ultimately opened up his own stable. Among his long list of accomplishments was campaigning 2006 Horse of the Year Invasor. McLaughlin, 59, is one of the most respected and well-liked horsemen on the backstretch, a mentor and sounding board to a younger generation of trainers seeking to attain some of his accomplishments. When McLaughlin heads to South Florida each winter, he typically leaves a sizeable string of horses in New York for the winter meet at Aqueduct. This winter will be different. McLaughlin left New York on Sunday and the rest of his stable will soon follow. By early to mid-January, McLaughlin will be out of New York. He may not be coming back. McLaughlin is one of many New York horsemen who have been investigated by both the New York Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Labor. On Nov. 15 – his birthday – McLaughlin was fined $304,646 by the state Department of Labor for what a press release described as a violation of minimum wage requirements. He was one of six trainers identified by name – Chad Brown, Linda Rice, Jimmy Jerkens, Doodnauth Shivmangal, and Leo O’Brien were the others. Five additional horsemen also were fined, but not identified. McLaughlin is also anxiously awaiting word on a potential fine by the federal Department of Labor. The investigations combined with the high cost of doing business in the state – led by high workers’ compensation insurance premiums – are what has McLaughlin contemplating a permanent move out of New York. “Basically, I’m regrouping to Florida and consolidating to one outfit and figure it out by April,” said McLaughlin, who will maintain about a 40-horse stable in Florida. “The Department of Labor issues are here and they are hard to deal with and comply. I’m trying to comply. Workers’ compensation is expensive, and basically just doing business here is expensive.” McLaughlin said complying with labor laws in New York is difficult. Since they are located in different counties, rules governing minimum wage requirements differ at Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga. Also, different rules apply to those workers who are on the H2B visa program, which allows employers to bring foreign workers to the United States temporarily to fill non-agricultural jobs. For example, McLaughlin said workers who are on an H2B visa cannot travel on a horse van. McLaughlin said when those workers travel they must be in a vehicle equipped with a seat belt. Last month, McLaughlin flew 14 employees he had based at Saratoga to South Florida and then made arrangements for a van to pick up those employees from the airport to take them to Palm Meadows, where they reside in dorms on the grounds of that training center. Part of McLaughlin’s troubles are based on omitting the word “bonus” for ads he must place for hotwalkers and groom jobs. Ironically, McLaughlin said that one labor board is fining him for underpayment of wages while the other is investigating him for overpayment. McLaughlin doesn’t like being portrayed as someone who cheated his employees out of their proper wages. Many of those employees have been with McLaughlin 15 years or longer. He said investigators told him that all of the employees they interviewed were complimentary toward McLaughlin and how he treats them. “They broke my spirit,” McLaughlin said. “I said how can you fine me this kind of money when you said that things look good? It is very hard to comply with all the many moving parts. It’s really hard. It just hurt financially and more probably emotionally. “We take good care of our help. We wouldn’t have them if we didn’t.” During the winter, McLaughlin said he will decide where to go in the spring. Kentucky’s purses are soaring and it’s cheaper to do business there, especially when it comes to workers’ compensation insurance. Monmouth Park in New Jersey is another option. A lot will also depend on what his clients want to do. “I have to see how many [horses] I have, how many stalls I need where the clients are happy enough for me to go,” McLaughlin said. “If we go to Monmouth, obviously it’s a close ship to Belmont. Or Kentucky, if things are well we could stay there.” McLaughlin said leaving New York is not easy for him. In 1992, he bought the house from Lukas that he first moved into in the mid-80s. He and his wife, Letty, raised a family here. McLaughlin, who has multiple sclerosis, has doctors in New York. “It’s hard because of our friends and doctors and all your people, but we still stay in touch with them and might be back,” he said.