Saratoga horse trainer agrees to repay $1.6 million in back wages, overtime
Mechanicville -- A record-setting thoroughbred horse trainer at the Saratoga Race Track has agreed to pay more than $1.6 million in illegally withheld overtime wages, back pay, and penalties, according to an announcement by the U.S. Labor Department on Wednesday.
Chad C. Brown, owner of Mechanicville-based Chad Brown Racing, admitted that between December 2014 and August 2017, his company filed falsified timesheets and underpaid about 150 groomers and horse walkers at his facilities at Saratoga and at Belmont Race Track in Nassau County.
A federal investigation into Brown's operation also found it was underpaying foreign workers under the H-2B non-immigrant visa program. Brown also agreed to set up a visa compliance officer at his company to prevent future violations, under a judgment filed May 13 in U.S. District Court on Long Island.
Last September, Brown set the all-time record for wins by a horse trainer at a Spa meet.
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