Churchome, the Kirkland-based church that counts celebrities like Russell Wilson and Justin Bieber among its thousands of members, has been accused by an employee of requiring workers to donate a portion of their earnings back to the religious organization or risk being fired.
In a King County Superior Court lawsuit filed last week, employee Rachel Kellogg alleges Churchome and its leaders “engaged in a systemic scheme of wage and hour abuse against their employees,” including the requirement that all employees tithe 10% of their gross earned wages per month. If the organization’s employees didn’t do so, the lawsuit says, they would face pressure, discipline or termination.
Kellogg, who worked in video and production for Churchome, says she was never informed of this policy until after she was hired in 2019. The lawsuit argues the practice violates the state’s Consumer Protection Act, and hour and wages laws.
“Regardless of whether this is a church, or not a church, or a nonprofit or a for-profit corporation, requiring employees to rebate any wages to an employer is an unlawful practice,” said Eric Nusser, one of Kellogg’s attorneys at Seattle’s Terrell Marshall Law Group.
The lawsuit includes communications between Kellogg and employees who mention the need for her to tithe 10%, as well as a reprimand from her supervisor with the “expectation that you get in rhythm with our company policy on tithing.” The lawsuit says the reprimand came after she stopped tithing because...
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