Other LanguagesOLYMPIA — Today U.S. District Court Judge Robert Bryan ordered The GEO Group Inc. (GEO), the for-profit operator of the Northwest ICE Processing Center, to pay $5.9 million, the amount GEO unlawfully gained through the use of $1-per-day labor since 2005. The workers performed essential tasks while detained at the Center such as doing the laundry, preparing and serving food and cleaning the facility. This work included cooking and serving three meals a day, scrubbing showers and toilets, cleaning the walk-in oven, and buffing and waxing the floors in the middle of the night.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that the Washington State Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People (MMIW/P) Task Force will hold its first meeting, co-hosted with the Yakama Nation, on Dec. 2 and 3, 2021.
OLYMPIA — In a victory for Washington, a federal jury determined that The GEO Group Inc. (GEO), the for-profit operator of the Northwest ICE Processing Center, violates Washington’s minimum wage laws by paying detainee workers only $1 per day. The verdict concludes the first phase of a retrial in Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s lawsuit against GEO.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced today he has filed a lawsuit against 19 chicken producers accusing them of a wide-ranging illegal conspiracy to inflate and manipulate prices, rig contract bids and coordinate industry supply reductions to maximize profits. Ferguson’s lawsuit also names an industry data reporting service accused of assisting in the conspiracy.
OLYMPIA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that his office recovered $495,000 stolen from the Washington Employment Security Department, making Washington the first state to use its asset forfeiture power to recover stolen funds. The money will be returned to the Washington unemployment insurance trust fund.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that the court vacated, effective immediately and nationwide, the Trump Administration’s attempt to dismantle key environmental protections in section 401 of the Clean Water Act.
SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit today against a Corvallis, Ore.-based company, Global Grid Telecom, and its owner for illegally robocalling Washingtonians with deceptive recorded messages. Ironically, the calls attempted to sell a purported robocall-blocking service.
SEATTLE — Today the Washington Attorney General submitted charging documents filing misdemeanor charges against Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer. Troyer is charged with one count of false reporting, and one count of making a false or misleading statement to a public servant. Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed these charges in Pierce County District Court.
SEATTLE — Today, Attorney General Bob Ferguson led a bipartisan coalition of 15 attorneys general calling on Congress to pass legislation supporting local journalism.
OLYMPIA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson partnered today with a coalition of states that will file a complaint with the Postal Regulatory Commission challenging drastic operational changes at the U.S. Postal Service that threaten critical mail delivery. These mirror changes Postmaster General and Trump-appointee Louis DeJoy intended to make before the 2020 election that Ferguson successfully blocked in federal court last fall.