U.S. Department of Labor

A federal court has ruled that New York-based trainer Danny Gargan must pay $132,631 in back wages and damages to 52 employees. According to a press release issued by the U.S. Department of Labor, Gargan failed to pay his workers overtime wages they had earned. The fine includes an assessment of $37,368 in civil money penalties for what the Department of Labor is calling a "willful wage theft and for falsifying records in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act." "The defendants took advantage of their employees by underpaying them...

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Department of Labor have agreed to offer 22,000 additional H-2B visas to employers for the second half of the federal fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. These visas are used by employers, such as racehorse trainers, who seek seasonal guest workers. They are capped at 66,000 annually, with an even split of 33,000 available for each half of the federal government's fiscal year. The additional visas will be made available later this spring or early summer via a temporary final...