Court Opinion

ID: 8294589
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-10-17 11:00:01.202024+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:43:58.800768
License: Public Domain

PIEPER, J.,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur in the majority’s conclusion to affirm the decision to remand to determine a prevailing wage. I also concur in the determination that the inmate is not an employee of the private sponsor or entitled to reimbursement for room and board and other costs. However, I respectfully dissent as to any finding that the inmate is entitled to overtime pay. Section 24-3-430 establishes an inmate’s right to the prevailing wage, stating “[n]o inmate participating in the program may earn less than the prevailing wage for work of similar nature in the private sector.” S.C.Code Ann. § 24-3-430(D) (2007). Our supreme court recognizes that a critical purpose of the prevailing wage provision is to prevent unfair competition. Adkins v. S.C. Dep’t of Corr., 360 S.C. 413, 418, 602 S.E.2d 51, 54 (2004). Nonetheless, I would distinguish between prevailing wages and any right to overtime pay for inmates participating in a prison industries program. In fact, there is no authority within the applicable state statutory scheme recognizing any right to overtime pay for inmates.8 See § 24-3-430(D) (2007) (stating only that no inmate participating in the program may earn less than the prevailing wage). Moreover, the inmate never specifically raised the *641issue of whether a particular federal program provides for the right to overtime pay.
While the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provides a right to overtime pay for certain employees, .the protections of the act do not apply to inmates worldng within the prison setting. See Harker v. State Use Indus., 990 F.2d 131, 136 (4th Cir.1993) (“For more than fifty years, Congress has operated on the assumption that the FLSA does not apply to inmate labor. If the FLSA’s coverage is .to extend within prison walls, Congress must say so, not the courts.”). As noted by the Fourth Circuit in Harker, inmates participating in these types of programs perform work not to “turn profits for their supposed employer, but rather as a means of rehabilitation and job training.” Id. at 133.
In sum, I am not convinced the current.statutory scheme provides for overtime pay to inmates. Inmates are not employees entitled to the protections of the FLSA, and I do not find it appropriate to read into the prevailing wage statute any such right to inmates voluntarily participating in a prison industries program.9 As Judge Posner of the Seventh Circuit has explained:
People are not imprisoned for the purpose of enabling them to earn a living. The prison pays for their keep. If it puts them to work, it is to offset some of the cost of keeping them, or to keep them out of mischief, .or to ease their transition to the world outside, or to equip them with skills and habits that will make them less likely to return to crime outside. None of these goals is compatible with federal regulation of their wages and hours. The reason the FLSA contains no express exception for prisoners is probably that the idea was too outlandish to occur to anyone when the legislation was under consideration by Congress.
Bennett v. Frank, 395 F.3d 409, 410 (7th Cir.2005). Accordingly, I concur in the decision of the majority to affirm the circuit court and remand to the ALC to determine a prevailing *642wage; however, I respectfully dissent as to the overtime issue, and I would affirm the finding of the ALC and the circuit court that the inmate is not entitled to overtime pay.

. Although not within the applicable statutory scheme, section 8-11-55 of the South Carolina Code mentions overtime in the context of state employees. That statute only applies to state employees and provides that "[a]ny state employee who is required to work overtime during any particular week may, as a result, be given compensatory time....” S.C.Code Ann. § 8-11-55 (Supp.2009). The statute further provides that any compensatory time granted must be in accordance with the FLSA. As indicated, the FLSA does not apply to inmates and die prevailing wage statute at issue specifically states that inmates participating in the prison industries program are not considered employees of the state. See S.C.Code Ann. § 24-3-430(F) (2007).

. An inmate’s participation in the prison industries program is voluntary and contingent upon consent to the conditions of the employment. S.C.Code Ann. § 24-3-430(C) (2007) ("An inmate may participate in the program established pursuant to this section1 only on a voluntary basis and only after he has been informed of the conditions of his employment.”) (emphasis added).