Participants in drug rehab program not owed pay for work, court says

A view of the judge’s chair in a court space. Photo taken February 3, 2012. Photo taken February 3, 2012. REUTERS/Chip East

Aug 25 (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court on Thursday stated participants in a court- purchased drug and alcohol rehab program in Arkansas were not owed the base pay for carrying out work for regional organizations and threw out a $1.5 million award in their class action suit.

A consentaneous three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stated people who participated in the residential program to prevent prison time were not the staff members of DARP Inc, which ran the program, or Hendren Plastics Inc, where they worked for up to one year.

Hendren paid the participants’ salaries of $9 per hour straight to DARP, which used the cash to run theprogram The 8th Circuit stated the participants obtained more of a take advantage of the program than DARP or Hendren, and so were not staff members under federal and Arkansas wage laws.

The judgment reversed an Arkansas federal judge who ruled in 2019 that the complainants were DARP’s staff members since they got settlement in the kind of real estate, food and transport, and that Hendren was their “joint company” since it controlled their work at a plastics factory.

The judge had actually granted the class, that includes about 180 people, more than $1.5 million in damages and legal charges.

Legal Representatives at Cross, Gunter, Witherspoon & & Galchus who represent DARP and Hendren did not instantly react to a request for remark. Nor did legal representatives for the complainants.

The suit was submitted in 2017 by called complainant Mark Fochtman, who stated DARP and Hendren breached state law by not paying participants in the rehab program at least the base pay.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks in Fayetteville, Arkansas gave summary judgment to the class in 2019. The judge stated DARP and Hendren had actually “controlled the labor market and skirted compliance with the labor laws for their own personal ends.”

However the 8th Circuit on Thursday stated the participants, and not DARP or Hendren, were the “primary recipients” of the program, which implied the were not staff members under state or federal law.

Even presuming that Hendren got a competitive benefit by paying a lower cost for employees with drug issues, the business paid DARP well above the state base pay, which at the time was $6.25 per hour, Circuit Judge Steven Colloton composed.

The panel consisted of Circuit Judges James Loken and Duane Benton.

The case is Fochtman v. Hendren Plastics Inc, 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 20-2061.

For the complainants: John Holleman and Timothy Steadman of Holleman & & Associates

For DARP and Hendren: Abtin Mehdizadegan of Cross, Gunter, Witherspoon & & Galchus

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