Gloriavale leavers win Employment Court case against sect
Former Gloriavale members say they are ‘‘ecstatic’’ over the Employment Court’s ruling that they were employees.
Two of the three former workers who brought the case, Daniel Pilgrim and Hosea Courage, spoke to media outside Christchurch’s justice precinct after Chief Judge Christina Inglis’ judgment was released yesterday.
The judge considered whether an employment relationship existed between Gloriavale leaders and the leavers when they worked in the community’s commercial businesses. She reserved her decision on the identity of the employer/ employers within the Gloriavale structure, and also reserved details of the costs the plaintiffs were entitled to.
Pilgrim said it was ‘‘overwhelming’’ that they were ‘‘finally being heard’’.
‘‘Voices in there that have been silenced for so many years, that their voices are finally being heard and there’s some legal recognition and something’s happening, it’s amazing really.’’
Courage said he was glad the process had finally come to an end.
‘‘They have been heard and ... we won’t let this kind of thing happen in New Zealand.’’ The former members – Hosea Courage, Levi Courage and Pilgrim – who were born in Gloriavale, described beginning work in the businesses from the age of 6.
During a hearing in February, they said they were hit with implements such as rods, food was withheld, and they were publicly shamed if they failed to work. Pilgrim said yesterday he believed the Labour Inspectorate had been ‘‘hopeless’’ and failed to do its job.
‘‘I understand it was going to be messy for them to step in and get involved, and I believe that’s why they didn’t, it was just a bit of a cop out really, so hopefully they will now start doing their job.’’
Their priority was to see the law enforced for family and friends in Gloriavale, ‘‘so they are not being over-worked, so they have sick days, that they can make decisions about where they work’’.
‘‘In reality they make none of their decisions.’’
The Employment Court’s decision would affect those currently and previously living at Gloriavale in regards to their working conditions, pay and employment rights. It means the previous Labour Inspectorate investigations, which found residents were not employees and therefore not protected by New
Zealand employment laws, was wrong. Lawyers for Gloriavale told the court there were no employment relationships because the people worked for their shared faith-based beliefs to ensure the community’s needs were met and claimed the children’s work was ‘‘chores’’.
Judge Inglis found all three plaintiffs were employees from the age of 6 until they left Gloriavale.
‘‘The fact that the work was undertaken within a religious community, and according to a particular set of beliefs and values, did not mean that it could escape close scrutiny by external agencies or avoid minimum employment standards if they applied,’’ she said.