Does a church have a first amendment right to restrict employment to employees that pay 10% of their wages back?
A lawsuit has been filed against Churchome, a Kirkland, WA-based church with celebrity members like Russell Wilson and Justin Bieber, accusing the organization of requiring its employees to donate a portion of their earnings to the church or risk losing their jobs. The lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court last week by Churchome employee Rachel Kellogg, alleges that the church and its leaders engaged in a “systemic scheme of wage and hour abuse” against their employees. Kellogg claims that employees were required to give 10% of their gross earned wages per month as an offering and that failure to do so could result in pressure, discipline, or termination.
