How the watchdog missed the clock while members' wage arrears survived
Gloriavale's leadership has defeated the labour watchdog's case, after Chief Judge Christina Inglis ruled on 28 May 2026 that the inspector acted too late.
The decision dealt with preliminary timing questions in long-running litigation over unpaid work at the West Coast Christian community. Earlier Employment Court judgments had found that nine people born and raised at Gloriavale were employees while working there, some from the age of six. The community has a separate appeal pending in the Court of Appeal over aspects of the women's employee status.
A Labour Inspector from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment had pursued the community's leadership, including the Overseeing Shepherd, seeking declarations of breach, compensation orders and pecuniary penalties over the unpaid labour. A separate group of former members brought their own claims for wage arrears, holiday pay, breach of contract and personal grievances.
The central question was when each limitation clock began to run. The Gloriavale defendants argued that section 142 of the Employment Relations Act is strict, with the clock starting when the work is performed, so any claim for wages more than six years before filing is extinguished. The former members argued it should start only when a claim becomes reasonably discoverable.
Chief Judge Inglis preferred the latter reading for the wage arrears claims. She reasoned that "the...
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