Per Curiam.
While Chuck Adams and Charles Howard were inmates at the Indiana Department of Correction (“DOC”) Correctional Industrial Facility (“CIF”), they worked at a privately-owned brake shop operated by Meritor Heavy Vehicle Systems, LLC on the premises of CIF. Indiana Code chapter 11-10-7 permits the DOC commissioner to enter agreements with private enterprises to establish “facilities within the exterior boundary of any state adult correctional facility, for the manufacturing and processing of goods or any other business, commercial, or agricultural enterprise.” Ind. Code § 11-10-7-2.
Adams and Howard filed a complaint alleging among other things that they are owed unpaid wages because they were not paid the “prevailing wage” for their work…
A majority of the Court of Appeals reversed, concluding Adams and Howard have a private right of action under section 11-10-7-4, which provides that an enterprise operating under chapter 11-10-7 “is a private enterprise subject to laws governing the operation of similar enterprises in Indiana.” Adams v. ArvinMeritor, Inc., 48 N.E.3d 1, 8-9 (Ind. Ct. App. 2015), aff’d on reh’g by, 53 N.E.3d 1182 (Ind. Ct. App. 2016). The majority noted that private enterprises are subject to the Wage Payment Statute, which allows an employee to file an action in court to collect unpaid wages. See I.C. § 22-2-5-2. And the majority concluded Adams and Howard may pursue their wage claims. Adams, 48 N.E.3d at 9.2 Judge May dissented on this issue, concluding the trial court properly dismissed the wage claims because Indiana Code section 11-10-7-4 did not explicitly create a private right of action for offenders to pursue wage claims. Id. at 16, and 53 N.E.3d at 1184 (May, J., dissenting in part). The Meritor defendants seek transfer.
We agree with Judge May. We grant transfer, adopt and incorporate by reference the dissent’s original and rehearing opinions addressing the wage claims, see Ind. Appellate Rule 58(A)(1), and affirm the trial court’s dismissal of these claims. We summarily affirm those parts of the Court of Appeals opinions addressing Adams’s other claims. See App. R. 58(A)(2).
All Justices concur.