The Salvation Army ‘Forced Labor,’ Abused ARC Participants, Alleges Class Action

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Salvation Army ARC Labor Class Action Lawsuit Overview:

• Why: The workers allege The Salvation Army exploits vulnerable individuals through its Adult Rehabilitation Center program.
• Who: Four former workers filed a class action lawsuit against The Salvation Army.
• Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in Illinois federal court.

The Salvation Army’s Adult Rehabilitation Center (ARC) program takes advantage of vulnerable individuals and profiting from exploitative labor by force and threats of harm, say four former workers in a new class action lawsuit. 

Specifically, the lawsuit accuses The Salvation Army National Corporation and The Salvation Army, known as Central Territorial of The Salvation Army (SA Central Territory), of violating the Federal Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. SA Central Territory oversees The Salvation Army work in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

The lead plaintiffs are Darrell Taylor, Kevin Lewis, Darrell Burkhart, and Leevertis Page, all of whom worked in the ARC under SA Central Territory.

Plaintiffs Allegedly ‘Threatened’ and Coerced By ARC Employees

Taylor, Lewis, Burkhart, and Page claim they were each required to work at least eight hours per day and at least 40 hours per week for food, shelter, and “gratuity” between $1 and $25 per week. 

They say their food assistance EBT cards with their SNAP benefits were confiscated upon their arrival at ARC as a “condition of [their] participation” in the program. When Page left the ARC, his EBT card was returned with a $0 balance, says the Salvation Army class action lawsuit. 

All four men say they were threatened during their time at ARC if they worked too slowly or failed to follow instructions, were cut off from the outside world and were forced to rely on ARC for survival. 

Plaintiff Burkhart says he was also threatened with an arrest warrant unless he worked as instructed although he was sick at the time. After four or five weeks, he left the ARC “because he could not take the grueling, forced labor any longer,” and was taken to jail as this violated his probation. 

The class action lawsuit seeks damages, including punitive damages, and reasonable attorneys’ costs. 

ARC Operates Under ‘Work Therapy’ Guise, Class Action Says

The Salvation Army bills the ARC program as a “no-cost program [to] tackle the symptoms and causes of alcohol and drug dependence” by placing participants in “work therapy,” says the class action. 

Participants in The Salvation Army’s ARC program are required to “labor long hours in physically demanding jobs” in the company’s commercial thrift stores and other business locations as part of their program requirements, according to the complaint. 

ARC program participants are either referred to the program by the courts as a term of parole or probation or are walk-in participants who are “often extremely economically vulnerable,” the class action says. Justice-referred participants must abide by the program or else face violating parole or probation and being sent back to jail. 

In exchange for their work, participants are given cash “gratuity” between approximately $1 and $25 per full week of work, says the Salvation Army class action lawsuit. This low amount prevents participants from saving a significant enough amount to get back on their feet, keeping them reliant on ARC, the class action argues. 

Participants must also work for food and shelter from ARC, and are supposedly limited from seeking additional paid work elsewhere, says the lawsuit.

Additionally, ARC employees allegedly regularly threaten participants with removal for failure to comply with instructions; Page says he saw participants kicked out of the program “during wintery conditions and in the middle of the night.”

The class action lawsuit proposes a Nationwide Walk-In Class and a Nationwide Justice-Referred Class which cover all participants in The Salvation Army’s program, both walk-in and justice-referred, who performed labor in the ARC program within the 10 years before Nov. 15, 2021. There is also a proposed Central Territory Walk-In Class and a Central Territory Justice- Referred Class which cover individuals more specifically to The Salvation Army’s Central Territory.

The Salvation Army is not the only organization accused of forced labor practices. CoreCivic, a for-profit operator of prisons and immigration detention centers, along with US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have been accused of forcing detained immigrants to work for little to no pay. 

Have you or a loved one participated in The Salvation Army’s ARC program? Tell us about it in the comments section below!

The plaintiffs are represented by David Fish and M. Nieves Bolaños of Fish Potter Bolaños, PC.

The Salvation Army ARC Labor Class Action Lawsuit is Taylor, et al. v. The Salvation Army National Corporation, et al., Case No. 1:21-cv-06105, in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

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