The IHRP will begin with an online registration period from June 8, 2022 to August 19, 2022.  Everyone interested in learning more about the IHRP and potentially participating should register.  Registration is not a commitment to participate. 

After the registration process concludes, the claims period will be open from September 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022.  All eligible registrants will receive access to an online claims portal to submit a claim form if they wish to do so.  Claimants may submit their completed claim forms any time during the claims period.  Submission of the completed claim form will initiate the claims process for that individual.

Individuals are encouraged to participate in the Program during the schedule detailed above, but late registrations and claims may be considered by the Administrators on a case-by-case basis and may be allowed provided good cause for the delay is established by the individual submitting a late registration or claim.

The Program is available to eligible claimants who report the following experiences of harm:

• Claims of harm experienced by any student or other minor from the Community who attended a Community-affiliated or Community-promoted boarding school program in India, Community ashram exchange program, Community-run camp, or other Community-run youth program,^[1] regardless of when the harm occurred, including: reported sexual abuse, physical abuse, and emotional or mental harm whether perpetrated by a staff member or peer; or other harm related to poor conditions at the school/camp for which the school/camp had responsibility and control; and
• Claims of sexual abuse perpetrated by any non-school related Community leader or member within institutional control,^[2] regardless of when the harm occurred.

However, individuals who have previously entered into a settlement agreement that released all liability for the harm are not eligible to participate in the Program.

If a person with one of the above claims of harm has a legal representative, that representative may register or file a claim on their behalf by including proof of representative capacity with their submission.

The Administrators will have the sole discretion to determine who may be eligible to submit a claim and receive an offer of compensation. The eligibility criteria above and in the Protocol are not intended to address the full range of potential facts and circumstances surrounding experiences of harm in connection with the Community. If you believe you may be eligible, please register for the Program and allow the Administrators to review the facts specific to your claim to determine if you may be eligible for reparations.

We recognize that sharing personal information and experiences of harm may be difficult. If you would like emotional support or assistance completing the registration or claim form—including support in articulating your experiences—you may choose to work with the Claimant Support Facilitator, who can be reached at [email protected]. Please see below for more information about the Claimant Support Facilitator.

^[1] India school harm is eligible for reparations if it was experienced by a Community member while attending one or more of the following schools or programs: Guru Nanak Fifth Centenary School (“GNFC”), Guru Ram Das Academy (“GRD”), Sant Singh Sukha School (“4S”), school programs associated with “A Block” and “D Block,” and Miri Piri Academy (“MPA”).  In addition, harms experienced at Community-run exchange programs, camps, and other youth programs or schools within the control of SSSC, an affiliated entity, or predecessor entity may be eligible for reparations.

^[2] For the purposes of the IHRP, a “Community leader or member within institutional control” means a person employed by, expressly acting as a representative of, or subject to day-to-day direction, oversight, and control by SSSC or one of its affiliated entities, including predecessor entities.  For example, a claim against Yogi Bhajan, a leader of a local ashram, or a Sikh Dharma minister acting in their ministerial capacity would meet this definition and be eligible for the IHRP.  However, a claim against an independent yoga teacher, even if certified in Kundalini Yoga, would not be eligible because the accused person was not employed by, expressly acting as a representative of, or subject to day-to-day direction, oversight, or control by SSSC, KRI, or another entity.  Likewise, claims against a member of someone’s family, another ashram resident, or a fellow yoga student also would not meet this definition. 

The Program and the Administrators will be monitored by a Program Compliance Advisor (“Compliance Advisor”) who will ensure the IHRP Protocol is followed, and act as an independent resource and liaison to help resolve any questions or issues about the Program.  The Compliance Advisor has authority to replace a Claims Administrator if necessary.  However, neither the Compliance Advisor, SSSC, nor any affiliated entity has the authority to modify or reject the Administrators’ claim determinations governing eligibility and compensation, or to act as an appeal board for any participant.  The Compliance Advisor serving this program will be Meena Allen, Esq.  More information about the IHRP administrative team is available here.

