Immigrant detainees in California win key workplace safety settlement

In 2023, California regulators imposed a more than $100,000 fine on the private operator of a federal immigration facility, kicking off a three-year battle over whether detainees working at the facilities should be considered employees.

The question went beyond semantics: If considered employees, the detainees would be subject to the state’s worker protection laws.

A legal solution The legislation announced this week confirms that private immigration detention facilities are subject to California’s workplace safety and health requirements.

“Every worker deserves a safe and healthy workplace and should be able to report workplace hazards without fear of retaliation,” said Denisse Gómez, spokeswoman for the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA.

“Individuals who work in these facilities are entitled to workplace safety protections, and this agreement strengthens Cal/OSHA’s commitment to enforcing these protections and protecting vulnerable workers,” he added.

Under a settlement between California and GEO Group, a private prison company based in Florida, the company recently dropped its legal challenges and agreed to pay a fine of more than $100,000.

The Department of Homeland Security and GEO Group did not respond to requests for comment.

In 2023, Cal/OSHA fined GEO Group $104,510. The agency found six violations of state law by the company after inmates complained about a lack of protective equipment and proper training while cleaning the facility for $1 a day.

Detainees claimed they routinely wiped black mold off shower walls at the facility, saw black dust coming out of vents, and used cleaning solutions without instructions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The largest fine issued to GEO Group was for failure to establish and maintain “effective written procedures to reduce the risk of employee exposure to aerosol-transmitted diseases.”

Advocates saw Cal/OSHA’s recognition of detainees as workers as a victory that could pave the way for future fights for workers’ rights at other detention centers in the state.

But GEO Group objected, arguing that detainees who participate in ICE’s volunteer work program set their own schedules and are not employees, so exposure to danger cannot be “as a result of assigned duties,” as California law states. Additionally, the company argued that there was insufficient evidence that the detainees were exposed to any danger.

Early last year, state’s Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board It rejected GEO Group’s claim and ruled that the detainees should be considered “affected employees.”

GEO Group sued, but the company and Cal/OSHA reached a settlement three days before a California Supreme Court hearing in May.

In addition to paying the fines, GEO Group agreed to draft plans to prevent aerosol contamination at 12 secure and reentry facilities in California, including five detention centers where immigrants are held.

“GEO ensures that detainees are provided with the necessary tools, equipment, and personal protective equipment to enable them to perform their required duties safely and effectively,” the settlement states.

Gómez said the agreement also left intact the appeals board’s decision that civilian immigration detainees participating in work programs could attend hearings anonymously, “recognizing the potential for retaliation if individuals raise concerns about workplace safety.”

But the question of whether detainees are employees and deserve certain protections is not entirely resolved, at least as far as the federal government is concerned.

Last month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement published new standards for detention facilities across the country. The revised guidelines emphasize that “incarcerated volunteers participating in the volunteer work program are not considered facility and/or government employees” and are therefore not entitled to the benefits of work arrangements.

Attorney Mariel Villarreal said the timing of the new detention standards makes her question whether GEO Group, in response to its fight with Cal/OSHA, has asked ICE to specify in its standards that detainees are not workers.

“To me, this is a reaction to this very agreement,” he said. Villarreal works for the California Immigrant Justice Collaborative, which filed the initial complaint on behalf of detainees who said they were working in unsafe conditions.

Villareal pointed out Washington Post report He said GEO Group executives privately asked ICE to state that the detainees were not employees of the facilities where they worked. Two top Trump administration officials, border czar Tom Homan and acting ICE director David Venturella, previously worked for GEO Group.

New versions of ICE detention standards will go into effect as contracts are created or modified, so this year’s rules won’t immediately apply to every facility.

GEO Group and other immigrant detention center operators have faced other legal battles over workers’ rights, including lawsuits. Washington, Colorado and California above the $1 per day payment.

Villarreal said he is confident the Cal/OSHA agreement will continue to apply even if California facilities incorporate the new standards. But he said he believed those statements were an attempt by GEO Group to “avoid responsibility” and avoid the possibility of being fined under similar circumstances in other states.

“These wordings in the new standards are a way of trying to protect their profits as much as possible,” he said. “GEO and ICE are so intertwined at this point that they have the same motivation.”