Success and accolades are not always a determination on how employers treat their employees. KDE Equine LLC, founded by Steve Asmussen and operating as Asmussen Racing Stables, is under a court order to settle its fifth charge by the Department of Labor. KDE is required to pay $243,260 in back wages and an equal amount in damages to 163 grooms and hotwalkers at Churchill Downs and another racetrack for not paying required overtime.
The Department of Labor calls KDE Equine one of the most successful thoroughbred trainers in the United States. They have operations in Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, New York, and Texas. They have trained thoroughbreds that have gone on to win the Belmont Stakes and the Preakness. While they do pay a salary to their grooms and hotwalkers, the company failed to pay overtime as required under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
KDE Equine paid extra when the employees did additional work, but they did not pay time and a half for hours over 40 per week. The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division also determined that KDE failed to keep accurate records of its pay system, which is another requirement of the FLSA. Investigators also found that the company allegedly modified those records to make it appear as if the company was complying with the FLSA.
“Our investigators found that KDE took actions more consistent with trying to hide its violations, rather than complying with federal regulations. These actions included keeping useless, inaccurate timesheets and blaming their failures on employee illiteracy and lack of English fluency,” explained Wage and Hour Division Regional Administrator Juan Coria in Atlanta. “KDE Equine’s actions were a deliberate attempt to deflect the employer’s responsibility to pay their workers as the law requires.”
This is not the first time KDE Equine has come under fire from the Department of Labor. Its New York based operations was ordered to pay over $500,000 in back wages and damages for violating commitments made to H2-B visa workers, such as failing to pay travel costs of workers and seeking kickbacks from workers, allegedly to pay attorney’s fees, basically exploiting workers that contributed to their success.
The Department of Labor offers confidential compliance information to workers and employers, regardless of where they are from. The agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) can speak to callers in over 200 languages.