Florida and Kentucky horse trainer owed $325,000 back pay after many federal violations

David J. Neal
·2 min read

A racehorse trainer based in Wellington, Florida, and Louisville paid $325,431 in owed earnings to groomers and hot walkers and $99,567 in civil penalties after several H-2B visa program and Fair Labor Standards Act violations.

Among the ways George Weaver and Weaver Racing did this, the U.S. Department of Labor said, were telling workers to lie to Labor’s Wage and Hour investigators and “attempting to intimidate employees from participating in WHD’s investigation.”

In a federal court consent judgment, Weaver admitted to shorting groomers and hot walkers in Elmwood and Saratoga, New York, and other employees on $150,332 overtime pay. That went to 59 employees, $2,548 per worker. For the overtime pay violations and not keeping proper records of how long employees worked, Weaver paid the government a $15,147 civil penalty.

Trainer George Weaver at Louisville’s Churchill Downs in April 2015, five days before his horse, Tendencur, ran in The Kentucky Derby.
Trainer George Weaver at Louisville’s Churchill Downs in April 2015, five days before his horse, Tendencur, ran in The Kentucky Derby.

The remaining $259,519 got sucked out of Weaver’s wallet by H-2B visa violations. The H-2B program allows employers to import workers for limited time work “a one-time occurrence, seasonal need, peakload need or intermittent need,” Laor say.

Labor says Weaver:

▪ “Collected cash from workers to cover the company’s attorney and visa filing fees.”

▪ Didn’t pay his H-2B workers the required hourly wage, which has to at least equal whichever is the highest between the prevailing wage, the applicable federal minimum wage, the state’s minimum wage, or the local minimum wage. Weaver owed $175,099 to 59 workers, $3,126.76 per employee.

▪ Made the H-2B workers pay for getting to the United States for their visas.

▪ Made the H-2B workers pay the total cost of getting to and from their workplaces.

▪ Used H-2B workers in areas where Weaver Racing hadn’t recruited U.S. workers as required by the H-2B program.

▪ Didn’t tell potential U.S.-based workers about free housing, bonuses and overtime pay in job offers.

▪ Told workers to “underreport their hours” to Wage and Hour investigators

▪ Tried to “intimidate employees from participating in WHD’s investigation.”

This also earned Weaver $84,420 in civil penalties.

Employers that find they’ve committed overtime or minimum wage violations can self-report through the Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program.

For online information on how to file a complaint, go to the Wage and Hour complaint section of the Department of Labor website. Miami’s Wage and Hour Division office can be reached at 305-598-6607.

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