GEO maintained that the detainees were not employees under the Washington Minimum Wage Act. GEO did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment but is expected to appeal. The judge, who rejected several attempts by GEO to dismiss the lawsuits, consolidated the cases for trial. District Judge Robert Bryan on his own will determine what The GEO Group must pay Washington for its claim that the company unjustly enriched itself.įerguson, a Democrat, sued the Florida-based GEO Group in 2017, saying the company had unjustly profited by running the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma - now known as the Northwest ICE Processing Center - on the backs of captive workers.Ī separate lawsuit filed on behalf of detainees was also filed that year, seeking back pay. The jury will now consider how much the immigrant detainees who worked at the facility are owed, and U.S. “Today’s victory sends a clear message: Washington will not tolerate corporations that get rich violating the rights of the people.” “This multi-billion dollar corporation illegally exploited the people it detains to line its own pockets,” Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in an emailed statement.
#Geo 5;00 pm hadline today trial
The first trial ended in June with a deadlocked jury.
District Court in Tacoma in a second trial over the issue. SEATTLE (AP) - A federal jury has determined that The GEO Group must pay minimum wage - rather than $1 a day - to immigration detainees who perform tasks like cooking and cleaning at its for-profit detention center in Washington state.
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