A former Gloriavale member wants to be paid for his years of work in the West Coast commune to end what he calls exploitative practices against residents.
Hosea Courage spoke to 1News as the Employment Court made a new ruling that could pave the way to compensation for former residents.
He joined Daniel Pilgrim and Levi Courage in taking legal action to create change where he grew up.
In 2022, the court found the trio were employees rather than volunteers when they started working at six years old.
Judge Christina Inglis today ruled that the group’s leader, known as the Overseeing Shepherd, was the men’s employer, which means they can seek payment.
Courage said he wants the judgement to set a precedent.
“I was born in Gloriavale; I lived there; I grew up there; I worked there — I want my money back because they have never paid me and now they’ll be able to say this person is the employer and we’ll be going to court with them to get it.”
He believes the leadership will try to appeal the decision, saying the money he wasn’t paid for the work he did has gone into assets decided on by the leadership.
“They are going to fight this for as long as they can to stop, to try and keep paying people as little as possible and force them to work as much as possible.
“If I had the opportunity to talk to the leaders within Gloriavale, I would tell them that they know why we’re doing this, and it’s not about trying to take away all their wealth.
“It’s not about trying to destroy their religion if you could even call it that.
“It’s about trying to stop them hurting and exploiting people, enforcing people into situations that they don’t want to be in.”
Courage said he wanted people at Gloriavale to choose where their money was spent.
While workers might get paid into a bank account, the money was taken out almost straight away and put into the communal fund, he added.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to establish a system that allows people within Gloriavale to start asking for their money back so they can be financially stable and able to leave Gloriavale when they want.”
1News contacted Gloriavale for comment but received no response.
