California’s Conservation Camps
were “whether the alleged employer: (1) had the power to hire and fire the employees; (2) supervised and controlled employee work schedules or conditions of employment; (3) determined the rate and method of payment; and (4) maintained employment records.”53 As such, entities that met these four criteria were considered employers subject to the dictates of FLSA. These factors became known as the Bonnette factors. The Bonnette factors were instrumental in the ruling of Carter v. Dutchess Community College,54 which is one of the first cases in which it was successfully argued that an inmate could be entitled to FLSA protection. In Carter, the inmate in question worked as a clerk-tutor for a program providing college courses to state prisoners of New York. The Second Circuit rejected the lower court ruling, which stated that because the prison retained “ultimate control” over the employment, the employee was not subject to FLSA protection.55 Instead, the Second Court ruled that “how many typical employer prerogatives are exercised over the inmate by the outside employer, and to what extent”56 should be considered in determining if there is an employer-employee relationship and used the Bonnette factors to define these “typical employer prerogatives.”57 Although the inmate was not successful in securing FLSA protection, the court significantly ruled that FLSA protection could indeed be applied to prison labor should they pass the “economic reality” test.58 Watson v. Graves59 continued this precedent, looking to the Bonnette factors in overturning a lower court decision that rejected an FLSA employer-employee relationship between a Louisiana sheriff who contracted inmates to a construction company.60 Watson marked the first time an inmate was successfully granted “employee” status under the FLSA.61 53
Id. Carter v. Dutchess Cmty. Coll., 735 F.2d 8, 12 (2d Cir. 1984). 55 Id. at 12-13. 56 Id. at 14. 57 Id. 58 Id. at 15. 59 Watson v. Graves, 909 F.2d 1549 (5th Cir. 1990). 60 Id. at 1551. 61 Id. at 1556. 54
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