[ad_1]
PETA Reported Steve Asmussen’s Labor Abuses in 2013
For immediate release:
September 8, 2021
Contact:
David Pearl 202-483-7382
Saratoga Springs, New York – Asmussen Racing Stable just agreed to settle a dispute with the U.S. Department of Labor over alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act due to non-payment of overtime for 170 employees, including grooms and walking people, on New York State highways between 2016 and 2020 year. According to the proposed settlement documents, Steve Asmussen, the owner of the stable, must pay $ 600,000 in unpaid wages and fines.
Asmussen, who had just set the record for most races won by any purebred horse trainer, also paid fines and wage arrears in 2015 after a PETA investigation in 2013 found that, among other abuses, he did not pay workers fair wages. wages.
A PETA investigation revealed that Asmussen and assistant coach Scott Blazi abused drugs, ordered undocumented workers to obtain fake IDs and social security cards or quit, demanded long hours of workers for small wages, and forced undocumented workers to sleep in sheds and storage rooms.
“PETA found that Asmussen had cheated his way to victory thanks to exploited employees and injured horses – and he hasn’t changed,” says PETA Senior Vice President Katy Guillermo. “In this lawsuit, the feds are looking at the criminal horse trainers.”
PETA notes that this third lawsuit The US Department of Labor has filed a case against Asmussen and that labor violations are rife in the equestrian sports industry. In 2020, Coach George Weaver paid the agency $ 425,000 after it said it had not paid employees required hourly wages and overtime. And in 2019, Coach Chad Brown, who won the Eclipse Awards for Outstanding Coach four times in a row, paid $ 1,617,673 for violations, including non-payment of promised wages and misrepresentation of working conditions.
The proposed settlement documents are available upon request. PETA – whose motto, in particular, is that “animals are not ours to abuse them for fun” – opposes arrogance, a worldview focused on human superiority. For more information please visit PETA.org or subscribe to the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram…
#
[ad_2]
Source link