Prison Workers Paid $20 Per Day Get New Bid at Wage Claim (1)

Incarcerated workers who earned $20 per day sorting recyclables can try again to hold Baltimore County liable for underpaying them after the Fourth Circuit on Wednesday ruled they might fall under a federal wage law’s protections.

Courts are “generally skeptical” of incarcerated workers’ Fair Labor Standards Act claims, but there’s “no categorical rule” that the law can’t cover them “when they work outside their detention facility’s walls and for someone other than their immediate detainer,” the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit said.

The lower court needs to take a “fresh look” at the workers’ case now ...