Commentary from Counsel: SCOTUS EXPANDS EXCEPTION TO EMPLOYMENT CLAIMS AGAINST RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS

In the final days of its 2019-20 term, the Supreme Court issued a decision with potentially vast implications for religious organizations. In Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrisey-Berru, the Court ruled that parochial school teachers do not, for the most part, enjoy protections under federal employment laws. This decision, and the potential for the Court to expand on it in the years to come, could have a major impact on insured claims against religious institution employers.

The Our Lady case is actually a combination of two employment discrimination cases brought by Catholic school teachers in the Los Angeles area. In both cases, the teachers argued the schools terminated them for discriminatory reasons. The first plaintiff, Agnes Morrisey-Berru, claimed her former employer fired her based on her age. The second plaintiff, Kristen Biel, argued her former school terminated her because she had breast cancer.

Before delving into the Court’s opinion in Our Lady, however, it is necessary to discuss a bit of background. In 2012, the Supreme Court considered a similar case in which a terminated parochial school teacher sued her former employer for discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act. In that case, the Court recognized a “ministerial exception” to federal employment laws rooted in the First Amendment’s protection of the free exercise of religion. Specifically, the Court dismissed the plaintiff’s suit, holding that the ministerial exception precluded her claim given that she had received extensive religious training, was considered a minister of her church, and her firing fell into a category of decisions religious institutions make that are essential to their central mission. Despite important differences between the two cases, the Court reached the same decision in Our Lady as it did in 2012. In the 2012 case, the Court ruled the ministerial exception barred the teacher’s ADA claims based on evidence that the fired teacher had extensive religious training and was considered by her church to be a “minister.” The same could not be said for the Our Lady plaintiffs, as the two teacher plaintiffs in the case did not have any specific religious education credentials, and one of them testified that she was not even a practicing Catholic. However, according to the Court’s majority opinion, whether a teacher has religious training is inconsequential to the ministerial exception analysis. What mattered in Our Lady was that the teachers taught religious curriculum, prayed with their students, and accompanied them to mass. Ultimately, in dismissing the teachers’ claims, the Court held that the schools had initially made the determination that the teachers knew enough about Catholicism to teach the subject, and “judges have no warrant to second-guess that judgment.”

Despite the fact that both the Our Lady decision and the 2012 case involved teachers, the rulings could have much broader implications. In her dissent, Justice Sotomayor criticized the majority, arguing it had destroyed the existing standard of review for the ministerial exception and replaced it with a single consideration: “whether a church thinks its employees play an important religious role.” Not only could this “strip[] thousands of schoolteachers of their legal protection,” according to Sotomayor, it could also extend to “countless coaches, camp counselors, nurses, social-service workers, in-house lawyers, media-relations personnel, and many others who work for religious institutions.”

If you or your agency have religious institution clients, this decision, and its progeny, could have a considerable impact on the scope of potential employment-related claims and litigation. If lower courts consistently (or even more broadly) apply the holding from Our Lady, it could greatly reduce the amount (or at least the success) of employment discrimination claims against religious institutions. Moreover, if Justice Sotomayor’s dissent proves prescient, the opinion could serve as the backbone for future decisions dismissing discrimination claims brought by any employee of a religious organization, or even claims brought by parishioners involved in community outreach or

charity work.

In Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrisey-Berru, the Supreme Court expanded the ministerial exception to employment discrimination claims brought against religious institutions. While the case involved teachers at parochial schools, the decision may impact claims brought by any employees of religious organizations. Keep an eye on this column and updates from the IIAW for related developments.