GEO Group $1-a-Day Detainee Pay Case Sent to Washington Court

The Washington Supreme Court should decide whether the state’s minimum wage law applies to a legal battle over a private prison operator’s practice of paying immigrant detainees $1 per day for work they perform, the Ninth Circuit said.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in an order Tuesday asked the Washington justices to weigh in on whether the detainees qualify as “employees” in the context of the state minimum wage law. If not, “they have no case,” Chief Judge Mary H. Murguia wrote.

GEO Group Inc. is seeking to overturn a $23.2 million federal jury verdict for ...