Detainees of GEO Group Detention Center are Owed $17 Million in Back Pay
In October, a jury in Washington determined that GEO Group, which owns large, for-profit detention centers for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), must pay former detainees of a Tacoma, Washington facility $17.3 million in back pay. Detainees of this facility were cooking, cleaning, and performing other tasks essential to the facility’s operation for $1 per day.
GEO Group is the second-largest private prison and detention center company in the country. In 2018, GEO made $18.6 million in profits from the Tacoma facility alone and admitted that it could have afforded to pay detainees more during a previous trial. The company owns detention centers just like its Tacoma facility throughout the country, including facilities in California.
The jury found that paying detainees $1 per day for their labor violates Washington’s minimum wage law, $13.69 per hour. GEO Group’s practice of paying $1 per day violates minimum wage laws federally and in every state. California’s minimum wage is currently $14 per hour.
California has the strongest protections for workers in the country, and our attorneys are prepared to help employees recover wages from employers, such as GEO Group, who disregard these protections. Along with recovering minimum wages, our attorneys have helped clients recover over a million dollars in unpaid overtime pay, penalties for the denial of meal and rest periods, unreimbursed business expenses, and other penalties for violations of California labor law.
Our Wage and Hour attorneys at the Arnold Law Firm fight hard for our clients’ rights and have a proven track record of helping employees recover what they earned. We offer a free consultation to discuss your claim and charge you nothing while working on your case.
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