Judges tell lower court to hold trial in Asmussen overtime case

Because two federal judges arrived at different conclusions, the U.S. Labor Department’s case against Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen has to go back to trial in Kentucky to decide if he willfully held back overtime pay from 163 grooms and hot walkers.

Three judges from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati unanimously agreed that the dispute had to return to federal court in Louisville, Ky., to decide if the Labor Department should have been granted a third year to punish Asmussen. That would happen if Asmussen intentionally withheld $211,541.76 of overtime money covering two years.

“Two district courts studied the same factual record but came to opposite conclusions,” judge Amul Thapar wrote in the order posted Dec. 23. “One court held that no reasonable factfinder could conclude that (Asmussen’s) violations were willful. The other court held that no reasonable factfinder could conclude that (Asmussen’s) violations were anything other than willful. In our view, this disagreement suggests that a trial is necessary. To resolve the competing versions of events, testimony must be taken, credibility determinations must be made, and facts must be found.”

Asmussen was cited in 2019 over claims of wage-and-hour violations in Kentucky. He got a favorable early ruling from a judge who said there was no evidence that suggested the government could win this case. The appeals court two years ago begged to differ and told the district court to try again.

When a different judge heard the case, she ordered Asmussen to pay $486,520.26 in back wages, damages and a penalty. That led to the trainer’s latest appeal filed by attorney Clark Brewster in June and the court order last week that was reported first by BloodHorse.

Among the differences of opinion is the question of whether Asmussen acted in good faith when he produced time sheets to government investigators in New York to document the hours worked by his stable employees. According to Thapar, there also is a dispute about Asmussen’s “state of mind when (he) violated the act.”

The Labor Department normally has two years to finish a case of this sort. It gets an extra year if it were to be determined that an employer “willfully” violated federal law.

Asmussen agreed in 2021 to settle a New York federal case by paying $563,800 to cover damages and back pay for 170 workers.