Leavers who were interviewed had raised serious concerns about labour practices in Gloriavale, inclusing allegations of possible employment and labour breaches including excessive work hours, no holiday pay, insufficient maternity, leave, children and teens working, below minimum wage, no record keeping, etc.

Charities Services pass their concerns to the Labour Inspectorate (LI) which is part of MBIE and left it with them.

In 2017 the LI conducted a Desktop Review. They choose not to interview anyone and relied only on information given to the them by Charities Services.

Ultimately, without speaking to anyone, they determined that the workers at Gloriavale were not employees and that they could not deal with any matters of concern as it was not within their jurisdiction. The report was buried. No one knew of its existence until 2020 when similar allegations were again publicly raised.

During 2020, just as leavers were filing civil litigation against the leaders, two young men came out of Gloriavale to speak to Michael Morrah for TV3. They spoke on the condition of anonymity, and shared their concerns about long working hours, workplace accidents and more. The resulting media attention led MP Andrew Little to direct MBIE to take another look at the situation. MBIE then conducted a larger invesitagion, talking to many leavers inside and outside of Gloriavale.

The May 2023 MBIE Investigation Report concluded again that the workers were volunteers (based on the community’s own paperwork which showed deliberate intention not to create an employment relationship. In response Brian Henry, Dennis Gates and Stephen Patterson commenced court action representing three males (and then 6 females) against MBIE and Gloriavale, and went to the Employment Court to seek a declaration of employee. They were successful. During 2021 – 2026 there were multiple court hearings and judgements, appeals and delays. Read all about the Courage and Pilgrim cases here.