The Claimant Support Facilitator (“Facilitator”) is a resource available upon request to offer emotional support to IHRP registrants and claimants during the Program.  The Facilitator is trained in victim advocacy and/or support services, and will be available to meet with participants by telephone or video conference as they wish.  The Facilitator is intended to help with process and support issues, but is not an advocate for any individual registrant or claimant.

The Facilitator will be a resource to discuss the Program, provide supportive listening, assist participants in answering the questions on the registration and claim form, and help participants articulate the harms experienced and impacts on their lives.  If requested by a participant, the Facilitator may also offer recommendations for future support services, such as therapy or counseling (individual, group, relationship, marital, family, substance abuse, and career), alternative therapies, outpatient addiction treatment services, or spiritual counseling from any faith.  Depending on the need, the Facilitator may involve additional staff to support this work.

The services of the Facilitator are completely optional and not required for the processing and final determination of a claim.  The Facilitator is not involved in any determinations as to claim eligibility or the amount of reparations to be awarded.

Lynn Shiner is serving as the Facilitator for the Program, and she can be contacted at [email protected].  More information about the IHRP administrative team is available here.

During registration, you will be asked whether you are submitting a claim on behalf of yourself or someone else. If you are registering a claim for another person, you should identify the other person and your relationship to them on the registration form. At the claim stage, the claim form will request documentation confirming that you have been appointed to act as the claimant’s legal representative. Proof of representative capacity could include power of attorney, guardianship, appointment as guardian or attorney ad litem, or other such documentation.

Yes.  The Protocol and these Frequently Asked Questions have been made available in French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.  The registration form and claim form are available in other languages upon request to [email protected].

No.  There is no fee associated with registering for or filing a claim with the Program.  You may, however, separately incur fees if you choose to engage certain professionals’ services, including retaining a lawyer to represent you in the Program.  The Program will not pay for or reimburse such fees.  The Program was designed so that participants do not need an attorney to navigate the claims process.  Moreover, the Program is committed to ensuring parity in the compensation awards offered to represented and unrepresented participants.  Unrepresented participants who wish to accept their compensation offer will be provided with an independent lawyer, free of charge, who will fully explain the terms of the release of liability.

The IHRP is a confidential mediation program under applicable law.  All of the information submitted by participants and by SSSC pursuant to the Program will be treated as confidential and will be used and disclosed only for the purposes set forth in Section D of the Protocol.  This may include disclosure to the Administrators, Claimant Support Facilitator, Program Compliance Advisor, law enforcement, or to SSSC for limited purposes such as conducting an internal investigation to support a safe environment within the Community.  As the Protocol explains, the Administrators will also need to request and consider relevant information and documentation from an SSSC liaison bound by confidentiality, and all efforts to substantiate claims and related facts will respect claimant confidentiality to the greatest degree possible under the circumstances.  The SSSC Board of Trustees and board members of SSSC’s affiliated entities will not have access to the identity of claimants or to any personal claimant information.

To further protect the privacy of individuals who participate in the Program, all personal information provided by participants during this process will be destroyed one year after the conclusion of the Program, except to the extent otherwise required by law.

Please note that, in the event a claimant who accepts a compensation payment later makes a claim or demand that violates a signed release, the Protocol authorizes SSSC to use or disclose a participant’s otherwise confidential information to the extent necessary to respond to or defend against that claim or demand.

No. Merely participating in the IHRP by registering, submitting a claim, and receiving a claim determination does not affect a participant’s legal rights.  Individuals fully retain any and all legal rights they may have until and unless they accept a reparations award and sign a release.

Yes.  Individuals who wish to accept their compensation offer and receive payment must sign a release that discharges SSSC, its affiliated entities, and various other parties from any liability they may have for any claims arising out of events that occurred prior to the date of signing.  This waives the participant’s right to go to court to sue any party related to the harm addressed by the Program.  However, nothing in the release will limit or preclude the claimant from reporting and discussing their claim with law enforcement.

