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Written by Liz Gregory, GLST Manager
As TV One News 28 August 2026 stated,
“It’s shaping up to be New Zealand’s biggest employment battle.”
Watch the TV One News clip here:
Keep reading to the end where Gideon Benjamin, Ruby Trust, John Ready and Anna Courage share on video their motivations for joining the claim, their messages to the Gloriavale leadership, and what they hope to achieve by participating.
Quick Summary
26 August 2026 was a significant step forward for Gloriavale leavers to claim wage arrears and personal grievance claims from their time working in the community, with 61 former members filing claims with the Employment Relations Authority (ERA).
This action comes off the back of lengthy (and ongoing) Courage and Pilgrim proceedings which have had success in the Employment Court. (Read some of the history here). Recently Judge Inglis judgment affirmed leavers claims were within time, but she ruled the Labour Inspectorate was out-of-time to help recover wage arrears on behalf of the plaintiffs from Gloriavale (and out of time for the Labour Inspectorate to fine Gloriavale).
This ruling threw up some questions around how the non-plaintiff leavers might be assisted by the Labour Inspectorate in their recovery efforts. Lack of clarity and a ticking bomb left leavers looking for a new pathway to settle their claims.
Consequently leavers have taken matters into their own hands, and have engaged the successful Henry/Patterson combo to take them through the ERA route to claim wage arrears and personal grievances.
What’s the basis of the claim
On the basis of Employment Court judgments, leavers consider themselves to have been employees of Gloriavale. They are making use of the ERA pathway to claim backpay of wages, holiday pay entitlements, along with personal grievance claims including injury and abuse that occurred while at work.
The claim alleges exploitation, forced labour, unsafe working conditions, abuse and more.
More details about the claim in this RNZ article.
Are they out of time?
Some claimants have passed the usual 6-year statute of limitations. They are requesting the ERA waive the time bar for exceptional circumstances.
These circumstances include, for many, being born into a group where they had no capacity to have knowledge of the breaches of law, no ability to make complaints through formal channels, and not recognising the parameters of employment until some time after they left. For many they did not realise they were employees until the judgments in 2022/2023.
What does an ERA process entail?
ERA process usually involves one complainant. It is novel to have a joint claim. The ERA will need to consider how they will manage this process.
It usually entails the claim being served to the other side (ie Gloriavale) where they have a short period of time to respond to the claim. Will Gloriavale accept the claim, or dispute it?
The next step usually involves mediation. It’s unclear how this will be managed, but one solution could be selecting a few claimants to represent the larger group.
If there is no agreement, the ERA will move to a hearing. This is not a public court setting. It’s a more informal setting where each leaver, their lawyer, and the other side, along with an ERA panel, will have a round table hearing to help establish the facts.
Then ERA will then rule and determine the sum to be paid. (Keeping in mind that being awarded a sum, and actually receiving the money are two entirely different matters).
Gloriavale will then have the option to challenge the ruling. This would include removing it to the Employment Court. Gloriavale would need to decide if it wants to challenge just one small aspect of the case, or blow it into a full challenge.
Regardless of this, the compensation orders are still able to be enforced during this period.
What is the motivation of Gloriavale Leavers?
There are 61 claimants and each person will have different motivations for why they are involved. But I hear some very common threads. For most, the motivation reaches beyond their own circumstances: they want a better and fairer future for the next generation growing up in Gloriavale, so that young people are not required to repeat the same patterns of unpaid labour and dependency.
For many pursuing these claims is ultimately about the principle of the matter - establishing that what happened was not right, that their labour had value, and that accountability should follow where legal rights have been denied.
I hear a lot of leavers who have a deeply held desire to see Gloriavale brought to genuine repentance - not simply through words, but through a willingness to acknowledge what has happened, accept responsibility, make restitution where it is due, and change the systems that allowed it to occur.
For some it’s about receiving an equitable settlement for years of work for which they were never properly paid - money they believe they are legitimately owed and would help them and their children establish a more positive future.
Finally there are many members who would like to receive the payment and safeguard some for their families who are yet to leave Gloriavale.
Leavers’ Voices on Video
The video below brings together comments made to the media by former Gloriavale members Ruby Trust, Gideon Benjamin, Anna Courage and John Ready about the filing of the employment claim was filed. They share personal experiences of work inside Gloriavale, the harms they say arose from those working conditions, insights into the belief system, that shaped expectations around labour, obedience and duty, and most of all they address the motivations behind them joining the claim. To top it off they have a message for the Gloriavale leadership. Lawyers Brian Henry and Steve Patterson also contribute to the video explaining the significance and basis of the claim, what the claimants are seeking, and the likely pathway ahead as the legal process unfolds.
More news coverage:
Front page of the Press: https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/361068791/61-former-gloriavale-workers-file-almost-40m-claim-years-unpaid-labour
Note: You can choose to read the Daily Vale articles from the GLST website, or from Substack.