CHICAGO (CN) — A Seventh Circuit appellate panel ruled 2 to 1 against a class of participants in the Salvation Army's "Adult Rehabilitation Center" program on Tuesday, concluding the program's "work therapy" doesn't violate forced labor law.
The ruling affirms a September 2022 dismissal order from the District Court of Northern Illinois, where participants in the program claimed in a class action, first filed in Chicago in November 2021 and amended in January 2022, that the program amounts to forced labor under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.
"The first amended complaint fails to allege adequately a claim under any of the forced labor provisions at issue in this case," U.S. Circuit Judge Kenneth Ripple, a Ronald Reagan appointee, wrote for the majority.
The Salvation Army presents the Adult Rehabilitation Center program as a 180-day residential rehabilitation course for those "seeking help for any number of social and life issues," with emphasis placed on those struggling with substance abuse. The organization claims the program provides "spiritual, social, and emotional assistance to people who have lost the ability to cope with their problems and provide for themselves."
But two classes of participants — those who joined the program willingly, and those who were referred to it as a condition of parole — tell a different story.
Both groups noted in court filings that they were only paid "a gratuity" between $1 and $25 per week while in the program,...
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