Yes. The Administrators will receive extensive contextual information from a variety of sources, including briefings by advisors, relevant background from the organization, documentation compiled from several sources, and insights provided by the Claimant Support Facilitator’s work with community members to date.

Each claimant will decide how much or how little information they feel comfortable sharing with the Program.

At the registration stage, the registration form requests individuals provide general information so the Program can make a preliminary determination of whether the registered claim is eligible for consideration during the claims period. Once a registrant is determined to be eligible to submit a claim, they are provided with access to the online claims portal and invited to submit a claim form.

At the claim stage, claimants will have the opportunity to supplement and expand upon the information provided on the registration form, and explain more about the ways in which the harms they experienced impacted their lives and their current healing needs. Claimants may submit corroborating or supporting documentation with their claim forms to assist the Administrators in reviewing and evaluating the claim, but they are not required to do so. Claimants also have the opportunity to meet with the Administrators and share more about their experiences in that manner if they prefer. The Administrators will be provided with basic information by the SSSC and its affiliated entities, such as information on students/attendees in the eligible programs, so participants may only need to submit their dates of attendance.

This is up to each individual claimant.  Supporting documentation is invited but not required to be eligible for reparations.  Supporting documentation is the type that helps demonstrate the nature, frequency, location and time of the harm to assist the Administrators.  Examples of the types of documentation that may be helpful include:

• Notification of the harm (in the form of an e-mail, a letter or other written communication) made contemporaneously by the participant to friends, family, organizational officials, law enforcement authorities, or others;
• Medical records, counseling records, or therapy notes for treatment received relevant to the harm (including summaries or letters of support from the provider);
• Police or other law enforcement agency’s records or findings related to the harm; and/or
• Contemporaneous corroboration of the factual circumstances of the claim, including photographs, letters, etc.;
• A narrative statement from the claimant providing additional details about the harm and impact of the harm on their life;
• Narrative statements written by a claimant’s friends, family, and/or witnesses to the harm or impacts of the harm.

As the IHRP is not intended to be a reimbursement program, participants do not need to submit receipts for prior expenses related to treatment for the harms experienced, such as counseling or medical expenses.  However, to the extent such receipts are records that provide corroboration for the claim itself, they may be submitted and the Administrators will consider them for that purpose.

After submitting a registration, you will receive an e-mail confirming that your registration has been received by the Program and providing you with a unique identification number for your records.  The Program will contact you if they have questions or need additional information to process your registration. 

Registration eligibility decisions will be made on a rolling basis as soon as practicable while allowing time for thorough review and to follow up on any additional questions.  Once the eligibility review is complete, you will be notified via your preferred form of communication.  Every registrant will receive confirmation of their eligibility status and, if eligible, receive access to the online claims portal to submit a claim form no later than September 1, 2022, which is the start of the claims period. 

If you would like to update, change, or supplement any information provided on your registration form, you may do so at any time by contacting [email protected]. 

Once a complete claim form and any supporting documentation are received, it will be reviewed by the Administrators on a rolling basis.  The Administrators commit to processing each claim promptly, with the goal of 90 days or less from receipt of a completed claim to issuance of a claim determination.  Once the Administrators have completed their review, participants will be notified in writing of the determination of their claim or deficiencies in their submission that need to be addressed before a final determination can be reached.

As independent third parties, the Administrators ultimately will decide how to assign and assess claims. They have indicated they each will take primary responsibility for certain claims and will work collaboratively with the other Administrators to reach appropriate determinations.

If your claim is incomplete or deficient in any way, the Administrators will notify you and work with you to resolve the issue.  No claim will be deemed ineligible or not awarded compensation because of a deficiency without first giving the claimant a reasonable opportunity to respond and address the issue.

Yes.  Participants may request to meet in person (if feasible), telephonically, or by video conference with an Administrator to discuss their claim.  They may also meet with the Claimant Support Facilitator if they so desire.  Participants are welcome to bring a support person or persons, such as a family member or friend, to any and all meetings they attend as part of their claim process.

