The Sea Org as slavery

The 13th Amendment to the US constitution states, in part:

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

I guess someone must have forgotten to tell the cult.

OH MY GOD!!!

I didn't know this.

Wow.

That is like a list of the things you DON'T get in the SO.

It sounds nice. But don't they care? I mean, do they just think none of this could go on in the US? Why don't they STOP it? What do we have to do, form some kind of class action protest lawsuit petition to somebody higher up? Is the problem that we can't prove anything?

AAARRRGH.

[James McGuigan]

[/quote]This is where it gets sticky for me. Do I want the SO paying people less than nothing because they are deducting rent from the paychecks? Hell no.

On the other hand, am I fearful of a government that choses to come in and close down an institution because it gives software to members that blocks certain websites or happens to be buddies with the local cops during a protest?--you bet I am.

I am worried about legal precedent. Once it is the CoS, who will be next? However, this has always been my pet peeve. I am fascinated with legal precedent as I've seen great court decisions turn around and bite others on the butt.

That's why, IMO, CoS needs to be brought down through the clearly illegal tactics they use and awareness. This new case about the Scientology's only tax deduction is a good place to start. Anon protesting once a month and distributing flyers is another great thing.[/quote]

EXACTLY. DWest, you hit the nail on the head; the focus must be on the clearly illegal activities of the CoS. In my opinion, you pointed right to a key issue that can easily be remedied - national and local wage hour laws are being violated by the CoS. Sure, slavery is illegal, and it can be argued that the CoS is making willing slaves of its members, but that's a hard argument to make in Court (although an interesting subject of debate).

However, the minute slavery was abolished, those in power learned new ways of "enslaving" people - thus began the era of employer abuse. The good news is that the law has kept up with the problem.

For example, in many cases (I don't know the law of every state), paying an employee by giving him or her free rent violates minimum wage law. Employees must be paid with money at least minimum wage for each hour worked. Additionally, in many states, employees must be paid time-and-a-half for every hour worked over 8 hours in one day or 40 hours in one week. Some states even have double-time laws for longer work days and weeks. Additionally, workers must be provided with meal breaks, and rest breaks in most states.

The penalties for violating minimum wage, ovetime, and meal and rest break laws can be harsh (heavy fines for each violation).

This is why there are tons of class action wage hour lawsuits. It's quite a racket actually, because some lawyers are out there basically trolling for large companies committing infractions. The lawyers are actually in competition with each other to get the best class action claims first. But, these lawyers serve a purpose.

A lawyer finds one employee for a company that has failed to give meal breaks, and then sues on behalf of every employee that company has ever deprived of a meal break. Because, like the CoS, the violations are often a matter of company policy, there may be thousands of affected employees and former employees. The "employer" is eventually required to turn over empoyment records to the other opposing side so that they can audit the violations and so that all potential claimants can be notified. It's pretty instense, and these lawsuits often settle in the multi-millions.

So, from what you all are saying, people in the Sea Org are working up to 15 hours a day. They are not being paid minimum wage, they are not getting overtime, they are not getting meal breaks and they are not getting rest breaks. Oh, and I almost forgot, there may be some violations in connection with underage workers. That's a big class-action lawsuit right there.

The only wrinkle is that the Sea Org members must be "employees," not volunteers. Ironically, with that question, we are back to the issue you all were discussing in this thread - are they really volunteers?

[/u]

[astra]

Hi lawanon, thanks for your insight. I have always been curious about this subject. When I was recruited for the sea org, it was to work at Bridge Publications and the sea org members there were paid minimum wage. This also occured at WISE and ABLE. I was told this was because these were secular organizations as opposed to the rest of the sea org. The sea org members in those organizations were paid minimum wage and then had to pay for rent and food back to the sea org out of that money and then were left with almost nothing. The rest of us were paid somewhere from $0 to $50 a week and this was because were were working for a religion. Is there any law covering this?

First of all, I am so honored that you have respondend to my post. As one of the founders of this wonderful site, you have my utmost respect.

I wish there was a simple answer to these questions, but as far as I can tell, this is an evolving area of the law. At the risk of putting everyone to sleep, I am can only show you what I'm learning in my research of "church law." I am no expert in this area, so I invite everyone to chime in and correct me where I am wrong. Please remember that lawyers rarely gove one-word answers!

Certain workers are exempted from coverage under the minimum wage and overtime compensation requirements. Two exemptions are of interest to churches and religious organizations. The applicable federal law in the United States is, among others, the Fair Labor Standards Act (asleep yet).

With regard to minimum wage, the Act exempts "any employee employed by an establishment which is an … organized camp, or religious or nonprofit educational conference center, if (A) it does not operate for more than seven months in any calendar year, or (B) during the preceding calendar year, its average receipts for any six months of such year were not more than [one-third] of its average receipts for the other six months of such year … ."

So, I'm thinking that the Sea Org will not satify the exemption because it operates year-round. I can't really speak to the issue of their annual receipts.

Second, the Act exempts "any employee employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity (including any employee employed in the capacity of academic administrative personnel or teacher in elementary or secondary schools)." The definitions of employees "employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity" are complex, and they are contained in regulations issued by the Department of Labor. They involve a consideration of both job functions and compensation.

Basically, this is a restatement of what is true for all employees. If you are truly and executive, administrator, or professional, you are a different class of employee than an hourly employee. You can be paid an annual salary and be expected to work as many hours as it takes to get the job done. It is not as easy to satisfy the requirements of this type of employment as one might think.

