Corrections Corp., the nation’s largest private prison company, has been ordered to pay more than $8 million in back pay to 362 of its current and former employees following a federal investigation. The Labor Department found that the company violated wage and benefit laws and failed to pay the prevailing wage.
Corrections Corp. accepted the labor department’s decision, which focused on a prison in Kern County, CA. The investigation also concluded that the company underpaid for health and welfare benefits, overtime, and holiday pay while failing to keep proper payroll records.
Via SFGate.com:
Corrections Corp. of America accepted government findings of underpayments to guards, maintenance workers and administrative personnel at California City Correctional Center, a prison the company owns in Kern County, the department said.
The settlement covers the period from October 2010 through November 2013, when the company had a contract to supervise federal inmates at the prison. It is now a state prison, but Corrections Corp. still provides the staff.
Federal contractors are legally required to pay their employees the prevailing local wages and benefits. For prison guards, the prevailing wage was $31.29 an hour, but Corrections Corp. paid only $24.76, said Eduardo Huerta, assistant director of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division in Los Angeles.
After the decison was announced, Ruben Rosalez, the region’s wage and hour administrator, said: “Many of the workers, some of whom commuted up to two to three hours to keep our communities safe, will receive more than $30,000 in back pay. This recovery sends a message to the prison industry and others that we are watching for workplace violations.”
