Illinois Supreme Court adopts religious ministerial exemption

We’ve written about court decisions applying judicial doctrines under the First Amendment to bar some types of employment claims against religious entities. The Illinois Supreme Court has now weighed in.

Extracurricular activities

We have already told you about Mary Rehfield, who was employed by the Diocese of Joliet as principal at St. Raphael Catholic School, in Naperville, Illinois. The school is operated by St. Raphael Parish, an agent of the diocese. The principal reported to Father Daniel Bachner, an ordained Roman Catholic priest and the parish’s pastor.

Rehfield was let go in June 2017 after some controversy spawned by threatening e-mails from a student’s father, which led to a police report, publicity, and eventually a meeting with angry parents and the school administrators, including Rehfield. (For all the facts and background of Rehfield’s case, see “IL Supreme Court confirms retaliatory discharge applies only to at-will employees.”)

Rehfield claims she was terminated because (1) she reported the threatening conduct to the police and (2) the diocese made her the scapegoat for an embarrassing situation. She sued, alleging violations of the Illinois Whistleblower Act (IWA) and also common-law retaliatory discharge. The circuit court held both claims were barred by the doctrine of ecclesiastic abstention, which provides Illinois civil courts may not interfere with certain types of decisions by a religious organization.

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