There are many class action lawsuits pending because employers classified their employees exempt as "administrators" (thus denying them overtime) improperly. One key factor in this analysis is whether or not the employer controls the day-to-day activities of the employee. If so, the employee is probably not exempt and should be receiving minimum wage and overtime.

For example, David Miscavige is exempt. He runs the show. His lawyers are exempt. They are professionals. Perhaps heads of local orgs are exempt. They run the show locally. Sea Org employees are controlled by their superiors to such an extent, and with such a detailed paper-trail, that I doubt the church could successfully claim that they are exempt.

In evaluating the potential application of the Fair Labor Standards Act to religious organizations, the following must also be considered:

1. The Act's minimum wage and overtime pay requirements only apply to employees who are either (a) engaged directly in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, or (b) employed by an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce.

This might mean selling books, providing counseling for a fee (auditing), perhaps even some of the MEST work would qualify (working at a center that also functions as a hotel for guests). I would argue that any services provided to the public for a fee are acts of commerce.

2. Churches and religious organizations that satisfy the definition of an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce will be subject to the minimum wage and overtime pay requirements of the Act.

3. Church employees may be covered by the Act's minimum wage and overtime provisions, even if their employing church is not an enterprise, if they personally are engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce. This is known as individual coverage. Individual coverage is triggered if an employee is engaged in any of the following activities on more than "insubstantial" or infrequent basis: (1) receiving or making interstate phone calls; (2) receiving or sending interstate mail or electronic communications (such as email); (3) traveling across state lines in the course of employment; (4) use of the Internet.

I would imagine that Sea Org employees are heavily engaged in the activities listed in number three. This is a powerful argument, in my opinion.

The provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act are interpreted liberally in favor of employees. As a result, church leaders should not take the position that a particular worker is not covered by the Act's protections without first consulting legal counsel.

4. Religious organizations that are covered by the Act's requirements can adjust their liability for overtime compensation and minimum wage payments in a variety of ways. For example, they can reduce the number of hours worked each week; prohibit all unauthorized overtime work (however, they must also ensure that workers in fact do not work overtime, since an employer who "prohibits" overtime is still required to pay overtime compensation to employees that it "allows" to work more than 40 hours each week); reduce hourly compensation (but not below the minimum wage); reduce fringe benefits; or take credit for all indirect and noncash payments made on behalf of employees, to the extent allowable (depending on the state, there are limits).

5. All employers having employees covered by the Act must maintain records documenting covered employees' wages, hours, and the other conditions and practices of employment. Included are payroll records, employment contracts, pension plans and other employee benefits, and worktime schedules. If an employer intends to claim credit for noncash payments, it must maintain records documenting the value of such payments.

6. Many states have enacted their own versions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. It is imperative to review the potential application of state minimum wage and overtime compensation laws to church workers.

7. Penalties may be imposed for violations of the Act. Employers who violate the minimum wage or overtime pay requirements are liable to their employees for the amount of the unpaid minimum wage or the unpaid overtime pay, and "an additional equal amount as liquidated damages." In addition, employees who are not paid minimum wage or overtime compensation can collect the reasonable cost of their attorney's fees in suing the employer. Employers who "willfully" violate the minimum wage or overtime pay requirements of the Act are subject to a fine of up to $10,000 for each violation. A 2-year statute of limitations applies to the recovery of back wages except in the case of willful violations, in which case a 3-year statute of limitations applies.

So there you have the result of my brief foray into this subject. I should also mention that I left a suggestion for you guys to consider - creating a "Law and Scientology" section. This may create crossover to other sections, and thus, you all may not want to do it, but there is a major upside. A legal forum might attract more legally-minded people to this issue (lawyers love to blog); might inspire some readers to pursue church law; and might provide a helpful reference tool all around. End of pitch. Thank you for your time!

[astra]

I tried to do one of those Quote things where you copy only part of what the previous person said, but I always seem to get the whole entry instead of just a relevent sentence or two, so...I don't know, maybe someone can tell me how to do that some time.

Anyway, as gray as the whole Sea Org employment issue may seem, I actually believe that the church has enormous legal exposure in this area. It is not at all clear that every member of the Sea Org is exempt when you look at the legal requirements for exemption. I'm noticing that other churches are paying very close attention to wage / hour issues for church employees. Perhaps they know somthing the CoS doesn't.

I would not be surprised if someone actually did eventually file a class action lawsuit against the CoS for unpaid wages (minimum wage, overtime, meal breaks, rest breaks).

Perhaps that's why the CoS is so hard on people trying to leave the Sea Org. Is it true that people trying to leave are pressured into signing releases and confidentiality agreements?

The most ironic thing to me is this whole "Freeloader Debt" thing. Considering the fact that the CoS probably owes current and former Sea Org members millions of dollars in unpaid wages, I think they may be a little confused as to who's freeloading!

Come to think of it, ex Sea Org members who actually paid their "freeloader debts" may actually be a special class action "class" of their own. Not only did they work and not get paid in accordance with the law, they actually paid money to their employer for the work they did. If more lawyers thought this through, they'd be hearing cash registers.

As for minors working, I agree with you, Astra. That really is just such a glaring violation of the law. Even for a church, there cannot possibly be a legal justification for the inclusion of minors in the Sea Org.

It's odd to me that child services does not conduct surprise inspections. I'm wondering if they even know what's going on. Part of the problem may be that Scientiology has a highly technical language all its own (same as lawyers, which is one of the reasons why I believe scientologists and former scientologists already have many of the skills to be good lawyers). Nobody really knows what you guys are talking about half the time! Every single word and abbriviation needs to defined. To the outsider, everything just flies right over your head!