Bishop Harding Smith under investigation for possible wage theft
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. – Police are investigating a well-known Twin Cities pastor for possible wage theft.
Brooklyn Park police confirmed an investigation into Bishop Harding Smith, a prominent voice against violence in the community.
Smith is a pastor in Robbinsdale and the president of the nonprofit Minnesota Acts Now.
Last year, the city of Brooklyn Park awarded Minnesota Acts Now a $1.2 million contract for violence intervention work in high-risk areas.
Eight former employees tell WCCO News Smith did not properly pay them for the hours they worked.
MORE NEWS: Minneapolis Police: Youths in Dinkytown aimed fireworks at bystanders, passing cars
Jermaine Garrett, who says he worked for Acts Now for about two years, says his trust in Smith is broken.
Garrett alleges that for several months he worked 40 hours a week but got paid for only 30.
"All the volunteer hours that we had to do, [Smith] basically made us do it," Garrett said. "If we didn't do it, we was fired. End of discussion basically."
Garrett shared his concerns with the Brooklyn Park City Council, but other former employees are afraid to go public.
WCCO News independently talked to seven people besides Garrett who used to work for Smith and they all had nearly identical stories about allegedly being underpaid.
They alleged being coerced or threatened into volunteer hours and receiving false promises they'd be paid for those hours later.
The other employees say they want to stay anonymous, mostly out of fear of retaliation.
"We need justice out of this," Garrett said. "We all victims of this, but now everybody's just scared of him. I'm not scared of that man."
Smith says his former employees are lying and trying to tarnish his reputation.
"People knew about volunteering before coming in," Smith said. "We also talk about it in meetings. We all had to chip in."
MORE NEWS: Minnesota officials react to Supreme Court striking down race-conscious admissions
Smith denies forcing anyone to volunteer by threat. He brought former employees to our interview Thursday who vouched for his character and their work experience.
Some employees, including Garrett, stayed at Acts Now for more than a year in spite of their dissatisfaction.
Garrett and other former employees say it was because they believed in the violence prevention work and wanted to better the community.
The Brooklyn Park police chief had credited Minnesota Acts Now for helping reduce the number of shots-fired calls in the city. However, the city did not renew its contract with the nonprofit earlier this year.
In a statement, Brooklyn Park said in part:
After the wage theft allegations were made by former employees, the City conducted a review of the funds reimbursed to MAN for payroll. City officials concluded that all reimbursement payments made to MAN reflected the actual payments that MAN made to employees for their work.
To the best of our knowledge, the City of Brooklyn Park is not aware of any state-level investigations pertaining to MAN's work. However, it is important to acknowledge that the ongoing criminal investigation...may shed further light on this matter.
Bottom line: The City of Brooklyn Park takes allegations of improper labor practices very seriously. We are committed to cooperating fully with [police] to ensure a thorough and impartial investigation. The welfare and fair treatment of all individuals involved remain our top priority.
We will continue to provide updates as the investigation progresses, and we encourage anyone with pertinent information to come forward and cooperate with the authorities.