Court Opinion

ID: 9845920
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:31:08.998085+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:26.463022
License: Public Domain

Justice PLEICONES,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. As I explained in my concurring opinion in Adkins v. South Carolina Dep’t of Corrections, 360 S.C. 413, 602 S.E.2d 51 (2004), I would hold that the inmates’ remedy is found in the South Carolina Payment of Wages Act, S.C.Code Ann. §§ 41-10-10, et seq. (Supp. 2005).
To hold that the payment of wages is exclusively within the control of the DOC ignores the language of S.C.Code Ann. § 24-3-40 (Supp.2005). That statute provides “the employer of a prisoner authorized to work ... .in a prison industry program .... shall pay the prisoner’s wages directly to the Department of Corrections” and then requires the DOC to distribute those wages to inmates on behalf of the employer. Thus, the ultimate responsibility for paying wages falls on the prison industry sponsor, while the DOC merely acts as a conduit for payment to the inmates.
Under the Payment of Wages Act, “Employer” is defined as “every person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, receiver, or other officer of a court of this State, the State or any political subdivision thereof, and any agent or officer of the above classes employing any person in this State.” S.C.Code Ann. § 41-10-10(1). In my opinion, this definition includes both the employer, WTI, and its agent, the DOC. Accordingly, I would hold that both WTI and the DOC are subject to the inmates’ claims made pursuant to the Payment of Wages Act.