In an already controversial ruling, federal appellate judges ruled on Tuesday that Arizona companies which contract with the state for inmate labor are not the inmate?s employer. If the ruling is not overturned, it would mean that employers could not be sued by inmates working in their facilities for violating federal laws protecting employees, including failure to accommodate disabilities as in the case in Arizona. In many states, inmates are required to perform ?hard labor? as part of their sentence, in some states those inmates may be ?loaned? out to private employers. The inmates are often paid for their work, but far below minimum wage ($0.10 ? 0.50 per hour), with the contract work for private companies paying significantly better ($2.25 per hour in this case).
See "Court rules AZ companies using inmate labor don?t have to comply with federal disability laws", Howard Fischer, East Valley Tribune, September 24, 2013