Donovan v. Tony and Susan Alamo Foundation
| Decision Date | 09 February 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. CIV 77-2183.,CIV 77-2183. |
| Citation | 567 F. Supp. 556 |
| Parties | Raymond J. DONOVAN, Secretary of Labor, United States Department of Labor, Plaintiff, v. TONY AND SUSAN ALAMO FOUNDATION, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Arkansas |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Robert A. Fitz, Dallas, Tex., for plaintiff.
Roy Gean, Jr., Gean, Gean & Gean, Fort Smith, Ark., for defendants.
This is a suit by the Secretary of Labor seeking injunctive relief under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Court has jurisdiction of the case as an action brought pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 217. Following an evidentiary hearing, the Court enters the following findings of fact and conclusions of law:
Findings of Fact
The Tony and Susan Alamo Foundation was incorporated under the laws of California on January 29, 1969. In the Articles of Incorporation, the Foundation purports to be a nonprofit religious corporation with the primary purposes being to: "establish, conduct and maintain an evangelistic church, and generally to do those things needful for the promotion of Christian faith, virtue and charity."
The Foundation secured an exemption from taxation under § 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code as a corporation organized and operated exclusively for religious purposes with none of its net earnings inuring to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual. The exemption has been approved and certified by the Internal Revenue Service.
Since incorporation, the defendant Tony and Susan Alamo Foundation has owned or operated the following businesses in California since at least January 1, 1976:
Period of Time
From To Business Name Type of Business Location
Contract labor Saugus, CA
crews
Alamo Sewing Manufacture of Saugus, CA
Room clothing
Alamo on Vine Retail Sales of Hollywood, CA
clothing
10/27/73 5/6/76 Alamo Exxon Service station Saugus, CA
IV.
Defendant Tony and Susan Alamo Foundation applied for, and received, a certificate of authority to conduct business affairs in the State of Arkansas. The Foundation has owned or operated the following businesses in Arkansas since April 10, 1975:
V.
The defendant, Tony and Susan Alamo Foundation, has owned or operated the following businesses in the State of Tennessee since September 1, 1974:
9/1/74 Present Alamo of Retail sales of Nashville, TN
Nashville clothing
10/15/74 Present Nashville Today Distribution of Nashville, TN
candy
10/15/74 Present Tennessee Boy Distribution Nashville, TN
VI.
The Foundation has owned or operated the Tempe Towers Motel in Tempe, Arizona, since March 15, 1979.
VII.
The businesses owned or operated by the Foundation are ordinary commercial businesses which offer goods and services to the general public in competition with for-profit businesses. The workers in the businesses are engaged in interstate commerce or in the production of goods for interstate commerce, or are workers handling, selling or otherwise working on goods or materials which have been moved in or produced for interstate commerce. Since January 1, 1976, the Foundation has had an annual gross volume of sales made or business done of not less than $250,000, exclusive of excise taxes at the retail level which are stated separately.
VIII.
Defendant, Tony Alamo, is a resident of Crawford County, Arkansas. He is President of the Foundation and he actively supervises and directs the affairs and operations of the Foundation. Since the incorporation of the Foundation, Tony Alamo has acted directly or indirectly in the interests of the Foundation in relation to its employees and workers. Defendant, Susan Alamo, was a resident of Crawford County, Arkansas, until her death in April, 1982. She was Secretary and Treasurer of the Foundation and, at relevant times, she acted directly or indirectly in the interests of the Foundation in relation to its employees and workers.
IX.
At the commencement of this action in December, 1977, defendant Larry La Roche was a resident of Crawford County, Arkansas, and Vice President of the Foundation. He no longer holds that office. There is no substantial evidence that Mr. La Roche acted directly or indirectly in the interests of the Foundation in relation to its employees or workers in the Foundation's commercial businesses.
X.
The Foundation is an outgrowth of the evangelistic efforts of Tony and Susan Alamo. The affidavits1 of the "associates"2 of the Foundation provide persuasive evidence that the evangelistic work of the Alamos and/or the Foundation associates has provided spiritual and moral assistance to many people who lacked direction or purpose in their lives and some who were addicted to drugs or engaged in criminal activity.
Practically all of the work performed in the operations of the commercial businesses owned or run by the Foundation is done by the associates under the direction or supervision of Tony Alamo and, until April, 1982, Susan Alamo. The associates apparently own no interest in the Foundation and their relationship to the Foundation is an informal one.
The associates are entirely dependent upon the Foundation for long periods, in some cases several years. The associates who worked in each of the Foundation's businesses were not considered by defendants to be employees, but rather were considered as volunteers, associates of the Foundation, or brothers and sisters of the congregation. These workers received room, board, medical care, clothing, furnishings, child care and small amounts of cash money from the Foundation.
The Secretary failed to produce any past or present associate of the Foundation who viewed his work in the Foundation's various commercial businesses as anything other than "volunteering" his services to...
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Tony and Susan Alamo Foundation v. Secretary of Labor, 83-1935
...§ 203(r), which defines that term as "the related activities performed . . . by any person or persons for a common business purpose." 567 F.Supp. 556 (1983). The District Court found that despite the Foundation's incorporation as a nonprofit religious organization, its businesses were "enga......
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Archie v. Grand Cent. Partnership, Inc.
...commercial businesses as anything other than `volunteering' his services to the Foundation." Id. (citing Donovan v. Tony & Susan Alamo Found., 567 F.Supp. 556 (W.D.Ark.1982)). In this case, instead, the record clearly reflects that the plaintiffs expected compensation for their services. In......
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Archie v. Grand Cent. Partnership, Inc.
...found that they were employees and were to have been paid as such. A similar situation existed in Donovan v. Tony and Susan Alamo Foundation, 567 F.Supp. 556, 563, 574 (W.D.Ark. 1982), mod. on other grounds, 722 F.2d 397 (8th Cir.1983), aff'd, 471 U.S. 290, 105 S.Ct. 1953, 85 L.Ed.2d 278 (1......
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...on the Foundation for “‘food, shelter, clothing, transportation and medical benefits’” (quoting Donovan v. Tony & Susan Alamo Found., 567 F. Supp. 556, 562 (W.D. Ark. 1983), aff’d in part and vacated in part , 722 F.2d 397 (8th Cir. 1983))). 47. Id. at 301. The Court reasoned that “[s]uch e......