Washington State Minimum Wage Law Applies to Immigrant Detainees

A Washington minimum wage law applies to immigrant detainees doing work in the state for private prison operator GEO Group Inc., the Washington Supreme Court said.

Because the state’s law defines the term “employee” broadly, coverage is determined mostly via whether a person falls within one of its exceptions, the court said in its unanimous decision Thursday.

“When interpreting these exemptions, we are required to construe them narrowly and apply them only to situations that are ‘plainly and unmistakably consistent with the terms and spirit of the legislation,’” it said, quoting prior precedent.

In that respect, an exception for residents, inmates, or patients of a state, county, or municipal institution doesn’t apply to detention centers run by private companies, the court held.

The state justices also determined that awarding damages to the class of immigrant detainees doesn’t foreclose Washington state from pursuing a claim for unjust enrichment.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit asked the Washington high court in March to weigh in on whether immigrants held in GEO Group detention centers count as “employees” in the context of the state’s minimum wage law.

A federal jury awarded detainees $23.2 million in 2021 in a lawsuit they filed over the prison operator’s practice of paying them $1 per day for work in its facilities.

GEO Group is seeking to overturn that verdict, arguing that its contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security requires the $1 a day wage rate. By contrast, Washington state’s minimum wage is $14.49 per hour, the highest in the country outside of the District of Columbia.

The Ninth Circuit sought an opinion from the Washington Supreme Court on the applicability of the state’s minimum wage law after hearing oral arguments on the case last fall.

When sending the question to the state’s high court, Chief Ninth Circuit Judge Mary H. Murguia noted that resolution of the case could significantly impact how the federal government contracts with private detention facilities in Washington.

The case is Nwauzor v. GEO Group, Inc., 2023 BL 463462, Wash., No. 101786-3, 12/21/23.