By Daniel Wiessner

May 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday asked the U.S. solicitor general to weigh in on whether the court should decide if private prison operator GEO Group was required to pay the minimum wage to immigrant detainees who signed up for a work program.

The justices invited the government's views as GEO seeks review of a ruling requiring it to pay more than $23 million to the state of Washington and hundreds of detainees who were paid $1 a day to perform various tasks, the floor set by federal guidelines.

The full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said last year that GEO does not enjoy the same immunity from state minimum wage laws afforded to the federal government even though it operates a Tacoma, Washington, detention center under a contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

GEO and lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In a separate case in February, the Supreme Court denied GEO's bid to immediately appeal a decision denying the company governmental immunity from similar class action claims by detainees at a Colorado facility.

In Monday's case, GEO is appealing a $17.3 million jury verdict for detainees who were paid $1 a day to cook, clean, perform repairs, and staff a barber shop and library at the Tacoma detention center, and a separate $6 million award for the state.

The Washington Supreme Court, in response to certified questions from the 9th Circuit, ruled in 2023 that the detainees were GEO's employees under state law and had to be paid the minimum wage.

That left the federal court to consider GEO's claim that because it was operating a government detention center, it was shielded from state wage laws just like the federal government.

A three-judge 9th Circuit panel ruled for the plaintiffs and the full court agreed last August. The court said the government did not dictate the wages GEO must pay to detainees or require it to operate the work program, and also rejected the company's claim that the state minimum wage was preempted by federal immigration law.

GEO in its petition filed in January told the Supreme Court that the 9th Circuit decision would interfere with federal immigration enforcement by threatening the government's longstanding reliance on private facilities to house fluctuating numbers of detainees. About 90% of the more than 60,000 people held in civil immigration detention as of early April were in privately run facilities, according to government data.

"The Court should ... confirm that states may not obstruct federal functions, period — whether the object of their regulation is the federal government or the private contractors it enlists to carry out those functions," the company said.

The case is GEO Group v. Nwauzor, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 25-828.

For the plaintiffs: Jennifer Bennett of Gupta Wessler

For the state: Marsha Chien of the Washington Attorney General's Office

For GEO Group: Paul Clement of Clement & Murphy

Read more:

US Supreme Court denies GEO Group quick appeal in immigrant detainee labor case

GEO Group can't nix $23 mln verdict over immigrant detainee pay

GEO Group must pay minimum wage to immigrant detainees, court rules

GEO Group appeal over $1-a-day detainee pay sent to Wash. top court

Jury says GEO Group must pay minimum wage to immigrant detainees

GEO Group can't avoid virtual trial in class action over dollar-a-day detainee pay

Immigrant detainees not owed minimum wage under FLSA- 4th Circuit