Salvation Army rehab center participants ask Seventh Circuit to revive forced labor claims

CHICAGO (CN) — People who enrolled in the Salvation Army’s adult rehabilitation centers were subjected to forced labor with little to no pay and complete isolation from their family, their lawyer told a federal appeals court on Wednesday as she argued that the case’s dismissal should be overturned. 

In a November 2021 class action against the Christian charity group, filed under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, four people said the organization threatened to send them back to prison or take away their food and housing access if they didn’t work, and coerced participants "to perform physically demanding labor, often alongside paid employees performing the same work.” 

Two of the plaintiffs lived at Salvation Army’s centers as a condition of their parole, and the other two joined the center voluntarily. 

The Salvation Army described its adult rehabilitation centers as serving “adults struggling with life’s spiritual and social challenges, including joblessness, homelessness, and problems relating to alcohol or drug use,” according to court documents. The centers offer spiritual counseling, worship services and classes in life skills.

“The aim of these activities is to assist the individual in their spiritual growth and development of good work habits and skills through work-therapy assignments, equipping them for a productive transition back into society. Participants are free to leave at any time,” wrote Daniel Wolff of Crowell & Moring LLP, the Salvation Army’s lawyer, in his appellate brief.

In court Wolff likened the plaintiffs' complaint to a monk filing a lawsuit because he’s upset he’s not getting paid for the beer and wine he makes. Essentially, Wolff said, when people come into the centers, they know what they’re signing up for: They're required to perform 40 hours of work-therapy a week, attend church and stay clear of drugs or alcohol, and in return, the Salvation Army provides participants with food and housing. 

Judge John Blakey in the Northern District of Illinois agreed when he dismissed the case in September 2022, finding the plaintiffs failed to state a claim under the federal anti-trafficking statute.

Jennifer Bennett of Gupta Wessler LLP, the attorney for the plaintiffs, maintained that while the plaintiffs may have agreed to the working terms initially, it was the organization's coercion that kept them in the centers.

She added that under the 13th Amendment, if people initially agree to labor but are then coerced to continue doing it by force or threat, it qualifies as involuntary servitude. 

U.S. Circuit Judge Michael Scudder, a Trump appointee, asked if people who pick up trash while they’re in custody of the Department of Corrections fall under this characterization. 

Bennett noted that the 13th Amendment and the Trafficking Victims Protection Act have exceptions for people under the state’s punishment. 

Judge Scudder said he found it improbable that the people who were so-called walk-ins to the center couldn’t just leave. 

The plaintiffs say the Salvation Army exploits the vulnerabilities of the people who come to stay at its centers. Plus, Bennett argued, participants often can't just leave because the Salvation Army requires them to forfeit all their personal belongings, such as their cellphones, medications and sleeping bags. 

Judge Scudder and U.S. Circuit Judge Kenneth Ripple, who was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, said the threats the plaintiffs outlined weren't specific enough. The judges also asked why the suit wasn't filed under a minimum wage statute instead.

Bennett said the federal trafficking law isn't just about human trafficking; it also covers labor trafficking, forced labor and bonded labor. 

When the case was dismissed in 2022, Judge Blakey said it violated the precedent set by Rooker v. Feldman, in that federal courts can’t overturn the decision of a state board, or in this case a criminal board. 

Judge Scudder said he had a hard time understanding how that precedent played any role in this case, particularly because Bennett noted in her second amended complaint that the Salvation Army was acting as a private entity, not a state or criminal board. 

The final judge on the panel was U.S. Circuit Judge Candace Jackson-Akiwumi, a Biden appointee. The court did not indicate when a ruling would be issued.

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