Gloriavale employment case urgent to ensure other females' safety

Monday, 28 March 2022

Young Gloriavale worker John Helpful says he is proud to work hard for the community.

Six former residents of Gloriavale Christian Community, all of them women, have won the right to have their case heard in the Employment Court.

The case will be treated as urgent to ensure the safety of other females, including young girls, who still live in the West Coast community.

The individuals – Serenity Pilgrim, Anna Courage, Rose Standtrue, Crystal Loyal, Pearl Valor and Virginia Courage – say that during their time at Gloriavale they were required to undertake work under the direction and control of the Overseeing Shepherd and the Shepherds, and that they were employees.

Their claim also extends to an alleged breach of statutory duty by the Labour Inspectorate, which undertook an investigation and concluded that members of the Gloriavale community were volunteers, not employees.

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None of the six women still live at Gloriavale, but an “application for urgency is advanced” on the basis that other females, including young girls, who do remain there are being subjected to the same treatment that they allege they endured.

“This is giving rise to serious concerns about their ongoing safety,” concluded an Employment Court hearing on March 23.

The claims are made against the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), the Labour Inspectorate and seven individuals – Howard Temple, Fervent Stedfast, Enoch Upright, Samuel Valor, Faithful Pilgrim, Noah Hopeful and Stephen Standfast.

The Gloriavale defendants say that “concerns identified in relation to current residents are unsubstantiated and amount to hearsay statements that are inadmissible and ought to be put to one side”.

Earlier this month, three former Gloriavale residents lodged a case against the attorney-general on behalf of MBIE as well as Gloriavale's senior leaders and three of the community’s companies.