United States Department of Labor

“ But Landmark Education has sensitive and personal information on many, if not all, of the ‘volunteers’. Action Works believes this places any ‘volunteer’ that would bring a class action suit at risk. We must therefore ask that, at a minimum, the Labor Department determine the legality of what we believe to be the unethical exploitation of unpaid workers by a for-profit company. ”

“ In investigating Landmark Education and speaking with labor attorneys, Action Works has found that Landmark Education’s use of unpaid workers, that it calls ‘volunteers’, appears to be in violation of the Federal Labor Standards Act (FSLA) . With headquarters in San Francisco, Landmark has offices in 24 states, including Colorado. A company bulletin board boasted 9,000 ‘volunteers last May.
The specifics that relate to the FSLA include:
Landmark Education is estimated to have sales of $30-$40 million based on information for previous years provided to Dunn and Bradstreet. ”

“ The duties performed by these unpaid workers or ‘volunteers’ include office, clerical, telephone work, enrolling people into courses and assisting with courses for the benefit of Landmark Education.
‘Volunteers’ are required to sign agreements committing to amount of time to be worked, a copy of which is enclosed.
There is no compensation for enrolling others into courses but, according to a former participant in the organization, some ‘volunteers’ are given paid positions on staff and/or the opportunity to lead courses based on the number of people they enroll. ”