Too bad the TV commentators don’t comment on this sort of news when they’re talking about the trainers on race days.
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What a creep.
And now he’s out of Belmont…
I saw him being congratulated on a horse today at Saratoga by a TV interviewer and I thought, “WHAT???!!!” And no question about this case. Disgusting.
.[quote=“Rackonteur, post:24, topic:388993, full:true”]
I saw him being congratulated on a horse today at Saratoga by a TV interviewer and I thought, “WHAT???!!!” And no question about this case. Disgusting.
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I guess you like the passive-agressive “let’s embarass someone in a moment of celebration.” Classy. Says much more about you than the interviewer or Assmussen.
There’s a place and time for that conversation; not in the winner’s circle.
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You have completely missed the point.
You don’t congratulate people who act like he has.
He shouldn’t even be IN the winner’s circle.
He’s a loser.
Today’s news:
https://paulickreport.com/news/the-biz/court-ruling-holds-steve-asmussens-stable-liable-for-486000-in-unpaid-wages-damages
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And, here we go again…
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There have been other trainers in trouble for this as well. I wonder if the NY State Gaming Commission will consider banning them as well.
These trainers aren’t stupid and the fact that they are underpaying their staff is inexcusable.
I wonder if banning them is the answer, when they’ve made restitution to the workers and will be under scrutiny so they can’t do it again.
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I think those same employees doing those same jobs on a farm would be considered agricultural workers and exempt from the overtime requirements. I cant help but think there is some stubborn resistance to the change in the laws that does not exempt racetrack employees especially in light of the nature of the work with horses and the odd/long hours it often entails.
(I am sure many of you can remember the good old days, running horses out of town at night, getting back at 1 or 2 am and being expected to be at the barn at 5:30 the next morning-on your set salary!)
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How does he still have people willing to work for him? honestly he has a mile long track record for this type of thing. why is he still allowed to train. The man should be served some harsh penalties at this point in time. enough is enough
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Well he oays them, he just did not pay time and 1/2 for overtime, He tried to call them hourly employees apparently.
Why do people still work for him? Who knows? It It would be interesting to know what his retention rate is. Maybe it is that he wins a lot of races and that trickles down in stakes for the help. Most trainers (and owners0 stake the groom and hotwalker for a win (especially a stake race) , sometimes a smaller amount to the whole barn for every win. There may be other advantages to working for him. Like maybe he runs good shed row(s) and has nice horses. Maybe he (or his “company”) is ok to work for even if he does not like the concept of overtime. Maybe he pays a better weekly salary. Maybe because he runs such a large operation there is more job security-less being subject to having one owner empty out the shed row and with it everyone’s job.
Edited to add: I guess the answer is he uses H2b visas, that is why people work for him. Racing nation had a lot of detail on how and what he pays.
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This is not a comment on Steve Asmussen’s barn or pay schedule (about which I know nothing) but a bit of general info about horseracing trainers. I have never known one that doesn’t “stake the barn”, typically 3% of money earned for all race placements, 1st through 3rd. The money is split among all the barn workers.
Obviously Steve Asmussen employs a huge number of people, but he also earns a huge amount of money racing.
His 2024 earnings: $27,518,180
Typical barn stake of 3% would equal $825,545
Let’s also hypothetically say that there’s a joke going around about (someone’s) groom saying he was making more money per year than the lawyer pressing the suit.
That’s why people continue to want to work for the big trainers.
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Caveat here- I’m not familiar New York employment law so I don’t the specifics of what Asmussen has been charged but I do know something about California wage and hour laws and they are notoriously complicated. They also frankly incentivize civil complaints by allowing the payment of legal fees of the claimant.
My guess is that Asmussen got caught on assumptions built into these laws that all workers will work 9 - 5 on what is not a 9 -5 job and lack of documentation of rest breaks etc.
That would line up with the claim of Asmussen’s lawyer that the violations are “technicalities”. Of course, another word for technicalities are rules and a violation is a violation. But there may not necessarily be intentional bad acts involved too.
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The problem is that this is not Asmussens first rodeo. You would think he would be far more careful and attentive to this.
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At least he wasn’t classifying his workers as “independent contractors,” which is a practice that I’ve witnessed at more than one lesson barn.
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Update
Well that’s bull[poop]. Of course he’s going to be on his best behavior if he’s being watched. What does that do for the people he stiffed?
He was already ordered to pay $562,196. in back wages in the NY case. This new requirement was agreed to by him to keep the NYSGC from revoking his NY license.
I don’t know why he’s appealing the order to pay back wages in the Kentucky case. You’d think he’d rather pay what the court says he owes and move on.
