Gloriavale religious sect’s substantial dairy farm run entirely by 14-year-olds, court hears
The Labour Inspectorate did not investigate after hearing serious employment allegations in Gloriavale, including a group of 14-year-olds running a large dairy farm and girls working in New Zealand’s largest kitchen, a court has heard.
A group of men and women who previously won Employment Court cases against the Gloriavale leaders are seeking a judicial review of a decision made by the inspectorate in 2017 and again in 2021 that people working in the community were volunteers, not employees.
Lawyer for the group Brian Henry told Chief Judge Christina Inglis during a hearing on Monday that the Labour Inspectorate had advice from Crown Law which suggested further avenues of investigation.
Henry said the inspectorate took no action on those suggestions.
The inspectors took a document signed by Gloriavale workers called a partnership agreement at face value, and believed they were working in partnership for the benefit of themselves and all in the community.
However, Henry said the workers got no legal advice before they were forced to sign the document.
“It’s an agreement where the balance of power just didn’t exist. It was imposed on them in a situation … of unity and submission, no negotiation. They had no choice.”
The Labour Inspector also found the 18 people who had left Gloriavale who had made the allegations to Charities Services were potentially biased and feeling disaffected.
“He can dismiss them sitting at his desk as they are a biased sample because they’re feeling disaffected having left.
“We say that was an absolute staggering conclusion for a civil servant to reach in the face of very serious allegations,” he said.
Henry said the inspectors were aware of serious allegations of child labour that arose during a Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) investigation into the community’s charitable status.
“These issues were raised with the inspector and, we say, simply ignored…”
The leaders told the DIA that children and teenagers worked in the community, from raising a group of chickens and rearing calves to the secondary school having its own very substantial dairy farm run entirely by 14-year-old students.
The women were running a “huge commercial” kitchen and 15-year-olds were responsible for butchering cows.
Henry said a report from the DIA to the Labour Inspectorate included allegations of forced signing of documents, assaults and members being shunned to punish them for questioning authority or leaving the community, meaning they are not allowed to contact or see relatives.
It included details of an incident where a child was badly injured in a deer pen, of 15-year-old boys being unsupervised while butchering cows in an abattoir, and men working excessively long hours in the community’s honey business.
The letter also pointed out “very disturbing” possible breaches of employment law, including excessive hours worked, no holidays, insufficient maternity leave, children in the workforce, pay below minimum wage and no proper record-keeping, Henry said.
In response, the Labour Inspectorate conducted a “desktop review” which found the work was either done in a partnership or in a domestic situation.
“This is quite a startling comment from a Labour Inspector, because he doesn’t look at the power imbalance, he doesn’t look at who drafted this document and he doesn’t look at the real consequences of the declaration of commitment – the fact that they’re not allowed to have their own thought, the fact that they just simply do as they’re told,” Henry said.
“He’s looking at it as if it’s a freely negotiated agreement.”
After its second investigation the Labour Inspectorate said, in a statement in 2021, that members of the community were not employees under New Zealand legislation because they gave service to the community without the expectations of being paid as individuals.
It said the Inspectorate conducted an inquiry after concerns raised by Charities Services and allegations of long working hours were made by two community members.
It interviewed 39 current and 13 former members of the Gloriavale community, reviewed a range of documents provided by the community and individual members, and sought advice from Crown Law.
It was clear that the documents signed by Gloriavale members suggested that it was not the intention of the parties to enter into an employment relationship but to create a sharing community. It found all members received the same benefits and there was no evidence that members signed documents under duress.
“There is good evidence that reasonable steps have been taken in the circumstances to support well informed decision-making, including independent legal advice.”