GEO Group Seeks Rehearing on Verdict in Detainee Wage Dispute

Private prison operator GEO Group has asked a federal appellate court for a rehearing of its challenge to a $23.2 million jury verdict for violating Washington state minimum wage laws in immigration detention facilities.

A divided three-judge panel at the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in January that the state minimum wage applies equally to all employers in the state, regardless of their contractual relationship with the federal government.

Now GEO Group is asking the full appeals court to consider the case. The panel majority’s decision is alone in its finding that a state can impose ...