(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday asked Washington's top state court to decide whether private prison operator GEO Group Inc was required to pay the minimum wage to immigrant detainees who participated in a work program while awaiting deportation proceedings.
A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel said it was unclear whether the detainees counted as GEO's employees under Washington wage law and that the Washington Supreme Court should decide the novel question.
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GEO is appealing a jury verdict that resulted in a $17.3 million award for hundreds of people who were paid $1 a day to clean, do laundry, wash dishes and staff a barber shop and library at a Tacoma, Washington detention center.
The appeal also challenges a separate verdict awarding $6 million to the state, which had sued GEO for unjust enrichment for not paying detainees the minimum wage.
The 9th Circuit also asked the Washington Supreme Court to decide whether state wage law applies to detainees at privately run state, rather than federal, facilities and whether the state was entitled to the $6 million award once the detainees were awarded relief.
Florida-based GEO did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nor did lawyers for the plaintiffs.
A group of detainees sued GEO in Tacoma federal court in 2017 and the case was consolidated with the state's lawsuit, which came later that year.
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