Do Employment Laws Apply to Religious Organizations?

Courts in the US will not enforce employment laws against churches and other religious organizations, if enforcement would violate the First Amendment by creating excessive entanglement with religion. Claims against religious organizations involving "core questions of church discipline and internal governance" are outside the scope of judicial review, and must be resolved within religious tribunals. Hagglund & Weimer, Stay Out Of Court and Stay In Ministry (CSS).

For example, courts will seldom allow discrimination suits by clergy against churches, including claims for gender discrimination. Thus, in Minker v. Baltimore Annual Conference of United Methodist Church, 894 F.2d 1354 (D.C. Cir. 1990), the federal court refused to hear a case by a Maryland minister who claimed sexual discrimination in hiring. "We cannot imagine an area of inquiry less suited to a temporal court for decision; evaluation of the 'gifts and graces' of a minister must be left to ecclesiastical institutions."

Likewise, the United States Supreme Court has ruled that the National Labor Relations Board cannot supervise parochial schools. "We see no escape from conflicts flowing from the [NLRB's] exercise of jurisdiction over teachers in church-operated schools and the consequent serious First Amendment questions that would follow." NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago, 99 S.Ct. 1313, 1320 (1979).

For a more detailed analysis, see Chapter 4 of Stay Out Of Court and Stay In Ministry .