TACOMA, Wash. (Legal Newsline) - A privately operated federal detention facility has appealed an Oct. 27 jury verdict that requires it to pay detainees minimum wage for menial labor.
Defendant GEO Group also has moved the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for a stay of enforcement of the combined $23.2 million verdict and judgments pending appeal.
“GEO strongly disagrees with the verdict and judgments in the retrial of the lawsuits," a company spokesperson said following the verdict. "GEO intends to raise several issues on appeal...including the applicability of the state of Washington’s Minimum Wage Act to detainees who participate in the federally-mandated Voluntary Work Program at the Northwest ICE Processing Center and the affirmative defenses that GEO believes were wrongly dismissed in these cases.
“GEO looks forward to having those and other related issues heard on appeal based on GEO’s belief that the cases were wrongly decided. GEO intends to take all necessary steps to vigorously defend itself.”
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued The GEO Group in 2017, alleging it should be treating the detainees - persons in the custody of federal immigration authorities while their immigration status is being determined by the federal government - as employees. The lawsuit claimed that work performed by detainees was essential, and that GEO was unjustly enriched by relying on its volunteer work program to operate the Tacoma facility.
The jury's ruling will require payment of more than $13 an hour based upon the state’s minimum wage unless reversed on appeal.
Through its voluntary work program, required by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under the terms of GEO’s contract to reduce idleness among the detainees, GEO has paid detainees $1 per day for tasks that on average last less than two hours.
Ferguson declined to comment.
In its press release, GEO pointed to a similar case appealed to the Fourth Circuit, which dismissed a case against CoreCivic (Ndambi et al. v. CoreCivic), finding that detainees who volunteer for work programs in immigration processing centers are not employees and are not owed wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act and New Mexico’s minimum wage law.
The verdict against GEO Group was a retrial of two cases State of Washington v. GEO Group and Nwauzor et al. v. GEO Group. The original trial resulted in a mistrial in June as that jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
District Judge Robert J. Bryan presided.