It Asks Washington Supreme Court to Decide Issues Which Are Apt to Affect Litigation Pending in
District Court for the Central District of California Over Application of State Minimum-Wage Law
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday took an action rendering it probable that the Supreme Court of Washington will, in essence, decide whether inmates at an immigration detention facility in California are to be paid for their labor in accordance with this state’s minimum-wage statute.
Circuit judges certified three questions to Washington’s top court. Should it agree to answer those questions, the responses will shape the Ninth Circuit’s decision, one apt to affect not only controversies within the circuit but influence those beyond its borders.
A putative class action was filed on Dec. 19, 2017, in the District Court for the Central District of California by Raul Novoa, who had been detained from 2012 through 2015 at the Adelanto Detention Center in San Bernardino County. He sued under the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act and California’s Minimum Wage Law, Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”), and Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and other statutes.
The defendant is The GEO Group, Inc., a Florida outfit that operates private immigration detention facilities, under contract with the federal government, as well as prisons, jails and mental health facilities in the United States and elsewhere.
It generally pays inmates $1 per day (sometimes more, as an incentive)...
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