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).

The "ministerial exception," also known as the "ecclesiastical exception," bars the application of anti-discrimination laws to religious institutions' employment of ministers or jobs with ministerial roles. As clarified by the Supreme Court in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, 565 U.S. 171 (2012), the exception is drawn from the First Amendment and serves two related purposes: to safeguard the freed of religious groups "to select their own ministers" and to prevent "government involvement in ... ecclesiastical decisions."

Finally, the Supreme Court elaborated on when employees qualify as "ministerial" in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, 591 U.S. 732 (2020). The Court held the exception extended to a religious school teacher, even though she didn't have the title of "minister," because the substance of her duties was religious. As a teacher in a Catholic school, she performed vital religious duties, such as educating students in the Catholic faith and guiding students to live their lives in accordance with that faith.

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

Brit Weimer advises churches and other non-profit organizations on best practices to avoid litigation. He practices non-profit and commercial law with Weimer & Weeding in Colorado and Minnesota.