Class Action Claims Salvation Army Owes ARC Program Workers Full Minimum Wage

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A proposed class action out of Georgia claims that the Salvation Army has failed to pay adult rehabilitation center workers the full minimum hourly wage in accordance with federal law.

According to the 33-page lawsuit, the Salvation Army requires those who enroll in its adult rehabilitation programs—individuals who the case says are often homeless, poor, have drug or alcohol addiction problems, are “entangled in the criminal justice system” and/or suffer from mental illness—to work a minimum of 40 hours per week in its thrift and retail stores performing “physically grueling and sometimes dangerous” tasks.

The lawsuit alleges that in exchange for their labor, the workers are paid wages as low as $7 per week and no more than $25 per week, and are provided with “dorm-like sleeping arrangements,” food that is at least partially donated or paid for with the workers’ SNAP benefits, donated clothing, and “rudimentary rehabilitative services,” the value of which the suit says falls “far below” the federal minimum wage.

Far from helping rehabilitate these “vulnerable individuals,” the Salvation Army’s ARC program often leaves workers “penniless and jobless” and without the skills and resources needed to “survive economically in their communities,” the lawsuit alleges.

According to the case, the defendant, who operates roughly 26 residential adult rehabilitation centers (ARC) within its southern territory, has a “uniform policy or practice of failing to treat its ARC workers as employees” and has denied them the full minimum wage to which they are entitled under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

As the lawsuit tells it, thousands of individuals enroll in the Salvation Army’s ARC programs annually, either voluntarily or as ordered by legal authorities in lieu of incarceration. Per the suit, a requirement for enrollment in an ARC program is that an individual “perform a work therapy assignment for eight hours a day.” ARC workers are often required to work for the benefit of the Salvation Army’s thrift stores, performing “difficult work” that includes loading, unloading and moving heavy furniture, appliances and other donations; sorting through donated clothing and goods; cleaning, testing and repairing goods; operating heavy machinery; driving or traveling on trucks to pick up or drop off donated goods; and cleaning, organizing and maintaining the defendant’s stores, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit alleges that the “work therapy” is not “in furtherance of any educational program” and does not primarily benefit the individuals’ rehabilitation. According to the case, the workers are not provided with any job or skills training and leave the program without “any meaningful job placement assistance.” The suit claims that the work performed by ARC participants instead “directly and substantially” benefits the defendant’s multi-million-dollar thrift store business and is essential to the operation of the Salvation Army’s retail establishments.

According to the lawsuit, the Salvation Army employs other individuals from the community to work alongside ARC workers and pays them market-rate wages for substantially the same work. In contrast, ARC workers are paid only $7 per week when they first enroll in the program, with their wages increasing $1 per week until they reach a maximum of $25 per week, the case relays. If an ARC worker becomes unable or unwilling to perform the required work, they are expelled from the defendant’s program, according to the suit.

The lawsuit claims that despite the “significant benefits” the Salvation Army receives from ARC workers’ labor, the defendant has refused to treat them as employees and instead “sought to avoid various duties and obligations owed to employees under the FLSA.”

The case looks to represent anyone who, between March 9, 2019 and the date of final judgment, is, was or will be enrolled in any Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center or program operated by the defendant and performs, performed or will perform work for the company for less than the applicable federal minimum hourly wage.

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