No.  Although meeting with claimants can be very helpful to the Administrators as they make their claim determinations and some participants may find a meeting cathartic and healing, there is no obligation that participants meet with the Administrators for their claim to be deemed complete and eligible for determination.

No. The Administrators have confirmed that they are obligated by professional standards and personal integrity to approach each claim without bias or judgment. They have further agreed that, if a claim were to present a legitimate conflict for them, they would recuse themselves from handling that claim and would rely on the other Administrators to make the appropriate determination. The Program is able to fully screen a conflicted Administrator from a given claim so they do not have access to that claim information.

The IHRP Administrators have final decision-making authority to determine who is eligible for compensation and the amount of any reparations offer.  They will make their determinations based upon the factors in the IHRP Protocol, and their experience and judgment.  The Administrators’ assessment will be holistic and unique to each individual, their experiences, the impact(s) of the harm on their lives, and their personalized healing needs. 

The determination process includes the following elements:

• The Administrators will evaluate complete claims in a prompt and fair manner.
• Consistent with the terms and conditions of the Protocol, any final decision rendered by the Administrators pertaining to an individual claim is fully binding on SSSC.  SSSC does not have the authority to reject any final decisions rendered by the Administrators.
• The Administrators will issue each claimant a written determination explaining whether they are eligible and, if so, offering them an amount of reparations the claimant can accept or decline.
• Each participant will have 60 days from the date they receive their compensation offer to decide if they want to accept the offer and return the signed release.
• Acceptance of payment from the Administrators will require the participant to execute a full release.  If the participant chooses to accept the offer, they must consult with either their own attorney or the pro bono attorney provided by the Program to be sure they fully understand the terms of the release.
• The Program will keep confidential all personal claimant information received from individuals participating in the IHRP, except for the limited purposes detailed in Section D of the Protocol. 

The Administrators will review claims on a rolling basis as they are received.  After the Administrators make their final determination of a participant’s claim, they will send the participant their compensation offer and a blank form of the release.  If the participant chooses to accept the offer, they must consult with either their own attorney or the pro bono attorney provided by the Program to be sure they fully understand the terms of the release.  After this consultation, the participant must sign the release, have it notarized, and return the original to the Administrators.  Once the fully executed release is returned, the Administrators will transmit payment promptly to the participant.

The Administrators are experienced, independent third parties whose goal is to fairly compensate participants in the IHRP who are eligible for reparations.  Their final determination for every claim will be made independently and is binding on SSSC.  There is no formal appeal process by which a claimant can overturn their determination. 

While claimants are expected to provide all relevant information they wish to share with the Administrators during the initial phase of the claims review process, they may provide additional information to the Administrators and request reconsideration of their claim determination if such information was previously unavailable or would materially support reconsideration of the reparations award.  If so, the claimant will need to submit that information to the Administrators with the request for reconsideration within 30 days of issuance of the original claim determination.  If the Administrators agree to reconsider a claim determination, they will complete that additional review and respond to the claimant within 30 days of receipt of the additional information or documentation.

If you ultimately decide that you do not wish to accept the Administrators’ compensation offer, you may decline the offer.  Participants retain any and all legal rights they may have until they accept an offer and sign the release.

The IHRP is intended to provide monetary reparations for limited types of harm, but it is not the only healing mechanism available to the Community.  SSSC encourages all individuals struggling with the reports of harm or their own experiences within the Community to inquire with the Office of Ethics and Professional Standards about the free counseling services available to them.^[3]  SSSC also encourages participation in the broader healing initiatives discussed in Section E of the IHRP Protocol.

^[3] To enroll or receive more information about the SSSC Counseling Program, please contact [email protected].

If you have additional questions, please contact [email protected]. 

If you would like emotional support or assistance completing the registration or claim form, or navigating the process in general, please contact the Claimant Support Facilitator at [email protected].

If you have questions or input for the Reparations Outreach Coordinator, please contact [email protected].

To receive more information about the SSSC Counseling Program, please contact [email protected].

In addition, these Frequently Asked Questions will continue to be updated as needed.